Continuous Improvement Manager

Socket.dev; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Friendly environment

Growth opportunities

Recognition

Competitive pay

Job summary

Duke Energy in Charlotte is seeking a seasoned Lean / continuous improvement professional to lead and execute process improvement and business integration efforts across Power Grid Operations. The role owns lean events, sustainability measures, and cross-functional collaboration with senior management.

You will coach teams, translate discussions into implementation strategies, and ensure action items are tracked to maturity, with strong emphasis on change management and stakeholder alignment.

Qualifications

• Lean, Six Sigma Green Belt certification or higher.
• Bachelor's degree with 7+ years of related experience in continuous improvement, operations, or related fields.
• In lieu of degree: Associate degree with 11 years of related experience.
• Master's Degree preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Visio.

Responsibilities

• Lead lean events and business integration efforts from priority setting to sustainability across Power Grid Operations.
• Generate and deliver leadership-ready work products and readiness tactics.
• Coach / mentor peer teams on lean concepts and their application across the business.

Skills

Lean

Six Sigma

Change management

Stakeholder collaboration

Facilitation

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Associate degree

Master's degree

Tools

Microsoft Visio

Job description

More than a career - a chance to make a difference in people's lives.

Build an exciting, rewarding career with us - help us make a difference for millions of people every day. Consider joining the Duke Energy team, where you'll find a friendly work environment, opportunities for growth and development, recognition for your work, and competitive pay and benefits.

This position supports the process framework effort and is responsible for using tools, techniques and processes from the Lean and DMAIC methodology to lead and execute key process improvement and business integration efforts throughout Power Grid Operations (PGO). The successful incumbent will possess and execute skills required to own the lean / continuous improvement process from identification to implementation and operational sustainability. The position will engage with higher levels in the organization and lead Lean events based on senior management team priorities. Specifically, the incumbent will work with management to provide input to potential events, scope and facilitate events, take outcomes and create business readiness requirements and action items, oversee the execution of actions and track progress to ensure sustainability and maturity. This role will be required to immerse themselves within the business to ensure a successful future state outcome. Partnerships with multiple stakeholders and varying levels of leadership within the business, analytic resources and change management leaders will be required. This position will also document activities, monitor action items, and communicate progress of events to leadership. Coaching and training others within the organization is required, including peer teams and lean event participants. Strong leadership, a solid understanding of lean tools, a strong facilitation presence, collaboration, a questioning attitude, and the ability to navigate conflicting opinions within work groups is required. This is a professional level position that works proactively and requires little direction from management.

• 60%: Own and execute lean events and business integration efforts based on priority from the PGO Senior Management Team including but not limited to: engaging and collaborating with stakeholders and analytics for input and development of sustainability measures, understanding existing state processes and desired outcomes, planning events, facilitating events, development of steps necessary to move stakeholder groups from the as is process to future state, understanding and planning for barriers to implementation, translating discussion points to solid implementation strategies, facilitating SME readiness efforts, tracking for sustainment, executing any follow up and just do it efforts and check and adjust requirements.
• 20%: Generate and deliver work products for process framework (Ex. Report outs, leadership follow ups, etc.) and business integration requirements (readiness tactics, impacts, etc.).
• 20%: Coach / mentor other peer teams and stakeholders on lean concepts and application to our business model.

Basic/Required Qualifications

Required Education

• Bachelor's degree with 7 Years in years of related experience in continuous improvement business, Engineering, Operations Management, Organizational Leadership, Project Management, or another related field.

In Lieu of Degree

• Associate degree with 11 years of related experience in continuous improvement, operational excellence, business process management, project management, business integration, organizational effectiveness, or a related discipline.

Additional Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree
• Operational knowledge of the PGO organization
• Demonstrated ability to use and apply Six Sigma, Kaizen or other continuous improvement tools to achieve expected outcomes
• Willingness to immerse self into the business to enhance business acumen and knowledge specific to the events owned
• Able to meet targeted deadlines with a quality work product
• Takes initiative to identify actions required to achieve goals independently
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure proper identification of analytics to support lean efforts pre and post event
• Demonstrated ability to create a culture of open, collaborative communication that results in team supported and aligned results
• Demonstrated ability to navigate conflicting views from various levels of employees across the enterprise that yields a go forward plan
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with multiple levels within the organization, ability to translate event outcomes into concise, meaningful summaries, and creates a strong, engaging presence for lean participants
• Familiar with change management fundamentals (ADKAR, etc.)
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and process modeling or business analysis tools such as Microsoft Visio

Working Conditions

• Hybrid Mobility Classification - Work will be performed from both remote and onsite locations after the onboarding period. However, hybrid employees must live within a reasonable commute to their designated Duke Energy facility, not greater than 50 miles one way. Employees are expected to report to their assigned Duke Energy facility as required and directed by their manager, on average 3 full workdays per regular workweek.
• Environmental Conditions - Primarily office, occasional site / field visits
• Location, field environment, etc. - Various (Charlotte, Raleigh, St Pete, Cincinnati, Plainfield)
• Physical Requirements - N/A
• Schedule - 5 days / week

Specific Requirements

• Lean, Six Sigma Green Belt certification or higher

Travel Requirements

5-15%

Relocation Assistance Provided (as applicable)

No

Represented/Union Position

No

Visa Sponsored Position

No. This is not a Visa Sponsored Position. This role requires the ability to work lawfully in the U.S. without employment-based immigration sponsorship, now or in the future.

Please note that in order to be considered for this position, you must possess all of the basic/required qualifications.