Senior Associate, Operational Excellence

Palladium; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Palladium seeks a Senior Associate, Operational Excellence to support administrative, program management, and cross-functional process-improvement activities within the Vice President, Operational Excellence's portfolio.

Based in Palladium’s Arlington, VA office with a hybrid schedule (3 days in office, 2 days from home), the role includes coordination, documentation, and stakeholder liaison across Process Excellence, HR, Contracts, Legal, and Facilities.

Qualifications

• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and initiatives.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Proactive problem-solving and process improvement mindset.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day administrative and project support to the VP, Operational Excellence.
• Assist with invoices and financial documentation.
• Coordinate with corporate services and business development teams.
• Maintain trackers, schedules, agendas, and notes.
• Support meetings, trainings, and events including logistics and budget tracking.
• Identify and implement practical improvements to tools and templates.
• Communicate with internal stakeholders to ensure timely information flow.

Skills

Excellent communication

Organizational skills

Multilingual

Cross-functional coordination

Tools

Microsoft Teams

SharePoint

Excel

Job description

Senior Associate, Operational Excellence

About Palladium

Operating in over 50 countries,Palladium is a globalconsulting and implementation company working in partnership with governments,businesses, investors, and communities to design and deliver solutions thatcreate lasting positive impact. We address some of the world’s most complexchallenges across infrastructure, economic growth and natural capital, health,energy, climate and environment, and digital transformation—strengtheningsystems, institutions, and markets to support inclusive and sustainable development.Our more than 2,100 staff worldwide work as trusted advisors across diversecontexts, combining deep technical expertise, implementation techniques, andinnovative technology to deliver locally informed, client-focused solutionsthat help organizations achieve measurable, sustainable impact.

Palladium is part of GISI’s global family of companies,which aims to create solutions for the world’s most complex challenges. Withannual revenues of $18 billion, GISI’s approximately 16,000 employees areengaged in projects across 100 countries worldwide providing construction,program/project management, and engineering consulting services.

This Opportunity

Palladium is seeking a Senior Associate, OperationalExcellence to play a pivotal role in supporting administrative andexecutive management activities, contribute to the team’s pipeline of processimprovement activities, and provide support to business development and projectmanagement teams. The Senior Associate will be a member of the OperationalExcellence team and will provide cross-functional coordination, administrative,and project support to all functions overseen by the Vice President,Operational Excellence, including Process Excellence, Human Resources,Contracts, Legal, and Facilities. The role will support initiatives thatstrengthen operational systems, improve internal ways of working, and helpcorporate functions deliver timely, practical support to business development andproject delivery teams. Through this work, the Senior Associate will gainexposure to a broad range of corporate operations within Palladium andcontribute to initiatives that enable the company to deliver impact across itsglobal portfolio.

Location

The position is based in Palladium’s Arlington, VA officewithin our Americas region. Candidates must be authorized to work in the US as visasponsorship is not available.

Palladium supports a hybrid working model with 3 days in office, 2 days fromhome.

Compensation

The annual base salary for this position is expected torange from $75,000 to $80,000. Please be advised that a final salary offer willbe based on various factors, including but not limited to your qualifications,education, experience, skills, seniority, performance, and Palladium’s businessor organizational needs.

Reporting and Supervision

• The role will report to the Senior Manager, Process Excellence
• This role will not have supervisory responsibilities

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Providing day-to-day administrative, coordination, and project support to the Vice President, Operational Excellence, including helping manage priorities, follow-ups, deadlines, meetings, documentation, and requests across Process Excellence, Human Resources, Contracts, and Legal
• Providing ad hoc executive and administrative assistance, including processing invoices and financial documentation, preparing and organizing files, developing templates, maintaining shared resources, and ensuring information is accurate, accessible, and easy to use
• Serving as a liaison between all internal stakeholders including but not limited to corporate services, practices, and business development teams to support timely information flow, coordinated decision-making, and alignment with organizational priorities
• Maintaining team trackers, priority lists, schedules, agendas, meeting notes, and action items to help the VP and supported departments monitor progress, follow through on commitments, and coordinate work across functions
• Supporting operational activities associated with projects, internal initiatives, proposals, policy updates, process improvements, and corporate function priorities, as requested
• Assisting with internal and external communications
• Coordinating team data collection and file organization
• Identifying, proposing, and helping implement practical improvements to tools, templates, workflows, trackers and team processes that improve efficiency, consistency, and the user experience for internal clients
• Providing comprehensive support for meetings, workshops, trainings, and events, including scheduling, agenda development, participant coordination, logistics, materials preparation, budget tracking, vendor coordination, and follow-up
• Other duties as required
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work with a diverse range of people.
• An interest in supporting the operational systems, corporate functions, and project delivery infrastructure that enable Palladium’s international development work.
• Knowledge of project coordination practices and comfort using collaboration and tracking tools such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Excel, and other systems used to manage priorities, documentation, action items, and shared resources.
• The ability to juggle multiple tasks and adapt to changing priorities.
• Excellent organizational and administrative skills with strong attention to detail and timeliness.
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Independence in work, coupled with strong teamwork skills.
• Professionalworking proficiency in multiple languages with priority given to Spanish,French, Portuguese and Arabic

Allqualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regardto race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationalorigin, disability, age, or status as a protected veteran.

Shouldyou require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability oryou are a neurodivergent individual, or for any other circumstance, pleaseemail our team at [e-mail] and we willbe in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We defineSafeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect ourpeople, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committedto ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladiumare treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject toan enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and arigorous due diligence process.