Head of Operational Excellence, Mission Readiness

ABOUT THE TEAM

The duty of this organization is to enable our Customers’ ongoing Mission Readiness. From the moment they say '“go” until the contract is fulfilled. We are only successful when the customer's mission is successful.

Mission Readiness is the post-production shared services organization for Anduril. This team supports the Business Lines and Divisions throughout the lifecycle of their product, from initial sustainment concept through delivery, installation, operation, repair and return. These service offerings also include providing technical publications, training, customer support, connectivity services and other value-added services. To the degree the Business elects, we accept the delegated responsibility for upfront and continued delivery of the committed service solutions. This team endeavors to provide the Business Lines, as our internal customers, shared mission services that are more efficient and cost effective than if they chose to provide them directly. By offering mission support capabilities and capacity that are not “core” to the Business, the Business can focus resources on addressing the next big need while we ensure existing commitments are met.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are looking for a Head of Operational Excellence (OpEx) to join our rapidly growing team in Costa Mesa, CA. In this role, you will be responsible for driving the systems, processes and projects that yield productivity and scale of the aftermarket service offerings.

You will run the Management Operating System (MOS) - ensuring visibility to success measures that lead the team to define, prioritize and execute improvement actions and initiatives. This will require business acumen and analytical thinking to determine the most impactful priorities, as well as excellent project and people management to keep initiatives on track.

You and your team will be lead representatives of Mission Readiness to the Business Line leadership and the primary touchpoint for functional integration with Finance, People (Talent Acquisition), Business Operations, and Quality. This will require the ability to influence others using both logic and force of will. You will also be asked to develop your own approach for balancing the requests brought by customers with internally derived initiatives.

You will manage the central core for process definition, process improvement, and the systems & tools to enable them, serving as a resource and coordination point for all of Mission Readiness and adjacent functions. In order to ensure effective application of resources, this role will also be central to business analysis and special projects for the organization.

If you like to think big picture but can manage to the details, this role could be for you. If you like to get involved in the action and connect the dots to make things happen, this role is definitely for you.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Lead a team of direct reports (both people managers and individual contributors) and indirect team members (including peers and other levels in other functions) to accomplish the objectives of Mission Readiness’ Operational Excellence
• Organize and run the Management Operating System (MOS) of Mission Readiness, which monitors key performance indicators of the business, institutes the cadence of performance review and the actions that result from it. Engage with and deliver the Business Line perspective to cross-functional leadership each quarter.
• Determine priorities for process definition/improvement and enabling systems/tools within Mission Readiness, then manage the planning, execution and results of the initiatives undertaken. Lead and/or oversee leadership of projects championed by Mission Readiness.
• Manage the portfolio of projects and strategic initiatives for Mission Readiness, driving follow-through and measurable results.
• Convene and conduct robust, hypothesis-driven business analyses that yield actionable insights and outcome-changing decisions. Become the trusted embedded research capability for the Mission Readiness organization.
• Coordinate with Finance to understand and refine the economics of Mission Readiness services. Instigate and generate views of revenues and costs that enable Mission Readiness to increase impact for the businesses. Implement cost allocation mechanisms and manage adherence.
• Coordinate with Talent Acquisition and People teams to ensure internal MOS is prioritizing recruiting efforts and onboarding for the fast-growing organization. Oversee programmatic labor charging compliance.
• Lead the development of inputs to feed annual and periodic business forecasting activities for capacity, investment and cost. Tie the strategic direction of Mission Readiness to that of the Business Lines to enable a cohesive story that generates growth and efficiencies.
• Serve as a key leadership team member in Mission Readiness, partnering with the VP and peers to coordinate cross-functional strategy, responsibilities and enable organizational success.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelors degree in an engineering or business discipline with technical emphasis
• 10+ years of professional experience in some combination of operations, process improvement, project management, business analysis, business systems, engineering and/or finance.
• Minimum of two years of experience directly managing 5+ employees
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time
• This position is based in Costa Mesa, CA and requires being onsite - remote work not considered
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret or Top Secret security clearance

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Prior work in/with a sustainment or aftermarket solutions business (such as logistics, sustainment, repairs, spare parts, connectivity services or other related services)
• Demonstrated experience maturing processes and/or operations from prototype/early stage through to repeatable volume or automation
• Prior work in/with industry with complex, technical products, preferably durable assets with embedded software
• Ability and willingness to dig in to systems and digital tools to inform and iterate process designs and direct improvements
• Strong organizational and self management discipline; desire to keep things on track and organized
• Ability and willingness to make tradeoffs for speed, impact and risk
• Demonstrated team builder and developer of people
• Six Sigma and/or Lean training and application