Specialist, District Business Operations – AI & Innovation

Expeditors•Humble, TX

About The Position

An innovation-focused operational specialist responsible for identifying, designing, developing, testing, and supporting technology-enabled solutions that improve district operations. The role collaborates with operational teams, department leadership, subject-matter experts, and other stakeholders to translate business needs into practical improvements. It focuses on artificial intelligence, workflow automation, digital tools, system enhancement, process redesign, and responsible technology use. The specialist manages operational innovation and system-improvement work from opportunity identification through implementation and ongoing review. This includes designing and supporting tools and workflows, testing solutions, documenting governance and maintenance practices, helping users adopt approved solutions, and measuring business value. The role also supports district and regional initiatives and contributes to technology, innovation, efficiency, and process-improvement objectives within the District Tactical Business Plan.

Requirements

Knowledge of Expeditors products, services, and operational processes; more than two years of operational experience is preferred.
Demonstrated interest or experience in artificial intelligence, automation, operational technology, systems improvement, or digital transformation.
Strong process-mapping, root-cause analysis, and structured problem-solving skills.
Ability to translate operational problems into clear business and functional requirements.
Experience developing, modifying, or supporting business tools and workflows.
Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
Experience with Microsoft 365 technologies, which may include Excel, Power Query, Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps, SharePoint, Microsoft Lists, Visio, Microsoft Copilot, or Copilot Studio.
Understanding of testing, documentation, change management, and solution lifecycle practices.
Ability to manage multiple projects and balance urgent requests with strategic priorities.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to explain technical subjects clearly to nontechnical audiences.
Effective interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with employees at all levels.
Ability to handle company information responsibly and follow applicable security, privacy, access, and data-governance requirements.
Willingness to continually learn new technologies and evaluate their relevance to the business.

Nice To Haves

Experience with scripting, VBA, SQL, APIs, or other development methods; beneficial but not required for every assignment.
Experience delivering demonstrations, training, or presentations.
More than two years of operational experience.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with district departments and operational stakeholders to identify repetitive work, process gaps, system limitations, and opportunities for technology-enabled improvement.
Evaluate opportunities based on business value, operational risk, complexity, sustainability, and alignment with district priorities; maintain an organized pipeline of opportunities.
Determine whether requests call for process changes, reporting, automation, AI assistance, system development, or escalation to another support group.
Design and develop approved tools, workflows, reporting solutions, prototypes, and other operational improvements.
Translate business requirements into documented functional requirements, process flows, business rules, and expected outcomes.
Build understandable, maintainable solutions that fit the operational environment, incorporating validation, exception handling, access controls, and user guidance as appropriate.
Coordinate with technical, security, data, or business stakeholders when solutions extend beyond district-level ownership.
Review and improve locally developed tools, reports, workflows, spreadsheets, databases, SharePoint resources, and other operational systems for reliability, usability, performance, documentation, and scalability.
Reduce unnecessary duplication and manual processing where practical, and help establish ownership, maintenance, change-control, and retirement practices for district-developed solutions.
Ensure system improvements do not unintentionally disrupt existing operational requirements or downstream processes.
Identify appropriate use cases for AI-assisted work; develop and test approved AI agents, prompts, workflows, or related solutions for operational activities.
Define AI solutions’ intended purposes, approved inputs, expected outputs, and required human review; evaluate outputs for accuracy, consistency, completeness, and usefulness.
Document AI limitations, risks, exception scenarios, and user responsibilities, and promote AI as a decision-support and productivity tool rather than a replacement for required operational judgment.
Observe and document current processes; create current-state and future-state process maps when appropriate; identify bottlenecks, rework, duplicate entry, manual handoffs, control gaps, and inconsistent execution.
Partner with process owners to redesign workflows before applying technology and ensure solutions address underlying business problems.
Develop test plans and expected results; perform functional, exception, and user-acceptance testing; verify solutions before broader deployment.
Document defects, corrections, decisions, and limitations; establish post-deployment monitoring and coordinate rollback or containment when solutions produce unexpected results.
Manage assigned innovation and system-improvement initiatives from intake through implementation, defining scope, objectives, stakeholders, dependencies, risks, deliverables, and success criteria.
Communicate project status, decisions, barriers, and required actions to the District Business Operations Manager and relevant stakeholders; prioritize work and escalate initiatives requiring enterprise-level development, infrastructure, security review, or ownership.
Maintain documentation for district-developed systems and improvements, including purpose, process ownership, data sources, business rules, access requirements, dependencies, testing, maintenance, and recovery considerations.
Support version control and change management, follow company policies and approved technology standards, avoid unsupported or undocumented systems, and periodically review active solutions.
Develop implementation plans; coordinate pilots and phased deployments; prepare user instructions, process documentation, training materials, and support resources.
Facilitate demonstrations and training, collect user feedback, address adoption barriers, and monitor solution usage and operational benefits.
Establish baseline and post-implementation measures for major initiatives and evaluate outcomes such as processing time, error reduction, data quality, employee capacity, user adoption, exception volume, or customer impact.
Communicate measurable results and lessons learned, recommend whether solutions should be expanded, revised, maintained, replaced, or retired, and identify solutions that may benefit other areas for review through appropriate channels.
Support district or regional initiatives involving AI, automation, reporting, operational systems, and process improvement; collaborate with relevant stakeholder groups and share reusable practices and lessons learned.
Assist with evaluation and local implementation of approved company technology deployments.
Contribute to technology, innovation, efficiency, and process-improvement objectives in the District Tactical Business Plan; help leadership understand opportunities, dependencies, and risks and provide updates on projects, adoption, benefits, and decisions.
Encourage employees to identify problems and technology opportunities, facilitate structured review of ideas, share approved practices and lessons learned, promote controlled experimentation, and recognize employee contributions to innovation.