Business Excellence Partner

Wheels, Inc; Schaumburg (IL); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Wheels, Inc is seeking a Business Excellence Partner in Schaumburg, Illinois. This role focuses on identifying operational pain points and implementing solutions to enhance business performance. You'll collaborate with various teams to drive measurable results, ensuring improvements are adopted and sustained.

The ideal candidate has a background in industrial engineering or related fields, extensive experience in process improvement, and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification. Strong data analysis and communication skills are essential for this position.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in process improvement, business transformation, or operational optimization.
• Deep knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, and structured problem-solving techniques.
• Proven track record of leading enterprise-wide Lean/CI programs.

Responsibilities

• Identify and prioritize high-value business problems affecting operations.
• Build and manage an improvement roadmap based on business value.
• Redesign workflows to improve performance and implement practical solutions.
• Validate solutions and drive measurable business results through tracking.
• Lead change across the business, facilitating stakeholder engagement.

Skills

Lean Six Sigma

Process improvement

Data analysis

Communication skills

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, supply chain, operations, or related field

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Salesforce

MS Project

Job description

Job Description

Wheels is looking for a Business Excellence Partner who is energized by solving messy operational problems, driving measurable business changes and helping teams work smarter. This role is not a traditional project coordination or process documentation position. The Business Excellence Partner will identify operational pain points, quantify their business impact, design practical solutions, and drive implementation through measurable results. Success in this role means reducing manual work, improving cycle time, increasing quality, strengthening customer experience, and helping the business scale without simply adding headcount.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and Prioritize High‑Value Business Problems

  Partner with business leaders and frontline teams to uncover repeatable operational pain points, manual work, rework, delays, quality issues, customer friction, and process breakdowns. Translate frustration into clear problem statements, root‑cause hypotheses, value estimates, and improvement opportunities. Quantify the impact of problems using metrics such as cycle time, cost, quality, rework, capacity, customer experience, and employee effort.

• Build and Manage an Improvement Roadmap

  Help leaders prioritize improvement work based on business value, urgency, feasibility, and strategic importance. Build and manage a practical improvement roadmap for assigned business areas.

• Redesign Workflows and Design Practical Solutions

  Redesign workflows, handoffs, decision points, controls, and operating routines to improve performance. Develop practical solutions that may include process changes, reporting enhancements, automation, system improvements, role clarity, or new ways of working. Partner with Analytics, Technical Implementation, IT, Product, and operational teams to translate business needs into workable solutions. Support the development of business requirements, user stories, process maps, test plans, adoption plans, and implementation materials.

• Validate Solutions and Drive Measurable Business Results

  Validate solutions through pilots, testing, feedback loops, and performance tracking. Own the delivery of measurable outcomes. Establish baseline performance, define target outcomes, and track results after implementation. Measure impact across areas such as productivity, quality, cost reduction, cycle time, customer satisfaction, compliance, and scalability. Ensure improvements are adopted, sustained, and embedded into the way teams work.

• Lead Change Across the Business

  Build trust with frontline employees, managers, directors, and executives. Facilitate working sessions, process reviews, Kaizen‑style events, and structured problem‑solving discussions. Influence stakeholders across functions to align on decisions, remove barriers, and adopt new processes. Communicate recommendations clearly using data, business logic, and practical implementation plans.

• Use Data, Tools, and Technology to Improve Work

  Use data to diagnose performance issues, identify trends, and size improvement opportunities. Partner with technical teams to implement automation, analytics, and workflow solutions where appropriate. Leverage tools such as Excel, Power BI, Alteryx, Power Automate, Salesforce, and AI tools to reduce spreadsheet dependency, manual rekeying, email‑based work management, and inconsistent process execution. Help business teams use metrics and dashboards to manage performance more effectively.

Performance Expectations

A successful Business Excellence Partner will be able to say: I found a business problem that was costing time, money, quality, or customer experience; I quantified the impact and built alignment around solving it; I helped design and implement a practical solution; I got the business to adopt the change; I measured the result and proved the value. The role will be evaluated on delivered business outcomes, including improvements in efficiency, quality, cost, cycle time, customer experience, employee capacity, and operational scalability.

Leadership Responsibilities

This position has no people‑leader responsibilities.

Competencies

• Proven track record of leading enterprise‑wide Lean/CI programs with measurable impact in matrixed organizations.
• Deep knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, and structured problem‑solving techniques.
• Demonstrated success facilitating Kaizen events and building engagement across levels of the organization.
• Hands‑on experience with Salesforce, ServiceNow, or similar enterprise platforms is a plus.
• Strong business acumen, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office, Visio, and project management tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet).

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, supply chain, operations, or related field (advanced degree is a plus).
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification.
• 3+ years of experience in process improvement, business transformation, or operational optimization within complex service or transactional environments.

EEO Statement

Wheels is an equal‑opportunity affirmative action employer and administers all personnel practices without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or domestic partnership status, disability, protected veteran status or military status, genetic information, or any other category protected under applicable law. Wheels is committed to taking affirmative steps to promote the employment and advancement of minorities, women, persons with disabilities and protected veterans.