Manager, Operational Excellence

Hong Leong Bank; Malaysia; On-site; MYR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Hong Leong Bank is seeking a Manager of Operational Excellence to lead multi-year transformation across regional markets, blending process improvement with digital AI and automation to optimize banking operations and customer experience.

Reporting to the Head of Operational Excellence, the role requires 5–10 years in financial services transformation, with strong analytics, dashboards, and executive communication skills.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of process improvement or digital transformation in financial institutions.
• Background in management consulting, Lean Six Sigma, or AI automation desirable.
• Strong process mapping, root-cause analysis, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to work independently in a diverse, matrixed environment.

Responsibilities

• Formulate and deliver bank-wide operational transformation across touchpoints.
• Break down complex issues, perform quantitative analysis, and build evidence-based cases.
• Partner with IT teams and vendors to deploy workflow automation and AI solutions.
• Establish productivity baselines and track benefits realization (hours saved, costs).
• Prepare monthly and quarterly operational reports for senior management.
• Lead matrixed teams and facilitate discovery sessions to validate improvements.
• Guide requirements and manage testing for digital or AI deployments.
• Coach stakeholders and foster productive work environments to achieve goals.

Skills

Process transformation

Lean Six Sigma

AI automation

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Executive presentations

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business/Finance/Engineering/IT/CS

Tools

Tableau

PowerBI

Google Looker

Google Apps Script

Google Workspace

Job description

If you are looking to excel and make a difference, take a closer look at us…

Overview

We are looking for a strategic yet execution-focused Manager to drive Hong Leong Bank's (HLB) multi-year organizational transformation across regional markets. Acting as a key change agent, you will blend traditional process improvement with digital automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimize banking operations, reduce costs, and enhance customer experience. The successful candidate will report to the Head of Operational Excellence.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

Functional (job responsibilities)

• Formulate and deliver bank-wide operational transformation and process re-engineering initiatives across all banking touchpoints.
• Break down complex operational issues, perform quantitative analysis, and collaborate with stakeholders to build evidence-based business cases.
• Partner with internal IT teams and vendors to deploy workflow automation and AI solutions that eliminate operational friction.
• Establish productivity baselines, provide guidance on industry-standard metrics, and track project benefits realization (e.g., hours saved, cost savings).
• Support project sponsors in driving bank-wide initiatives, monitoring milestones, and ensuring proper procedure throughout the project lifecycle.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly operational reports, and present data-driven analysis directly to Department Heads and senior management.
• Lead matrixed teams and facilitate interactive discovery sessions to validate process improvements.
• Guide business case analysis, prepare user requirements, and manage user testing for digital or AI deployments.
• Manage workplace conflict, coach stakeholders, and build productive work environments to achieve project goals.

Jobholder Requirements

Malaysian citizen.

Education / Qualification

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Engineering, Information Technology, or Computer Science.

Experience / Requirements

• 5 to 10 years of experience in process improvement, digital transformation, or strategic analysis within financial institutions.
• Background in management consulting, process re-engineering (Lean Six Sigma), or AI automation is highly desirable.
• Strong skills in process mapping, root-cause analysis, and delivering concise, impactful executive presentations.
• Ability to work independently in a culturally diverse, matrixed environment.
• Well versed with the Microsoft Office suite (PowerPoint, Excel) and Google Workspace (Google Sites, Docs, Sheets).
• Practical understanding of modern AI tools, prompt engineering, and workflow automation solutions.
• Familiarity with enterprise AI capabilities (e.g., Google Gemini Enterprise, AI Studio), applying GenAI to banking process improvement, or utilizing Google Apps Script is a distinct advantage.
• Experience creating operational dashboards via tools such as Tableau, Google Looker, or PowerBI is preferred.

About Hong Leong Bank

We are a leading financial institution in Malaysia backed by a century of entrepreneurial heritage. Providing comprehensive financial services guided by a Digital-at-the-Core ethos has earned us industry recognition and accolades for our innovative approach in making banking simpler and more effortless for our customers. Our digital and physical offerings span across a vast nationwide network in Malaysia, strengthened with an expanding regional presence in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China.

We seek to strike a balance between diversity, inclusion and merit to achieve our mission of infusing diversity in thinking and skillsets into our organisation. Candidates are assessed based on merit and potential, in line with our mission to attract and recruit the best talent available.

Expanding on our Digital-at-the-Core ethos, we are progressively digitising the employee journey and experience to provide a strong foundation for our people to drive life-long learning, achieve their career aspirations and grow talent from within our organisation.

Hong Leong Bank ("HLB") stands proudly as a leading financial services institution based in Malaysia, providing a wide range of comprehensive and innovative financial solutions across the region. These services are delivered through both digital and traditional means, via online and mobile banking, as well as our digital branch concept to provide customers with an efficient and seamless experience aided by technology. As the service and financial landscape changes rapidly with the ever-increasing use of technology, staying attuned to customers needs and desires becomes even more critical to HLB’s operations. To stay ahead of these dynamic changes, the Bank has adopted the approach of reimagining banking by embedding digital considerations and customer centricity in every aspect of our operations, from products and services as well as customer care and engagement. HLB’s ethos of being Digital-At-The-Core powered by customers-at-the-forefront will continue to lead us to innovate offerings in line with our aspiration of being a highly digital and innovative financial services organization.