Project Director for Operational Excellence

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

The University of Washington has an outstanding opportunity for a Project Director for Operational Excellence. Reporting to the Senior Vice President for Finance, Planning & Budgeting, with a dotted line to the Vice President for Human Resources, the Project Director, Operational Excellence is responsible for enterprise leadership of a multi-year initiative to reduce unnecessary complexity in administrative work, strengthen service delivery and build more effective and sustainable ways of working across the University of Washington. The director translates executive vision into a coordinated transformation agenda, connecting the initial workstreams in Finance, Research Administration and Information Technology with executive sponsors, governance bodies and the external consulting partner. This role helps ensure that decisions draw on institutional expertise, account for employee and service impacts, and lead to improvements the University can sustain. The director works primarily through influence, executive partnership and matrixed leadership, coordinating people who retain reporting relationships within their respective organizations. No direct reports are anticipated initially; direct supervision of project staff may be added as the initiative evolves. This position is contingent on ongoing funding.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration, organizational development, human resources, communications, project management or a related field.
At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience leading complex, cross-functional projects, programs or organizational transformation efforts in a large, complex organization.
Demonstrated growth in leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience leading work across multiple organizational functions and partnering effectively with senior-level stakeholders and executive leaders.
Demonstrated success leading complex enterprise transformation in which significant outcomes were achieved through influence, executive partnership and matrixed leadership rather than direct organizational authority.
Experience translating broad strategic objectives into integrated plans, decisions, milestones and accountabilities.
Experience identifying and managing complex dependencies, risks and organizational impacts.
Demonstrated understanding of organizational change and the human dimensions of large-scale transformation.
Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information and present clear recommendations, decisions and tradeoffs.
Demonstrated ability to establish trusted working relationships with senior leaders, functional experts, project teams and employees.
Strong judgment, discretion and ability to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading enterprise transformation, operational excellence, shared or integrated service design, administrative modernization or comparable large-scale organizational change; experience with process redesign, service design, organizational design or continuous improvement.
Experience in a large public research university, academic medical center, public-sector organization or similarly complex institution; experience working across Finance, Research Administration, Information Technology and/or Human Resources.
Experience partnering with external consulting firms on complex transformation initiatives.
Experience developing and implementing change management strategies and engaging employees and stakeholders in human-centered design, co-design or similar participatory approaches; project or change management certification or comparable demonstrated expertise.
Familiarity with labor relations and workforce considerations in a unionized environment.

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day coordination across Finance, Research Administration and IT, translating executive priorities into an integrated transformation roadmap with clear milestones, dependencies and accountabilities.
Participate in workstream meetings, resolve barriers and competing priorities, anticipate enterprise risks, and escalate issues requiring executive direction.
Maintain an integrated view of progress and ensure workstream decisions advance the initiative’s broader objectives.
Lead the day-to-day consulting partnership, directing work with executive sponsors and workstream leaders.
Set expectations for deliverables, sequencing, quality and integration; coordinate UW participation; review deliverables and facilitate feedback and decisions.
Resolve gaps or misalignment and ensure knowledge, tools and recommendations transfer to UW, with University leaders retaining ownership of institutional decisions.
Partner with UWHR and functional leaders to identify workforce and service impacts early, including organizational design, roles, workload, skills, labor considerations and employee transitions.
Integrate employee involvement, co-design, stakeholder engagement, communications and implementation readiness into the work.
Support pilots and feedback loops, monitor readiness, and elevate risks to adoption and sustainability.
Advise executive sponsors and governance leaders, translating complex information into clear choices, recommendations, risks and tradeoffs.
Prepare executive briefings, decision materials, agendas and integrated updates.
Track decisions and translate them into action, build relationships across academic and administrative units, and maintain feedback loops among leaders, workstream teams and affected stakeholders.
Partner with workstream leaders and the consultant to define success measures and establish baselines.
Monitor implementation outcomes, service performance and employee experience; support post-implementation reviews and adjustments.
Capture lessons for subsequent phases, establish clear ownership of new processes and service models, and support an integrated UW-owned roadmap for continued improvement.