Senior Continuous Improvement Analyst

San José State University•San Jose, CA

2d•$6,382 - $9,297

About The Position

The Senior Continuous Improvement Analyst is a high-level individual contributor and internal consultant who leads complex, institution-wide process improvement, operational analysis, and business innovation initiatives across academic, student, and administrative divisions. Working independently, the role applies advanced continuous improvement, project management, research, analytical, and facilitation methods to assess organizational challenges, develop strategic and operational solutions, and guide implementation that improves service delivery, operational effectiveness, and institutional performance. The incumbent leads highly complex cross-functional projects, advises campus leaders on process and performance improvement, facilitates future-state process and implementation planning, and develops analytical frameworks and performance measures for data-informed decision-making. The position provides functional leadership across decentralized units through expertise, consultation, facilitation, and consensus-building rather than direct administrative authority.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent training.
Six years of administrative work experience involving study, analysis, and/or evaluation leading to the development or improvement of administrative policies, procedures, practices, or programs.
Advanced knowledge of continuous improvement, organizational analysis, process redesign, project management, change management, and operational performance methodologies, with ability to apply them to highly complex challenges.
Expert analytical and problem-solving skills, including integrating complex quantitative and qualitative information, identifying organizational implications, and developing strategic and operational recommendations.
Ability to independently plan, organize, lead, and implement multiple complex cross-functional initiatives with broad institutional impact.
Advanced consultative and facilitation skills, including engaging diverse stakeholders, navigating competing priorities, influencing without direct authority, and building consensus.
Ability to assess organizational problems from a systems-oriented perspective, anticipate downstream impacts, and develop proactive solutions aligned with strategic goals and operational implementation.
Advanced written, verbal, presentation, and data-visualization skills, including communicating complex analysis to executive and leadership audiences.
Skill in research, operational analysis, performance measurement, program/process evaluation, and data interpretation.
Knowledge of change-management principles and ability to develop strategies for stakeholder readiness, adoption, implementation, and sustainability.
Ability to build effective working relationships and serve as a trusted internal consultant to executives, administrators, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders.
Proficiency with contemporary project-management, process-mapping, analytical, visualization, and collaboration tools.
General awareness of emerging technologies, including AI, and willingness to develop skills in their appropriate, responsible, and ethical use in higher education, consistent with institutional policies and practices.
Ability to communicate professionally and respectfully with constituents.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in business administration, public administration, higher education administration, organizational development, industrial/systems engineering, or a related field.
Professional certification in a relevant discipline, such as PMP, Lean Six Sigma, Prosci/CCMP, or comparable certification.
Experience leading complex cross-functional process improvement, organizational effectiveness, operational analysis, or institutional improvement initiatives.
Experience consulting with senior leaders and facilitating diverse stakeholder groups to analyze complex problems, develop recommendations, and build consensus.
Experience applying Lean, Lean Six Sigma, process improvement, change management, project management, or related methodologies in complex organizational environments.
Experience developing operational performance measures, analyzing organizational data, and translating findings into recommendations and decision-support materials.
Experience in higher education, the public sector, or similarly complex decentralized organizations.

Responsibilities

Plan and lead discovery sessions and value stream mapping workshops with campus stakeholders and subject matter experts to map current-state workflows.
Translate complex cross-departmental operations into standardized swim lane process diagrams using Lucidchart or similar tools.
Analyze complex cross-functional operations to identify root causes, dependencies, policy and procedural barriers, service gaps, redundancies, and improvement opportunities.
Develop and recommend strategic and operational solutions, future-state processes, and implementation approaches for complex organizational challenges.
Consult with campus leaders and cross-functional teams, facilitate complex discussions, reconcile competing priorities, and build consensus around improvement opportunities and solutions.
Develop performance measures, KPIs, and evaluation frameworks to establish operational baselines, assess improvement opportunities, and evaluate implemented changes.
Collect, integrate, analyze, and interpret quantitative and qualitative operational information to identify trends, root causes, impacts, and opportunities for improvement.
Translate analysis into findings, recommendations, visualizations, and executive-level decision-support materials.
Develop and maintain reporting tools and dashboards to monitor operational performance and communicate progress toward goals.
Independently plan, lead, and implement highly complex cross-functional process improvement and operational initiatives, defining scope, approach, milestones, deliverables, risks, and success measures.
Develop project charters, implementation plans, risk assessments, decision documents, progress reports, and recommendations for project sponsors and institutional leaders.
Provide functional leadership to multidisciplinary project teams and coordinate work across decentralized units, establishing accountability without direct supervisory authority.
Evaluate decisions and recommendations from a broad organizational perspective, identify downstream impacts, and ensure proposed solutions support institutional priorities and longer-term objectives.