GE Operational Excellence Program Head (Contingent Workforce)

Overview

The GE Operational Excellence Program Head is a member of the Global Operational Excellence organization and is dotted line to Visp GE Program Office. The role focuses on driving operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives across the Global Engineering organization. The position plays a critical role in aligning processes, achieving cost optimization, and fostering a culture of efficiency and quality.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the operational excellence strategy aligned with organizational goals. Champion a culture of continuous improvement across Global Engineering.
• Change Management & Cultural Transformation: Lead change management programs that support large-scale transformation. Establish and oversee robust program governance, including steering committee leadership, milestone tracking, and transparent progress reporting across all transformation workstreams. Design and implement frameworks to shift mindsets, behaviors, and ways of working. Act as a cultural ambassador, promoting agility, accountability, and innovation.
• Process Optimization: Identify inefficiencies and lead cross-functional teams to streamline processes. Deploy Lean, Six Sigma, and other methodologies to improve quality, cost, and speed. Standardization of assigned program governance (e.g. Fit for Purpose).
• Performance Management: Establish KPIs and metrics to monitor progress and impact of transformation initiatives. Drive operational reviews and ensure data-driven decision-making.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with senior leadership to align transformation efforts with strategic priorities. Influence and coach leaders to adopt and sustain new practices.
• Collaboration across functions: Working with multiple functions and teams to identify, develop and implement improvement strategies.
• Agility: Challenges the status quo and looks for opportunities to make improvements in his/her area of the business and beyond. Adapts thinking and behavior to support change. Understands how to effectively engage others in the change processes. Learns from experience, errors and setbacks.
• Business Acumen: Uses knowledge of his/her business area and related areas to make correct and timely decisions. Actively seeks out and shares different perspectives from a broad network and implements alternative approaches. Works in partnership as an active member of his/her team and crossfunctional working groups.
• Customer Focus: Manages internal and external customer relations professionally and effectively. Proactively seeks to understand internal/external customer and market needs. Uses systematic approaches to ensure customer key metrics are tracked and analyzed for continuous improvement.
• Driving Results: Appropriately prioritizes multiple demands and leads defined work to successful conclusion on time. Ensures delivery excellence for own goals and those of his/her team. Regularly solicits, assesses and addresses feedback. Establishes and consistently delivers on KPIs and challenging goals for him/herself (and team).
• Leadership: Ensures clear and direct 2-way communication within his/her team and other organizations. Supports others in taking responsibility for a safe and sustainable environment.

Qualifications / Candidate Profile

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in a post graduate role with similar complexity.
• Proven expertise in CAPEX environment with LEAN, and Six Sigma methodologies, with Black Belt certification.
• Demonstrated success in leading global initiatives and delivering measurable results in operational excellence and continuous improvement.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate data into actionable insights and impactful improvements.
• Exceptional communication skills, with experience collaborating across a matrixed organization and engaging senior leadership.
• Familiarity with program management tools; fluency in English is mandatory (German is advantageous).
• Travel & On-Site Presence: The role requires approximately 70–80% presence in Visp, 10% in Basel, and occasional travel to other global locations for team alignment and project support.

Job Details

• Seniority level: Director
• Employment type: Contract
• Job function / Industries: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

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