Consultant, Lean Maturity & AI Enablement

Are you passionate about being part of a team at a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales that delivers extraordinary care to help individuals and businesses prepare for and protect their future? If so, then Nationwide Financial could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers and partners are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

This position will be hired on a SuccessFlex basis.

The hired associate must reside within 35 miles of the following location:

Grandview: 1000 Yard Street Grandview OH, 43215

Work schedule: 2 days in office, 3 days remote.

This role does not qualify for employer-sponsored work authorization.  Nationwide does not participate in the Stem OPT Extension program.

This role is responsible for advancing lean maturity for our Licensing, Commissions and Support services departments within the ISS organization, with a strong focus on leveraging AI capabilities to accelerate continuous improvement and business outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead lean maturity efforts by identifying and applying opportunities to use AI in support of continuous improvement, problem solving, and operational effectiveness.
• Provide consultation and hands-on support for problem-solving efforts, including development of standard work, leader standard work, metric usage, and team huddle practices.
• Serve as a lean advisor for approximately one-third of the overall ISS organization, partnering with business areas to strengthen processes and improve team performance.
• Support the Licensing, Commissions, and Support Services teams through lean consultation, process improvement, and practical AI enablement.
• Drive initiatives that create measurable savings and efficiencies that can be returned to the businesses supported.
• Experience coaching/implementing elements of the Lean Management System

Minimum Qualifications

• Lean Yellow Belt or Lean Green Belt certification required.
• Demonstrated technical aptitude, with the ability and interest to explore and apply AI capabilities in a business environment.
• Experience supporting process improvement, operational metrics, team huddles, and structured problem-solving efforts.

Internal Note: Compensation Grade G3

Job Description Summary

Do you possess a deep understanding of Lean management systems, as well as the creativity and resourcefulness to apply that knowledge to help tackle complex challenges? Do you share our passion for continually improving organizational effectiveness? If you like working in a collaborative, team-based environment, making positive, lasting improvements for customers, associates and our organization, we want to hear from you!

As a Consultant, you'll be responsible for the refinement and/or execution of the enterprise Lean management system model, as assigned. We'll count on you to deliver training curriculum as needed, develop and coach all levels, develop and execute enterprise reporting mechanisms, and contribute to the enterprise Lean Community of Practice. You'll work to help solve large and complex business unit and/or cross business unit problems using Lean and other continuous improvement techniques. You'll have opportunities to coach and educate associates and leaders at all levels to mature the capability and influence cultural transformation regarding Lean and continuous improvement.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Leads and coordinates the overall Lean support for an area. Provides support for core lean activities such as huddles, problem solving, 1:1s and "sit-with" session by monitoring adherence, conducting process confirmations, giving feedback and coaching to business partners calling out gaps of risks to leadership. Work closely with business partners, other lean practitioners, and the Business Transformation Office (BTO) to drive consistency across the enterprise.

• Improves and matures the use of Lean tools to improve the business processes and identify the pipeline for Green and Black Belt projects, standard work improvements and iterations, socializing successes from problem solving, improving face-to-face interactions of managers and associates, use of the skills matrix in managing and improving skills.

• Understands Lean elements as a system and conduct in-depth analysis across the Lean system; searches for correlations or relationships to improve the overall system.

• Influences the continued use of visual management and active engagement of all leader levels, associates and key partners. Leads others in the use and maturation of Hoshin (strategy) management, value stream management, capacity and demand management and the use and continued development of standard work.

• Participates actively in Lean Community of Practice events and other opportunities to learn from other practitioners or professional events (internal and external).

• Provides coaching to associates, business partners, and leaders on the use of Lean tools and methods. Conducts gembas, sit-withs and other techniques to support the business unit, assesses areas of strength and opportunities and provides appropriate coaching or support. Coordinates capability building (e.g., training material, standard courses, and/or using subject matter authorities) with Business Transformation Office (BTO) for consistency across the enterprise.

• Coordinates with the BTO to schedule the assessment, aligned with the annual Enterprise Assessment roadmap. Coaches the business leaders in further developing the action plan. Responsible for coordinating the execution of the action item plan and providing visibility to the progress. Participates in other Lean maturity assessments to provide coaching and a third-party enterprise perspective.

• Supports continuity of Lean management systems in the business by providing or coordinating Lean onboarding training and capability building to new associates, leads and leaders. Coordinates and aligns with BTO Maturity & Center of Excellence for current trainings, curriculum and offerings. Plans and facilitates specialized sessions and CI events (e.g., Kaizen, brainstorming).

