Lean Practitioner

Encore Fire Protection•Norwalk, CT

19h•$160,000 - $200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lean Practitioner is Encore Excellence's catalyst for building a lean, continuous-improvement culture across the organization. This is a leadership role, not a technical support role: you will train, coach, and challenge leaders at every level – from the executive team to frontline supervisors - to think and act differently about how work gets done, how goals are set, and how problems get solved. This role combines teaching and embedding core lean disciplines; personally leading Kaizen events and rapid-improvement sprints that deliver visible results; and training and facilitating Hoshin Kanri so Encore's strategic priorities into aligned, measurable goals across locations and functions. You will be expected to have a point of view, challenge leaders constructively, and drive execution on the improvement priorities that matter most to our people, customers, and business. You will work in partnership with accountable functional and location owners, using data, coaching, and facilitation rather than positional authority to move work forward.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive leadership experience driving lean or continuous improvement culture change in an operational environment
Demonstrated experience training and facilitating Hoshin Kanri or strategic policy deployment at the enterprise or multi-site level
A proven track record personally planning and leading Kaizen events that discovered measurable business results
Strong executive presence and facilitation skills, with the ability to coach, challenge, and influence senior leaders and location owners who do not report to you
Working mastery of core lean tools, including process mapping, root cause analysis, standard work, visual management, value-stream mapping, and A3 problem solving
Experience building internal training curriculum and developing lean capability in others
Experience applying lean principles in field service, distribution, construction, building services, or another decentralized operational environment

Nice To Haves

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt certification
Built or materially expanded an enterprise or multi-site lean operating system
Successfully adapted traditional manufacturing-based lean methods to field service or cross-functional business processes
Developed internal facilitators or leaders who continued driving improvement independently after your direct involvement ended

Responsibilities

Act as Encore’s primary catalyst for lean culture change, coaching and challenging executive, location, and frontline leaders to adopt lean thinking and behaviors
Design and deliver training in lean fundamentals, Hoshin Kanri, and structured problem-solving for leaders and high-potential talent
Develop a bench of internal lean and Kaizen facilitators so improvement capability spreads beyond this one role
Design, train, and run Encore’s Hoshin Kanri process, translating strategic priorities into cascading, measurable goals and facilitating catchball between levels
Establish and lead monthly and quarterly review cadences that keep strategic goals visible, on track, and owned by responsible leaders
Personally plan and lead Kaizen events and rapid-improvement sprints targeting Encore’s highest priority opportunities for people, customers, and value creation
Drive measurable, sustained results from each event, including disciplined follow through after the event closes – not just recommendations
Conduct current-state process mapping across field operations and cross-functional processes by engaging the people who actually perform the work
Trace processes end-to-end to identify true boundaries, implicated functions, root causes, and practical future-state opportunities
Document findings in clear, standardized formats, including process maps, value-stream maps, standard work, and visual management tools
Serve as a driving force behind execution of Encore’s key improvement priorities, partnering with and constructively pushing functional and location leaders
Escalate constructively when leaders are not engaging with lean tools, Hoshin Kanri goals, or Kaizen commitments
Maintain clear partnership boundaries: drive, coach, and challenge while leaving accountability for P&L, people, and performance with the functional or location owner
Partner with Transformation/PMO and executive sponsors on major cross-functional initiatives while leading the lean and Kaizen workstream
Build and maintain standardized process documentation and visual management tools in partnership with the Standards/Process function