VP, Global Process Improvement

Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated•Chesterfield, MO

About The Position

RGA is seeking a VP, Global Process Improvement to build, embed, and sustain the enterprise-wide process improvement capability. This role operates within a complex, globally federated life and health reinsurance environment and requires deep methodological rigor and the credibility to serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders. The VP will establish and steward enterprise standards, methodologies, governance, and infrastructure for improvement efforts, ensuring they are disciplined, appropriately scoped, data-driven, and sustained. This includes ownership of the enterprise process improvement framework encompassing Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC), Rapid Improvement Events, Simplification Sprints, and structured change management. The role will partner with Global Process Owners, business and functional leaders, and enterprise enabling teams to ensure improvement is applied consistently and pragmatically in service of tangible business outcomes. It will also focus on elevating the organization's shared language, leadership behaviors, and management routines around process improvement through coaching, reinforcing rigor, and embedding structured problem-solving. Critically, this role owns the change architecture to make improvement stick, applying structured change management frameworks like ADKAR to ensure solution design is matched by organizational readiness, active sponsorship, and measurable adoption. The goal is to ensure continuous improvement is a core enterprise capability and a fundamental expectation for how work is done across RGA.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS) or equivalent related work experience.
10+ Years Experience leading process improvement, operational excellence, or enterprise transformation initiatives at scale in complex organizations.
5+ Years Hands‑on experience applying Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC), or similar structured improvement methodologies with demonstrated Black Belt‑level proficiency in defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling complex business processes.
5+ Years Experience facilitating cross‑functional improvement efforts in complex, federated organizations with the ability to influence leaders and teams without direct authority.
3+ Years Structured change management experience applying ADKAR, Kotter, or equivalent frameworks to drive adoption of process or organizational change in complex environments.
Experience in financial services, insurance, or reinsurance operating environments, with working familiarity with core business processes such as underwriting, claims, actuarial/valuation, finance operations, or treaty management.
Direct experience in life and health reinsurance or a closely adjacent regulated sector (long-term insurance, group benefits, managed care).
Expert knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC), and structured problem‑solving approaches, with the judgment to apply methodologies pragmatically rather than mechanically.
Strong facilitation and diagnostic skills, including the ability to surface root causes, challenge assumptions, structure ambiguous problems, and guide teams to evidence‑based conclusions through rigorous but accessible analysis.
Structured change management fluency: ability to apply ADKAR, or equivalent frameworks to assess readiness, build sponsor coalitions, design adoption plans, and measure behavioral change, not just solution deployment.
Executive advisory and influencing skills: ability to function as a trusted advisor to C-suite and senior leaders, framing findings in business and financial terms, challenging problem framings constructively, and sustaining credibility and candor even when delivering unwelcome analysis.
Business acumen and financial literacy: ability to build business cases for improvement investment, translate process metrics into P&L language, size opportunity and risk in terms meaningful to Finance and executive leadership, and hold improvement portfolios accountable to benefit realization.
Deep understanding of sponsorship, governance, and follow‑through discipline required to convert analysis into sustained results, including the ability to distinguish sustained improvement from episodic activity.
Ability to design and scale enterprise capabilities, standards, and operating mechanisms rather than execute isolated projects. Comfortable building infrastructure that outlasts any individual engagement.
Capability elevation: ability to build a shared organizational language and set of leadership expectations around continuous improvement, shifting how leaders frame problems, review performance, and hold teams accountable. Measured not by training completion but by visible changes in management behavior and operating rhythm.
Highly advanced written and oral communication skills, including the ability to distill complex methodological decisions, analytical findings, and improvement recommendations into clear, compelling guidance for executives, sponsors, and cross‑functional teams.
Data and process analytics fluency: ability to interpret operational, financial, and process performance data to diagnose problems and validate outcomes. Familiarity with process mining tools (e.g., Celonis, UiPath Process Mining), BI platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau), and statistical software sufficient to direct and quality-assure analytical work.
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt LSSBB or demonstrated equivalent (MBB-level coaching experience with verifiable project portfolio). Candidates without formal certification must demonstrate Black Belt-caliber methodology mastery.
Change Management Certification - Prosci/ADKAR, CCMP, or equivalent structured change management credential. Candidates should demonstrate practical application, not credential alone.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) or progress toward a relevant professional designation.
Experience managing an enterprise improvement portfolio or CoE, including intake governance, prioritization, resource allocation, and benefit tracking.
Continuous Improvement / OpEx Certification - Additional CI, operational excellence, or agile certification (e.g., Lean Leader, Shingo, SAFe).

Responsibilities

Define and steward the enterprise process improvement framework, establishing clear standards for problem definition, method selection, scoping, execution, validation, and closure, and ensuring the consistent, fit‑for‑purpose application of Lean, DMAIC, Rapid Improvement Events, Simplification Sprints, and “Just/Stop Doing It” approaches.
Establish and maintain enterprise‑wide improvement standards, tools, and governance, including charters, SIPOCs, problem statements, measurement and control standards, to ensure a common language, consistent rigor, and repeatable execution across regions and functions.
Own enterprise method‑selection and quality discipline, ensuring teams solve the right problems with appropriate approaches and intervening when efforts risk solution‑first thinking, weak sponsorship, poor scoping, insufficient data, or activity without measurable results.
Lead or directly support high‑priority, enterprise‑critical improvement initiatives, providing structured facilitation, rigorous analysis, and disciplined execution—leveraging data, diagnostics, and process insights in close partnership with Global Process Owners and enterprise leaders.
Serve as a trusted advisor and executive‑level coach to senior leaders and sponsors, challenging assumptions, stress‑testing problem framing, distinguishing root causes from symptoms, and maintaining methodological integrity under pressure to accelerate or oversimplify.
Develop, mentor, and coach a scalable network of internal improvement practitioners, intentionally building both technical proficiency and independent problem‑solving judgment to enable sustainable, distributed improvement at scale.
Embed structured change management into all significant improvement efforts, leading change architecture and adoption planning from Define through Control, applying ADKAR or equivalent frameworks to activate sponsorship, address resistance, and drive sustained behavior change beyond solution deployment.
Design and oversee enterprise capability‑building for continuous improvement, embedding disciplined problem‑solving into day‑to‑day operations and leadership expectations, and elevating structured improvement as a visible management norm rather than a standalone initiative.
Define, measure, validate, and sustain improvement outcomes, including building defensible business cases; sizing and reporting financial and operational benefits with business partners; embedding control plans, standard work, ownership, and validation cadences into operating rhythms.
Maintain strong fluency in process analytics and digital improvement tools (e.g., process mining, workflow analytics, and visualization platforms) to deepen diagnostics, accelerate root‑cause identification, and guide appropriate digital enablement of improvement work.