Director of Process Improvement

Position: Director of Process Improvement Salary: $67,000-$77,000 Schedule: Monday-Friday, business hours Location: In person, St. Paul WHO WE ARE For more than 129 years, Neighborhood House has partnered with families in St. Paul to ensure access to essential services, including food, housing, education, and opportunities. Today, we serve more than 30,000 individuals annually across six neighborhoods, striving for a community where everyone can thrive. POSITION SUMMARY The Director of Process Improvement provides strategic and operational leadership for organization-wide process improvement at Neighborhood House. The Director establishes and manages the organization’s approach to identifying, prioritizing, designing, implementing, and evaluating process improvements across programs and administrative functions. This role strengthens how work moves across the organization by mapping current processes, identifying barriers and inefficiencies, designing improved workflows, clarifying ownership and decision-making authority, documenting expectations, and guiding staff through implementation and adoption. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Organizational Process Improvement and Project Leadership

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for organization-wide process improvement efforts, ensuring work is aligned with Neighborhood House’s mission, values, strategic priorities, annual work plans, and operational needs.
• Lead an organization-wide process for identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, and sequencing process improvement opportunities in partnership with the Chief Administrative Officer, executive leaders, directors, managers, and process owners.
• Develop and maintain an organization-wide process improvement roadmap that reflects strategic priorities, operational needs, organizational capacity, project dependencies, risks, and anticipated impact.
• Advise the Chief Administrative Officer and executive leadership on enterprise process risks, competing priorities, resource and capacity constraints, and recommended courses of action.
• Translate organizational challenges into clear project goals, scopes of work, timelines, deliverables, decision points, and measures of success.
• Convene and lead cross-functional working groups, task forces, and project teams; establish clear roles, timelines, decision rights, communication expectations, deliverables, and accountability mechanisms; and ensure projects move toward timely decisions and completion.
• Lead through influence, collaboration, and clarity, especially when project team members do not report directly to this position.
• Develop and monitor project budgets and resource plans for approved process improvement initiatives.
• Select, coordinate, and evaluate consultants, vendors, or other external resources supporting process improvement projects within delegated authority.
• Exercise independent judgment in leading process improvement work within approved policies, budgets, and organizational strategy, and identify when consultation or escalation is required.
• Anticipate and address project risks, delays, capacity concerns, unclear ownership, competing priorities, and unresolved conflicts; recommend solutions and elevate issues requiring executive decision or additional authority. Process Mapping, Design, and Documentation
• Facilitate process review conversations and workshops with staff, managers, process owners, end users, and other stakeholders to understand needs, pain points, risks, handoffs, requirements, and opportunities for improvement.
• Map current-state processes, including workflows, decision points, roles and responsibilities, information needs, approvals, timelines, bottlenecks, participant or staff experience, and compliance requirements.
• Design future-state processes that are clear, efficient, accessible, equitable, realistic, and aligned with organizational policies, technology, staffing capacity, and service expectations.
• Establish and maintain clear, consistent process documentation standards and develop process maps, standard operating procedures, checklists, templates, job aids, training materials, and communication tools for priority organizational processes.
• Evaluate proposed and implemented processes for alignment with internal controls, data quality, confidentiality, accessibility, risk management, compliance requirements, organizational policies, and responsible use of resources. Change Implementation, Training, and Adoption
• Develop implementation plans that include communication, training, documentation, timelines, roles, transition support, and feedback loops.
• Create clear, user-friendly training materials, job aids, and communication tools to help staff understand and adopt new or revised processes.
• Guide managers and process owners in implementing new workflows, clarifying expectations, communicating changes, addressing barriers, and fulfilling their responsibilities for successful adoption.
• Lead change-planning efforts and provide strategic guidance to staff and stakeholders during implementation, recognizing and addressing the effects of change on workload, confidence, relationships, accessibility, and service delivery.
• Monitor implementation and adoption, identify barriers or unintended consequences, and direct or recommend adjustments that improve clarity, usability, consistency, equity, and effectiveness.
• Champion and embed a culture of continuous improvement, learning, reflection, accountability, equity, and radical hospitality across the organization. Data, Evaluation, and Continuous Improvement
• Use data, staff feedback, participant experience, compliance findings, and operational indicators to identify trends, inefficiencies, gaps, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Establish practical measures of success and analyze process performance before and after implementation to assess whether changes are producing the intended results.
