Manager, Operational Excellence

Central Pacific Bank•Honolulu, HI

6d•$97,698 - $138,365•Onsite

About The Position

This role manages governance programs for the Office of Change Management. It involves working with business-unit leaders and process owners to monitor operational risks and controls, coordinate issue remediation, support regulatory examinations and audits, administer governance routines, and deliver approved process improvements. The position also works on the implementation of process improvements, including programming and building AI agents. Key functions include maintaining clear documentation, reporting, and follow-up to ensure visibility and address risks, control gaps, process performance, and improvement opportunities. The role operates within established frameworks and priorities, recommending enhancements and escalating material issues rather than setting enterprise strategy or independently establishing governance frameworks. The role requires adherence to the Company's Core Values of a "Voyaging Spirit" and being "Positively Ohana", demonstrating core competencies in Customer Interactions, Empowerment and Ownership, Active Listening, effective Oral and Written Communication, Action and Solution Orientation, and Thoroughness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited 4-year university, preferably in Business, Management, Finance, Information Technology, Risk Management, or a related field; equivalent relevant work experience may be considered required.
6+ years of relevant experience in banking operations, operational risk, compliance, governance, process improvement, technology or a related discipline required.
5+ years of experience implementing process, control, documentation, or systems changes and measuring results required.
2+ years of experience managing staff, project teams, or cross-functional resources required.
Experience preparing management reporting and communicating with leaders, process owners, and risk partners required.

Nice To Haves

Master’s Degree in Business, Management, Operations, Information Technology Risk Management, or a related field preferred.
2+ years of experience supporting operational risk assessments, internal controls, audits, examinations, issue management, or corrective-action tracking preferred.
Experience in a formal operational excellence, operational governance, or continuous-improvement function preferred.
Lean Six Sigma certification or equivalent continuous-improvement credential preferred.
Project Management Professional (PMP) or comparable project-management credential preferred.
Operational risk, compliance, audit, or banking certification relevant to the role preferred.

Responsibilities

Manage approved process-improvement initiatives from intake through post-implementation review, including current-state analysis, requirements, root-cause evaluation, project planning, testing support, implementation coordination, and transition to the process owner.
Work with business-unit managers and process owners to identify inefficiencies, manual work, control gaps, and service opportunities; develop practical recommendations within established priorities and available tools.
Define and track implementation measures, cost or time savings, key success indicators, and post-production results; validate outcomes with process owners and report status to management.
Maintain initiative inventories, schedules, decisions, supporting documentation, and periodic operational-governance reports.
Works on the implementation of process improvements including, but not limited to programming, building AI agents, etc.
Administer established first-line operational risk and control routines, standards, calendars, and reporting requirements for assigned business units.
Monitor operational risks, control performance, compliance obligations, and remediation commitments; document status, follow up with owners, and escalate overdue or material items.
Coordinate risk-event reporting, issue management, root-cause analysis, corrective-action tracking, and risk ranking of processes in accordance with approved methodologies.
Partner with the Business Unit Compliance Officer and business leaders to promote adherence to Bank policies, procedures, applicable regulations, and control requirements.
Coordinate evidence collection, readiness activities, responses, and follow-up for regulatory examinations, internal audits, compliance reviews, and control testing.
Facilitate periodic operational risk assessments, control self-assessments, governance reviews, and user-access or other assigned control reporting; summarize results for management.
Work with Compliance, Risk Management, Internal Audit, Information Security, and other second- and third-line partners to execute agreed actions and resolve identified gaps.
Administer established governance programs for policies, procedures, forms, disclosures, and knowledge content, including ownership, review cycles, approvals, version control, and status reporting.
Coordinate with content owners to keep documentation current, clear, accessible, and consistent with approved standards; identify and escalate overdue, conflicting, or incomplete content.
Support training, communications, job aids, and knowledge transfer needed to sustain approved process, control, or documentation changes.
Manage assigned staff and resources, including work allocation, coaching, training, performance feedback, development, and coverage planning.
Prepare recurring management reports on team capacity, governance activities, process improvements, savings, risks, issues, and audit or examination support.
Promote collaboration, accountability, timely execution, and consistent use of approved methods and tools.