VP, Global Process Improvement

RGA Reinsurance Company$150K — $224K *
Business Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS) or equivalent work experience required
  • 10+ years leading process improvement or operational excellence initiatives in complex organizations
  • 5+ years hands-on experience with Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC) methodologies at a Black Belt-level
  • 3+ years of structured change management experience using frameworks like ADKAR
  • Experience in financial services or reinsurance, with knowledge of core business processes required

Responsibilities

  • Define and steward the enterprise process improvement framework and standards
  • Establish and maintain enterprise-wide improvement governance and tools
  • Ensure method-selection quality discipline for solving the right problems
  • Lead high-priority improvement initiatives with rigorous execution
  • Serve as a trusted advisor and coach to senior leaders, challenging assumptions
  • Develop a network of internal improvement practitioners for scalable practices
  • Embed structured change management into improvement efforts

Benefits

  • Gain valuable knowledge from diverse colleagues globally
  • Enjoy a respectful and inclusive work environment
  • Access vast career potential within the organization
Full Job Description
Reporting to the SVP, Enterprise Strategy Execution within the Enterprise Strategy Office, the VP, Global Process Improvement is accountable for building, embedding, and sustaining RGA's enterprise wide process improvement capability. Operating within a complex, globally federated life and health reinsurance environment, this role requires deep methodological rigor and the credibility to serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, shaping how the organization identifies, frames, and solves its most important performance challenges, not merely overseeing a toolkit. This role establishes and stewards the enterprise standards, methodologies, governance, and enables infrastructure required to ensure improvement efforts are disciplined, appropriately scoped, data driven, and sustained. As the enterprise steward of improvement methodology, this role defines how RGA identifies the right problems, selects fit for purpose improvement approaches, executes work with rigor, and validates and sustains business outcomes. This includes ownership of the enterprise process improvement framework encompassing Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC), Rapid Improvement Events, Simplification Sprints, and structured change management. Working in close partnership with Global Process Owners, business and functional leaders, and enterprise enabling teams, this role ensures improvement is applied consistently, pragmatically, and in service of tangible business outcomes. The role elevates the organization's shared language, leadership behaviors, and management routines around process improvement by coaching sponsors, reinforcing rigor, and embedding structured problem solving into how RGA leaders manage and operate. Critically, this role owns the change architecture that makes improvement stick. Applying structured change management frameworks such as ADKAR, this role ensures solution design is matched by organizational readiness, active sponsorship, and measurable adoption. Through disciplined standards, pragmatic enablement, and sustained follow-through, this role ensures continuous improvement is not treated as a program, but as a core enterprise capability and a fundamental expectation for how work is done across RGA.

What you will do
  • Define and steward the enterprise process improvement framework, establishing clear standards for problem definition, method selection, scoping, execution, validation, and closure, and ensuring the consistent, fit-for-purpose application of Lean, DMAIC, Rapid Improvement Events, Simplification Sprints, and "Just/Stop Doing It" approaches.
  • Establish and maintain enterprise-wide improvement standards, tools, and governance, including charters, SIPOCs, problem statements, measurement and control standards, to ensure a common language, consistent rigor, and repeatable execution across regions and functions.
  • Own enterprise method-selection and quality discipline, ensuring teams solve the right problems with appropriate approaches and intervening when efforts risk solution-first thinking, weak sponsorship, poor scoping, insufficient data, or activity without measurable results.
  • Lead or directly support high-priority, enterprise-critical improvement initiatives, providing structured facilitation, rigorous analysis, and disciplined execution-leveraging data, diagnostics, and process insights in close partnership with Global Process Owners and enterprise leaders.
  • Serve as a trusted advisor and executive-level coach to senior leaders and sponsors, challenging assumptions, stress-testing problem framing, distinguishing root causes from symptoms, and maintaining methodological integrity under pressure to accelerate or oversimplify.
  • Develop, mentor, and coach a scalable network of internal improvement practitioners, intentionally building both technical proficiency and independent problem-solving judgment to enable sustainable, distributed improvement at scale.
  • Embed structured change management into all significant improvement efforts, leading change architecture and adoption planning from Define through Control, applying ADKAR or equivalent frameworks to activate sponsorship, address resistance, and drive sustained behavior change beyond solution deployment
  • Design and oversee enterprise capability-building for continuous improvement, embedding disciplined problem-solving into day-to-day operations and leadership expectations, and elevating structured improvement as a visible management norm rather than a standalone initiative.
  • Define, measure, validate, and sustain improvement outcomes, including building defensible business cases; sizing and reporting financial and operational benefits with business partners; embedding control plans, standard work, ownership, and validation cadences into operating rhythms
  • Maintain strong fluency in process analytics and digital improvement tools (e.g., process mining, workflow analytics, and visualization platforms) to deepen diagnostics, accelerate root-cause identification, and guide appropriate digital enablement of improvement work.


