Operational Readiness Lead: Projects & Launches

First Citizens; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

First Citizens Bank seeks an Operational Readiness Specialist in Raleigh to bridge project delivery and ongoing operations. You will coordinate stakeholders, validate requirements, and ensure people, processes, and tools are in place for a smooth switch to operations.

You will develop readiness plans, manage risks, and drive continuous improvement while partnering with operations, engineering, and business units to ensure success across project rollouts.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, operations management, engineering, project management, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 3-5+ years experience in operations, project coordination, commissioning, or process improvement.
• Strong understanding of operational workflows and change management.
• Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional stakeholders.
• Excellent problem-solving and risk-assessment skills.
• Strong communication, organization, and documentation abilities.
• Familiarity with project management methodologies is an asset.
• Industry-specific certifications (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, ITIL, PMP) are beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Readiness Planning: Develop and maintain operational readiness plans, checklists, and transition frameworks to support successful project rollout.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Collaborate with operations, business units, SRE teams and project teams to align deliverables, requirements, and expectations.
• Risk Identification & Mitigation: Identify operational risks, gaps, and dependencies; recommend and track mitigation actions.
• Process & Procedure Development: Ensure operational procedures, workflows, SOPs, and contingency plans are created, validated, and approved prior to go-live.
• Training & Competency: Coordinate and validate staff training, competency assessments, and resource readiness.
• Documentation & Handover: Ensure all operational documentation is complete, accurate, and transferred to operational teams.
• Performance Metrics: Develop and track readiness KPIs and provide regular status reports to leadership.
• Continuous Improvement: Capture lessons learned and contribute to improving the organization’s operational readiness framework and methodologies.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Risk assessment

Project coordination

Documentation

Change management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Lean Six Sigma

Job description

First Citizens Bank seeks an Operational Readiness Specialist in Raleigh to bridge project delivery and ongoing operations. You will coordinate stakeholders, validate requirements, and ensure people, processes, and tools are in place for a smooth switch to operations.

You will develop readiness plans, manage risks, and drive continuous improvement while partnering with operations, engineering, and business units to ensure success across project rollouts.