• Provide regular, decision-ready updates, analyses, recommendations, and materials to the Chief Administrative Officer, executive leadership, directors, process owners, and other stakeholders.
• Partner with Evaluation, Finance, HR, IT, program leaders, and other process owners to strengthen data quality, reporting processes, and the use of information for decision-making.
• Evaluate implemented processes, identify and lead or recommend needed adjustments, and establish clear ownership, monitoring, documentation, and review structures to sustain improvements over time.
• Assess the cumulative impact of process changes across departments and identify when individual improvements create new risks, duplication, barriers, or unintended consequences elsewhere in the organization. EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS Required Education, Experience & Skills
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration, nonprofit management, organizational development, operations, industrial and organizational psychology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and progressively responsible experience.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in process improvement, project or program management, organizational development, change management, business analysis, operations, or a related function.
• Demonstrated experience independently leading complex, cross-functional improvement initiatives from initial assessment and current-state analysis through design, implementation, adoption, and evaluation.
• Demonstrated experience translating broad or ambiguous organizational challenges into clear project goals, scopes of work, roles, timelines, deliverables, decision points, and measures of success.
• Experience mapping and analyzing workflows and developing practical process documentation, including standard operating procedures, checklists, templates, job aids, training materials, and implementation plans.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, facilitate diverse groups, elicit stakeholder perspectives, navigate disagreement, build shared understanding, and move groups toward clear decisions and action.
• Experience developing and implementing change-management, communication, training, and adoption strategies that recognize the impact of change on staff, participants, relationships, workload, and service delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to use quantitative and qualitative information, including operational data, staff feedback, participant experience, and compliance findings, to identify improvement opportunities, establish measures, and evaluate results.
• Excellent interpersonal, facilitation, presentation, and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex information clearly to executive leaders, managers, staff, and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to incorporate equity, accessibility, cultural responsiveness, and participant and staff experience into process design and organizational decision-making.
• Strong judgment and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex initiatives, establish priorities, respond to changing needs, and identify when consultation or escalation is required.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and experience using (or the demonstrated ability to learn) project-management, process-mapping, collaboration, and data-analysis tools.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with people from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, economic, linguistic, and professional backgrounds. Desired Experience, Education & Skills
• Advanced degree in business administration, public administration, nonprofit management, organizational development, industrial and organizational psychology, or a related field.
• Formal training or certification in process improvement, project management, change management, business analysis, or facilitation, such as Lean, Six Sigma, PMP, Prosci, CCMP, or a comparable methodology.
• Experience working in a nonprofit, human-services, community-based, public-sector, or multi-site organization.
• Experience leading improvement work across both programmatic and administrative functions.
• Experience supporting enterprise technology implementations, system integrations, or significant changes to organization-wide tools and workflows.
• Experience with internal controls, compliance, data privacy, risk management, or government and foundation funding requirements.
• Experience selecting or managing consultants, vendors, or project resources and monitoring project budgets.
• Experience coaching managers and process owners in project leadership, change implementation, accountability, and continuous-improvement practices.
• Ability to speak one or more languages spoken by our participant families, especially Spanish, Karen, Hmong, and Somali. WORK LOCATION AND SCHEDULE This in-person role is based in St. Paul, MN. This position is primarily based in an office setting with frequent interaction at various Neighborhood House sites and occasional off-site meetings or events. Local travel between locations is required; reliable transportation is necessary (mileage reimbursement available). Work schedule is weekdays, business hours, with occasional evening and weekend work required. BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIREMENT Neighborhood House is required to conduct background checks on all final candidates because of our work with youth and families. We understand that past events may have occurred, and we don’t want this to deter you from applying. The outcome of background checks does not automatically disqualify a candidate, and we are open to a conversation to discuss the results. NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Neighborhood House is committed to attracting and retaining employees with varying identities and backgrounds. The Neighborhood House provides equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or any other status protected by law. WE’D LIKE TO MEET YOU Don't meet every requirement listed in this job description? Do you think your experience level is not where it needs to be? Studies show that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every single qualification. Neighborhood House is committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace. If you're interested in this position but your experience doesn't align perfectly with all the qualifications in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. The right role for you might be just around the corner.