SUMMARY
As a Senior Continuous Improvement Specialist, you will have the unique opportunity to drive organizational excellence by identifying, designing, analyzing, implementing, and improving core business processes across Portland General Electric. You will develop and implement comprehensive continuous improvement plans that align with PGE's strategic objectives, while engaging stakeholders through effective change management strategies. A successful candidate will have advanced knowledge of process improvement methodologies and business process re-engineering concepts, paired with advanced interpersonal skills and analytical thinking capabilities. This role puts you at the forefront of PGE's transformation initiatives, allowing you to directly impact how our utility serves 900,000 customers while advancing our clean energy future. You'll collaborate with leaders across the organization to create sustainable improvements that enhance both operational efficiency and our commitment to environmental stewardship.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Planning and Analysis - Meets with supervisors and managers. Analyzes business needs and identifies potential cross-functional process improvement initiatives. Scopes potential initiatives to forecast the anticipated benefits and resource needs of each. Prioritizes needs. Develops departmental continuous improvement plan and collaborates with other departments to determine resource constraints and points of overlap. Negotiates for resources. Maintains repository and roadmap of continuous improvement activities. Decides which stakeholders to engage and how.
Process/Continuous Improvement - Plans and implements improvement initiatives. Identifies goals aligned to strategic objectives. Develops project plans, success metrics and acceptance criteria. May assign work to others and monitor for completion. Decides when project meets acceptance criteria. Identifies risks and notifies project sponsors. Identifies and implements risk mitigation. Recommends mitigation strategies and escalates issues.
Stakeholder Engagement/Change Management - Develops overall communication and change management strategy. Implements or oversees implementation of communication plans. Provides timely, accurate status reports. May design and deliver reports, proposals, presentations and/or supporting materials.
Impact Assessment - Assesses impacts of changes to process, technology, organization structure and policy in connection with midsize to moderately complex projects and strategic initiatives and in consultation with officers, managers, supervisors and individual contributors. Evaluates effectiveness of change efforts.
Project Reporting and Documentation - May design, implement and maintain file architecture system. Archives and organizes or oversees the archive and organization of all project documentation. Facilitates lessons-learned discussions and documents information for future projects. Ensures document retention complies with appropriate regulations when applicable.
EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/CERTIFICATIONS
Education
- Requires a bachelor's degree in business, communications, organizational development, psychology or other related field or equivalent experience.
Experience
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Typically five or more years in project management, change management, process improvement, consulting or a related field. (e.g., scheduling, project coordination, business analyst).
Certifications
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Strongly prefer PMP certification, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, CBPP, CCIM and/or change management certification such as PROSCI.
COMPETENCIES (KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES)
Functional Competencies
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Advanced knowledge of project management, change management and/or process improvement methodologies and standards.
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Intermediate knowledge of and skill in using software applications used in department.
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Advanced knowledge of business process re-engineering and continuous improvement methods and concepts.
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Intermediate knowledge of systems- thinking concepts and principles.
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Intermediate knowledge of group problem- solving methods and techniques, including problem analysis, nominal group and brainstorming techniques and consensus building.
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Intermediate knowledge of process improvement methodologies and the application of human factors.
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Intermediate skills in strategic thinking in order to understand where the organization is, where it wants to be and how to get there.
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Working consulting skills.
Portland General Electric Company
121 SW Salmon St
Portland
Oregon United States
www.portlandgeneral.com
