Process Improvement Specialist

Portland General Electric • Portland, OR

20h

About The Position

At PGE, our work involves dreaming about, planning for, and realizing a smarter, cleaner, more enduring Oregon neighborhood. Its core to our DNA and we haven’t stopped since we started in 1888. We energize lives, strengthen communities and drive advancements in energy that promote social, economic and environmental progress. We’re always on the lookout for people passionate about leading and being a part of teams that are advancing innovative clean energy solutions that are also affordable and accessible to all. Process Improvement Specialist Job Function . Leads cross-functional business process improvement and enterprise savings initiatives by establishing delivery plans, governance structures, and measurable performance outcomes. Develops sustainable, repeatable and quantifiable improvements aligned to business objectives. Key Job Information Process Improvement Specialist 6645 Grade 07 Career Level: P3 Requires in-depth knowledge and experience Uses best practices and knowledge of internal or external business issues to improve products or services Solves complex problems; takes a new perspective using existing solutions Works independently; receives minimal guidance Acts as a resource for colleagues with less experience

Requirements

• Typically a bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, finance or other related field or equivalent experience.
• Typically five or more years in process improvement, project management or related field.
• Intermediate knowledge of project management methods and principles
• Intermediate knowledge of PGE’s policies, procedures, tariffs and regulations
• Intermediate knowledge of industry best practices related to area of discipline
• Intermediate skills in project management
• Intermediate skills in influencing without authority
• Intermediate skills facilitation and the ability to present complex analyses, risks, and recommendations to senior leaders and executive audiences
• Intermediate skills in systems and programs used in functional area, including data retrieval
• Intermediate risk management skills
• Advanced customer focus skills
• Intermediate safety leadership skills
• Intermediate skills in analytical thinking
• Advanced skills in problem solving
• Advanced oral and written communication skills
• Advanced interpersonal skills
• Intermediate decision-making skills
• Advanced organization and prioritization skills
• Intermediate knowledge of business process interrelationships
• Advanced business acumen
• Advanced skills in change leadership
• Intermediate risk management skills
• Cognitive Ability to adhere to set response times, deadlines and time-sensitive tasks
• Ability to follow accuracy standards
• Ability to follow through on decision-making tasks
• Ability to interact effectively and collaboratively within a team environment
• Ability to communicate and problem solve when under stress
• Ability to respond and adapt to frequent change
• Ability to accept and demonstrate self-awareness when provided constructive feedback
• Ability to discern feedback and acknowledge ownership of areas of improvement
• Ability to avoid future mistakes by applying reasonable skills to new but similar work situations or tasks
• Ability to successfully collaborate with peers, managers and others within the organization
• Demonstrates sound memory
• Ability to process new information to be applied consistently to work tasks
• Ability to work long hours
• Ability to work a variable schedule
• Ability to report to work and perform work during periods of severe inclement weather
• Ability to consistently meet attendance standards for regular, reliable, predictable, full-time attendance
• Driving/travel/commute: Daily within service territory - Frequently (at least once a week or more)
• Computer use (use computer regularly for entire work shift)

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives requiring alignment across multiple departments without direct authority
• Experience developing and analyzing performance metrics, financial impact models, or savings validation reporting
• Experience presenting initiative updates, tradeoffs, and risk assessments to senior leaders and executive stakeholders
• Demonstrated negotiation and influence skills in environments with competing priorities and resource constraints
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred.
• Six Sigma certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Analyzes and integrates operational performance information from multiple sources and identifies potential program development and process improvement opportunities.
• Develops analytics, performance metrics, and savings validation reporting to support departmental and enterprise initiatives.
• Monitors performance goals and metrics, identifies areas at risk, and translates insights into actionable recommendations for leadership.
• Analyzes business needs and identifies potential cross-functional process improvement initiatives and program management opportunities.
• 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 program, process, department projects, and continuous improvement activities.
• Decides which stakeholders to engage and how.
• Leads the planning and execution oversight of cross-functional process improvement and enterprise savings initiatives.
• Establishes credible project plans including scope, milestones, dependencies, success metrics, and acceptance criteria.
• Maintains visibility to risks, issues, and decision impacts and escalates to sponsors when delivery objectives are at risk.
• Recommends mitigation strategies and tradeoffs.
• Facilitates structured working sessions and establishes clear roles and accountability across stakeholders.
• Ensures governance discipline and transparent performance reporting to departmental and senior leadership.
• Researches operational best practices and makes recommendations.
• Develops and communicates project plans, reports, and status updates.
• Manages organizational change efforts.
• Serves as a subject matter expert in process improvement to employees and leaders.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level