Program Manager, Operational Excellence

POSITION SUMMARY:  As Program Manager, Operational Excellence, you will be responsible for translating operational improvements into sustainable, standardized practices across the enterprise.  This role facilitates and may lead improvement initiatives, providing training/coaching to others on use of lean, six sigma and other tools, to ensure NuScale Power continuously improves our processes and overall operations.  You’ll play a key role in supporting operations, fostering a culture of innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement, while supporting efforts to define and measure results, developing and coordinating company-wide, multi-level balanced scorecard reporting.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Leads Operational Excellence implementation, including Lean and other methodologies, to drive process optimization and operational efficiency across multiple departments.
2. Facilitate use of Operational Excellence tools such as value stream mapping, A3 problem solving, FMEA, etc. to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement. Teach, mentor and coach others in use of various tools
3. Partner with cross-functional teams to drive continuous improvement initiatives, optimize processes, eliminate redundancies, and ensure alignment with business objectives.
4. Lead kaizen events and coach teams on Operational Excellence principles to cultivate a culture of ongoing process improvement. Serve as a change agent, fostering a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement across all areas and levels of the business.
5. Function as company-wide subject matter expert on Operational Excellence, ensuring that periodic benchmarking for best practices is effectively embedded into NuScale Operational Excellence. Collaborate with leadership to assess impact of changes, identify resistance points, and create actionable mitigation strategies.
6. Assist leadership in establishment of metrics and key performance indicators.  Use data analysis to uncover process inefficiencies and develop actionable insights to improve business outcomes. Develop, continually improve, and promote usability of data visualization tools such as PowerBI and KanBo as it relates to improvement initiatives.
7. Facilitate generation of suggestions/initiatives and prioritization, maintain standards for tracking, and ensure accountability processes are established.  Utilize KanBo and other tools to track and monitor accountability for progress, aid in determining impact of improvement initiatives and their impact on measurable business results.
8. Performs other duties as assigned.

CORE COMPETENCIES: To perform the job successfully, the individual should demonstrate competencies in performing the essential functions of this position by performing satisfactorily in each of these competencies. 

• Problem solving: Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner, gathers and reviews information appropriately.  Uses own judgment and acts independently; seeks input from other team members as appropriate for complex or sensitive situations.
• Oral/written communication: Listens carefully and speaks clearly and professionally in all situations. Edits work for accuracy and clarity, is able to create, read and interpret complex written information.  Ability to develop strong interpersonal networks within the organization.
• Planning/organizing: Prioritizes and plans work activities, organizes personal and project timelines and deadlines, tracks project timelines and deadlines, and uses time efficiently.
• Adaptability: Adapts to changes in the work environment, manages competing demands and is able to deal with frequent interruptions, changes, delays, or unexpected events.
• Dependability: Consistently on time and at work, responds to management expectations and solicits feedback to improve performance.
• Team Building: Capable of developing strong interpersonal networks and trust within the organization. Leads consensus by involving all stakeholders, facilitating their understanding of differences, agreeing on requirements and constraints, and developing the best solution.
• Safety Culture: Adheres to the Corporate Safety culture and is expected to model safe behavior and influence peers to meet high standards.
• Quality Assurance:  Commits to the understanding and implementation of quality assurance regulations, standards, and guidelines of 10 CFR 50 Appendix B, 10 CFR 21, and NQA-1.

MINIMUM SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND ABILITIES:

• Education/Certification:  Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field and significant applicable work experience in Operational Excellence / continuous improvement. Certification as Lean / Six Sigma Green or Black Belt preferred. Certification as a root cause analyst is a plus.
• Experience: 7+ years of operational excellence experience including application in a non-manufacturing environment. Proven leadership experience and application of skill set delivering tangible business results; demonstrated ability to lead improvement initiatives and manage priorities to meet near-term needs and long-term goals. Ability to effectively coach / mentor others on application of tools. Must have excellent communication skills including writing, presentation, and interpersonal. Knowledge and experience in nuclear corrective action programs, including causal analysis is a plus.  Experience working within commercial nuclear industry is a plus, as is experience working in ASME NQA-1 and ISO 9001 quality programs/systems. 
• Industry Requirements:  Eligible to work under Department of Energy 10 CFR Part 810.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to understand and communicate clearly using a phone, personal interaction, and computers.
• Ability to learn new job functions and comprehend and understand new concepts quickly and apply them accurately in a rapidly evolving environment.
• The employee frequently is required; to sit and stand; walk; bend, use hands to operate office equipment; and reach with hands and arms.  Ability to lift ten to fifteen pounds.
• Ability to travel nationally and locally using common forms of transportation This position may require travel 10 – 25% of time, primarily domestically.

Disclaimer: Employee(s) must perform the essential duties and responsibilities with or without reasonable accommodation efficiently and accurately without causing significant safety threat to self or others.  The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employee(s) assigned to this classification.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and/or skills required of all employees in this classification.

NuScale Power, LLC is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against otherwise qualified applicants on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, age, sex, marital status, national origin, disability or handicap, or veteran status.

Pay and Benefits: 

The target base salary range for this position is $150,537 - $181,682 annually.  The full base salary range is $134,964 - $211,098.   

At NuScale, compensation decisions are determined using factors such as relevant job-related skills, full-time working experience, education and training, equity within the department. 

For information on employee benefits, please visit our Careers Overview page:  Employee Benefits | NuScale Power