Operational Excellence Partner

University of Chicago Medicine; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work option

On-site position

Job summary

University of Chicago Medicine is seeking an Operations Excellence Partner to support the Health System across the Medical Center and Community Health and Hospital Division. This on-site role offers hybrid flexibility and requires base in the greater Chicagoland area to drive operational performance and cultural change in clinical, support, and administrative areas.

The role emphasizes coaching leaders, applying lean methods, and developing improvement roadmaps with measurable results across

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent training.
• 3-5 years of process improvement experience with focus on operational change and facilitation of Kaizen events.
• Experience applying lean and quality-improvement principles.
• Ability to partner with senior leaders and communicate effectively.
• Adaptable with strong interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Guide leadership and staff in achieving business objectives and organizational transformation.
• Utilize Lean methods (5S, Standard Work, Value Stream Analysis) and redesign processes for efficiency.
• Develop and execute improvement roadmaps, drive metrics, and sustain gains.
• Coach teams on data-driven analysis to quantify financial and operational impacts.
• Lead change management and training efforts across clinical, support, and administrative areas.
• Travel to UCM sites around Chicagoland as required.

Skills

Lean

Kaizen

Process Mapping

Data Analysis

Leadership Coaching

Change Management

Stakeholder Management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Smartsheet

Visio

Job description

Join one of the nation's premier academic medical centers, UChicago Medicine , as an Operational Excellence Partner . This is an on-site position with opportunities for remote work. You will need to be based in the greater Chicagoland area.

In this role, the Operational Excellence Partner will provide support across the University of Chicago Health System, including the Medical Center and Community Health and Hospital Division. The Operational Excellence Partner will engage staff, and team, with leaders, to improve operational performance and drive cultural change. The improvement focus encompasses management system processes and operational work processes in clinical, support and administrative areas, with the aim of enhancing care delivery and patient experience.

Essential Job Functions

• Utilizes business skills and insights to guide leadership and staff in achieving stated business objectives and organizational transformation.
• Possesses solid knowledge of operations, successful approaches for organizational change and sustainment, and strong business acumen.
• Coaches leaders in systems thinking, management system design, deployment and change management, process analysis/improvement, and workflow design and optimization.
• Provides project management skills by working with teams to develop and execute improvement roadmaps, drive metrics, and sustain process improvement.
• Leads, supports, and prepares teams to conduct process improvement activities using appropriate tools and methods such as 5S, Standard Work, Managing for Daily Improvement, Value Stream Analysis, Process Flow Mapping, Problem Solving, as well as other Lean and quality improvement tools.
• Demonstrates ability to collect, analyze, and communicate business data with leadership and front-line teams and drive transformation.
• Coaches teams on the use of data analysis to identify the impact of solutions and quantify financial and operational impacts of change.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Ability to partner and communicate effectively with senior leaders to formulate, develop, and support execution of business transformation plans
• 3-5 years of previous process / performance improvement experience, with focus on operational change, implementation of lean and quality improvement principles, and facilitation of Kaizen / Rapid Improvement Events
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent training acquired via work experience or education
• Requires a high level of adaptability and interpersonal skills
• Oral and written communication skills, presentation skills, strength in group and process facilitation
• Excel, PowerPoint, Smartsheet, and Visio experience
• Travel to UCM sites around Chicagoland

Preferred Qualifications

• Lean Six Sigma certification

Position Details

• Job Type/FTE: Full Time
• Shift: Days
• Job Location: Hyde Park (Hybrid)
• Unit/Department: Operational Excellence
• CBA Code: Non-Union