• Leads the ongoing development and refinement of Lean and continuous improvement measurement systems and reporting for the BU. Develops reporting structure and mechanisms or requirements to enable other specialized groups for reporting. Coordinate with Business unit reporting and data analytics. Lead pulse surveys as needed to understand the attitudes and behaviors of the organization. Uses regularly occurring scorecards and other data sources to analyze and trend health of the Lean management system. Conducts in-depth analysis across all Lean elements and present findings with graphical outputs to leaders at all levels.

• Supports and matures process changes implemented during the initial Lean deployment by ensuring adherence to the process as well as encouraging continuous refinement and improvements.

• Ensures projects are consistently aligned to Hoshin or business unit strategy. Manages projects to achieve desired business objectives. Coordinates and prioritizes all aspects of projects, including planning, communication, execution and completion.

• Develops, manages and implements strategic business processes that support business requirements.

• Leads value stream related, business unit or practice specific projects. Project size and complexity will vary.

• Conducts deployment work in partnership with the BTO. Leads and perform diagnostics, redesigns processes, runs pilot(s) during initial transformation and/or for replications. Ensures achievement of performance targets, and adherence to timeline. Coaches Managers, Supervisors, front line associates and change agents.

• Coordinates with BTO to plan and manage deployment of varying scales to project timeline and objectives. Manages and executes communication plan, tracks impact and collaborates closely with business unit planning.

• Manages associates, including performance management, salary planning and administration, training and development, workflow planning, hiring and placement and disciplinary actions. Provides ideas and criteria for establishing and meeting ePMP objectives for area of supervision.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships: Reports to Manager/Director; leads a team of up to three Lean Maturity professionals.

Typical Skills and Experiences:

Education: Undergraduate degree in business, mathematics, engineering or related field preferred.

License/Certification/Designation: Black or Green Belt/Lean certification preferred. Kaizen certification preferred. Project Management certification is desirable.

Experience: Three years of experience in Lean and/or continuous improvement leadership preferred. Significant experience leading multiple projects to successful completion with varying levels of complexity, demonstrating benefit identification and influencing benefit realization. Six years of experience in business process design or operations and project management preferred. Managerial experience, including application of Lean/continuous improvement organizational strategy to get results, facilitation, negotiation, delegation, mentoring, etc. preferred.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Project management concepts and techniques; working knowledge of business systems and data processing policies, practices, and procedures. Knowledge of business-related systems and concepts and requirements preferred. Maintains and comprehends business/systems process operations or redesign techniques, methods and tools. Maintains current understanding of insurance and financial services industry, focusing on the Nationwide enterprise and its key competitors. Value stream mapping and management; Hoshin (strategy) development and deployment; tiered visual management, metric, and standard work development/maturation; designing and improving process to enable flow; structured problem solving techniques. Working knowledge of concepts and techniques to motivate change management (e.g. ADKAR/Proci, Kotter) and Relationship Management (e.g., identify, build and manage). The overall ability to clearly and effectively portray concepts and ideas, collaborate, build work products and coach others toward greater common goals. Having a positive attitude and be willing to take action for the benefit of the team and greater initiatives. Use of appropriate, effective, and timely communication based on situation and context (verbal communication, body language, writing, inter-personal connection, presentation skills, etc.).

Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.

Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager’s leader and HR Business Partner.

Values: Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions:

Overtime Eligibility: Not Eligible (Exempt)

Working Conditions: Normal office environment; extended and/or non-standard work hours as needed.

ADA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.

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Benefits

We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more. To learn more about the benefits we offer, click here.

Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.

NOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES:

We value the partnerships we have built with our preferred vendors. Nationwide does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. All resumes submitted by employment agencies directly to any Nationwide employee or hiring manager in any form without a signed Nationwide Client Services Agreement on file and search engagement for that position will be deemed unsolicited in nature. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is subsequently hired as a result of the referral or through other means.

Nationwide pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement within the actual starting salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. If a Sales job, Sales Incentives, based on performance goals are possible in addition to this range. Note on Compensation for Part-Time Roles: Please be aware that the salary ranges listed below reflect full-time compensation. Actual compensation may be prorated based on the number of hours worked relative to a full-time schedule.

The national salary range for Consultant, Lean Maturity : $97,000.00-$180,000.00

The expected starting salary range for Consultant, Lean Maturity : $97,000.00 - $145,000.00