Director of Business Process Optimization

At Concordia Plans we care for those who serve by providing excellent retirement, healthcare, and benefit services. The Director of Business Process Optimization will be responsible for driving operational excellence for business processes and leading project management execution for complex cross functional projects and strategic initiatives directly impacting key metrics, key initiatives, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Concordia Plans has a reputation for outstanding culture, most recently winning the 2023 Top Workplaces USA award, with additional special awards for Work-Life Flexibility, Compensation & Benefits and Purpose & Values. This honor goes to the country’s best employers with high performing people-first cultures. Our recent history of employment excellence also includes being awarded the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition’s 2020 Business Health Culture Award and the Top Workplaces 2021 and 2022 St. Louis Post-Dispatch awards. Established more than 50 years ago providing service in 6,000 communities throughout the United States, we are mission focused professionals united to care for those caring for our community.

At Concordia Plans we are focused and flexible. Embracing the new normal, pioneering ways to continue to support work life balance in our family first culture. We offer competitive compensation with a benefit package, including a pension plan, 403(b), health insurance at no cost to the employee, and much more. With this exciting opportunity you can combine experience, talent, and passion as part of our team at Concordia Plans serving the workers of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod.

General Summary

The Director of Business Process Optimization will be responsible for driving operational excellence for business processes and leading project management execution for complex cross functional projects and strategic initiatives directly impacting key metrics, key initiatives, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Essential Job Functions

Provide leadership, guidance, and support to foster a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement. Responsible for enhancing productivity by identifying, mapping, and optimizing business processes from end to end to improve efficiencies and streamline operations. Define, develop, and implement a continuous improvement approach by identifying frameworks and operating principles, methodologies and create and deliver training for internal audience. Collaborate and serve as a liaison with internal leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and implement organization wide projects. Accountable for successful implementation of organization wide projects resulting in impact on key metrics and strategic initiative accomplishments. Act as a change agent for continuous improvement and lead facilitations to identify and solve opportunities. Lead transformation and execution of the strategy and rollout, including extensive work and coordination with cross functional teams to implement standard work, tools, and improvements. Develop and deliver training to build process improvement capabilities across Concordia Plans. Assist with development of KPI’s, metrics, and other indicators to measure performance across the organization. Participate in the development and delivery of organization wide communications related and upcoming changes for processes and projects ensuring transparency and alignment with stakeholders.

Education And Experience

Bachelor’s degree required with 8+ years in leadership experience in a software or service environment or MBA with 5+ years of experience is preferred. Benefit or HR software experience a plus. Proven experience in transforming organization cultures to embrace process improvement methodologies and leading organization wide complex projects. Project, program, continuous improvement certification and or experience, formal training, or certification in process for continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, change management, etc.) Ability to lead, collaborate, and influence across the organization at all levels. Ability to translate internal customer needs, concerns, and solutions across functional and stakeholder groups. Have experience in standardized process, KPI, visual management, sustaining processes, process mapping, etc.

Competencies

♦ Highly skilled with Microsoft Project, Smartsheet or other project management software.

♦ Shows Humility: Allows others to serve in the capacity to which they have been called.

♦ Change Agent: Is energized by change and welcomes new opportunities, quickly learns, and adapts to change, personal maturity to evaluate and manage uncertainty and stress effectively. Ability to blend creativity and improvisational thinking with sensitivity to tradition and history.

♦ Strategic Innovation: Has a strategic mindset. Generates best practices and encourages new and innovative ideas; shows appropriate tenacity in advocacy of ideas. Proactively seeks to attract and retain new and divergent thoughts. Looks beyond the present situation and sees what is possible in the future.

♦ Performance management: Accepts accountability for one’s own or one’s employees’ performance by setting clear goals and expectations, tracking progress, providing feedback and coaching; actively participates in employee development and seeks continuous learning to improve personal and team performance.

♦ Learning agility: Learns new skills and technologies easily, climbs learning curve rapidly and applies new knowledge quickly.

♦ Problem solving: Uses rigorous logic, systematic methods, and analysis to solve difficult problems, able to exercise discretion and make decisions to resolve issues and questions, anticipates the implications and consequences of situations and takes appropriate action, is excellent at objective analysis, and asks questions, seeks answers and engages others in analyzing and developing solutions.

♦ Organizational savvy: Ability to navigate effectively in regulated industry and with complex organizations required; develops thorough knowledge of the structure and function of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and its related entities.

♦ Results oriented: Steadfastly pushes self for results, able to effectively prioritize and execute tasks with minimal supervision (including on longer-term projects), maintains focus on organizational objectives and acts with appropriate decisiveness and urgency.

♦ Sensitivity: practices high level of confidentiality, serve as liaison with individuals. Ability to relate well with employees and vendors, maintaining appropriate balance between compassion, encouragement, and accommodation in all interactions.

♦ Communications: Has the ability to articulate and present complex information simply and concisely in person, over the phone and in writing, and to reflect Concordia Plans values (integrity, compassion, excellence, stewardship, accountability) in all internal and external communications.

♦ Teamwork: Collaborates across the organization and within own team: Participates fully on assigned and adjunct teams, fosters a collaborative spirit, builds collaborative networks with internal staff and vendor representatives.