Program Manager - Operational Excellence at American Water in Camden, New Jersey

Job Description:

Requisition ID: 107921



Share Our Purpose. Be Yourself. Feel Valued.


People are the heart of our business. As an American Water employee, you will be offered a competitive salary and health benefits package, along with opportunities to develop, grow, and evolve your career. Our benefits packages focus on key areas such as health & wellness, emotional & well-being, and savings for current & future goals.


We are Beautifully Different. We strongly believe having diversity across our company makes us more successful and helps us provide essential services to our customers. We are stronger because we embrace different ideas, viewpoints, experiences, and backgrounds. American Water is the best choice for your next role! Click here for more information on our inclusion, diversity, and equity journey.



About American Water

American Water (NYSE: AWK) is the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States. With a history dating back to 1886, We Keep Life Flowing® by providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people across 14 regulated jurisdictions and 18 military installations. American Water's 6,500 talented professionals leverage their significant expertise and the company's national size and scale to achieve excellent outcomes for the benefit of customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders.


As one of the fastest growing utilities in the U.S., American Water expects to invest $40 to $42 billion in infrastructure repairs and replacement, system resiliency and regulated acquisitions over the next 10 years. The company has a long-standing history of executing its core operations, aligned with sustainable best practices, through its commitments to safety, affordability, customer service, protecting the environment, an inclusive workforce and strengthening communities.


American Water has been recognized on the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the fifth consecutive year, ranked 18th on Barron's 100 Most Sustainable U.S. Companies 2023 List, earned the U.S. Department of Homeland Security SAFETY Act designation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense® Excellence Award, among additional state, local and national recognitions.

For more information, visit amwater.com and join American Water on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.




Primary Role


This role is responsible for program and project management of operational excellence projects and will ensure the successful management and reporting of program initiatives.

This role will also be responsible for the development, implementation, and management of organizational and operational excellence projects and strategies within the company's operations and maintenance functional areas, which will support continuous improvement, standardization of operational processes, and address specific focus areas in need of support. They will lead activities/projects supporting the strategic and operational alignment, cooperation, and communication across Operations and be a key contributor to the development of behaviors and practices that foster a culture of accountability and excellence in Operations.

They will contribute to the development and execution of continuous improvement initiatives best practices in operating processes, operational excellence principles, and support systems development and deployment. Drive initiatives under guidance from the management team and operations leaders that contribute to long term operational excellence aligned with American Water vision and strategy.




Key Accountabilities

• Proactively build and maintain strong relationships within Operations and business functional areas; maintain consistent communication, manage business needs and expectations by meeting project timelines, scope and budget.
• Prepare communications / provide information for distribution and/or presentation to business.
• Manage relationships with assigned areas of the company for the purpose of driving continuous improvement and delivering projects.
• Work with assigned business areas to identify opportunities, prioritize, select/assign and execute projects to successful completion by working with project teams.
• Use critical thinking methods to demonstrate opportunity and execute for continuous improvement.
• Identify opportunities, charter (establish goals and scope) and execute projects to successful outcome. Work with business leaders, sponsors, and process owners to realize the goals of projects.
• Lead project teams and manage performance in a matrix organization.
• Perform complex data analysis, gather data, and develop process controls through analytics and statistical methods.
• Provide planning, direction, coordination, and facilitation of Operational strategies and objectives
• Support strategy development for the Operations function and translate strategic objectives into operational execution and standard practices.
• Drive organizational change management initiatives and operational business performance within critical workstreams.
• Enable sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques for project success across the Operational Excellence organization
• Establish the protocol, procedure, and methods to communicate project information and issues among members of the Operational Excellence team and impacted stakeholders across the enterprise.

Knowledge

• Core professional competence in asset planning, engineering project delivery and/or operations.
• Knowledge of environmental regulations, legislative developments, new technologies, engineering design, planning, delivery, and/or operations related to water and/or wastewater systems.
• Knowledge of water and/or wastewater operations and maintenance functions.
• Advanced knowledge and use of office productivity tools (MS Office 365, Quick Sight, Project Scheduling tools, etc.)
• Working knowledge of current American Water operational technologies.

Skills

• Strong process, project, and program management skills.
• Strong quantitative skills (e.g., analytical, technical, problem solving).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills (e.g., fluency in report writing and presentations).
• Effective interpersonal skills (e.g., persuasion, negotiation, listening, cooperation, tact, diplomacy, problem solving, internal consulting).
• Leadership presence (e.g., ability to deal effectively and maintain collaborative relationships with Company senior management and other key internal and external stakeholders).
• Ability to influence across the organization to drive operational work and resource planning activities.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively problem solve routine and non-routine issues, developing possible solutions to problems and challenges.
• Ability to execute with urgency, while also maintaining project management discipline and stakeholder engagement.
• Financial analysis skill, including budget management, business modeling, and basic accounting knowledge.

Experience/Education

• 12+ years' experience in Operations and Project Management in a progressive and fast paced environment with multi-function teams. Experience within the water and/or wastewater utility industry is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and managing initiatives focused on operational efficiency, revenue recovery and process improvement.
• Detailed understanding of revenue recovery opportunities, including nonrevenue water reduction and service order optimization.

Certifications & Licenses

• Project Management Professional ("PMP") certification preferred

Travel Requirements

• 20% but could be more or less depending on assigned projects

Competencies


Champions safety


Collaborates


Cultivates innovation


Customer obsessed


Drives Results


Nimble learning



Join American Water...We Keep Life Flowing™



American Water is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and prohibits employment discrimination for employees and applicants
based on his or her age, race, color, pregnancy, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, marital status, citizenship, or because they are an individual with a disability, protected veteran or other status protected by federal, state, and local laws. Apply Now