Qualifications
  • Bachelor's Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS) or equivalent related work experience. required
  • Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) or progress toward a relevant professional designation. preferred
  • 10+ Years Experience leading process improvement, operational excellence, or enterprise transformation initiatives at scale in complex organizations. required
  • 5+ Years Hands-on experience applying Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC), or similar structured improvement methodologies with demonstrated Black Belt-level proficiency in defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling complex business processes. required
  • 5+ Years Experience facilitating cross-functional improvement efforts in complex, federated organizations with the ability to influence leaders and teams without direct authority. required
  • 3+ Years Structured change management experience applying ADKAR, Kotter, or equivalent frameworks to drive adoption of process or organizational change in complex environments. required
  • Experience in financial services, insurance, or reinsurance operating environments, with working familiarity with core business processes such as underwriting, claims, actuarial/valuation, finance operations, or treaty management. required
  • Direct experience in life and health reinsurance or a closely adjacent regulated sector (long-term insurance, group benefits, managed care). required
  • Experience managing an enterprise improvement portfolio or CoE, including intake governance, prioritization, resource allocation, and benefit tracking preferred
  • Expert knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma (DMAIC), and structured problem-solving approaches, with the judgment to apply methodologies pragmatically rather than mechanically. required
  • Strong facilitation and diagnostic skills, including the ability to surface root causes, challenge assumptions, structure ambiguous problems, and guide teams to evidence-based conclusions through rigorous but accessible analysis. required
  • Structured change management fluency: ability to apply ADKAR, or equivalent frameworks to assess readiness, build sponsor coalitions, design adoption plans, and measure behavioral change, not just solution deployment. required
  • Executive advisory and influencing skills: ability to function as a trusted advisor to C-suite and senior leaders, framing findings in business and financial terms, challenging problem framings constructively, and sustaining credibility and candor even when delivering unwelcome analysis. required
  • Business acumen and financial literacy: ability to build business cases for improvement investment, translate process metrics into P&L language, size opportunity and risk in terms meaningful to Finance and executive leadership, and hold improvement portfolios accountable to benefit realization. required
  • Deep understanding of sponsorship, governance, and follow-through discipline required to convert analysis into sustained results, including the ability to distinguish sustained improvement from episodic activity. required
  • Ability to design and scale enterprise capabilities, standards, and operating mechanisms rather than execute isolated projects. Comfortable building infrastructure that outlasts any individual engagement. required
  • Capability elevation: ability to build a shared organizational language and set of leadership expectations around continuous improvement, shifting how leaders frame problems, review performance, and hold teams accountable. Measured not by training completion but by visible changes in management behavior and operating rhythm. required
  • Highly advanced written and oral communication skills, including the ability to distill complex methodological decisions, analytical findings, and improvement recommendations into clear, compelling guidance for executives, sponsors, and cross-functional teams. required
  • Data and process analytics fluency: ability to interpret operational, financial, and process performance data to diagnose problems and validate outcomes. Familiarity with process mining tools (e.g., Celonis, UiPath Process Mining), BI platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau), and statistical software sufficient to direct and quality-assure analytical work. required
  • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt LSSBB or demonstrated equivalent (MBB-level coaching experience with verifiable project portfolio). Candidates without formal certification must demonstrate Black Belt-caliber methodology mastery. required
  • Change Management Certification - Prosci/ADKAR, CCMP, or equivalent structured change management credential. Candidates should demonstrate practical application, not credential alone. required
  • Continuous Improvement / OpEx Certification - Additional CI, operational excellence, or agile certification (e.g., Lean Leader, Shingo, SAFe). preferred


What you can expect from RGA:
  • Gain valuable knowledge from and experience with diverse, caring colleagues around the world.
  • Enjoy a respectful, welcoming environment that fosters individuality and encourages pioneering thought.
  • Join the bright and creative minds of RGA, and experience vast, endless career potential.


We're excited to get to know you and connect your unique skills with our global opportunities. To create a modern and seamless experience, we use artificial intelligence (AI) in parts of our preliminary screening process. This technology helps us personalize job recommendations, automate interview scheduling, evaluate candidates based solely on experience-without considering name, gender, or other personal details-and provide real-time answers through our chatbot. AI is used only during early screening and never makes hiring decisions. Your RGA recruiter will work closely with you every step of the way to ensure the process feels personal, thoughtful, and focused on you.

Compensation Range:
$150,770.00 - $224,640.00 Annual

Base pay varies depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience and market location. In addition, RGA provides an annual bonus plan that includes all roles and some positions are eligible for participation in our long-term equity incentive plan. RGA also maintains a full range of health, retirement, and other employee benefits.

About RGA Reinsurance Company

RGA Reinsurance Company Careers

There has never been a more opportune time to join the dynamic team at RGA Reinsurance Company—the leading entity in the reinsurance industry globally.

Work You’ll Do

Join RGA Reinsurance Company's top-tier team to assist some of the most prominent companies worldwide in navigating their challenges and seizing growth opportunities through innovative reinsurance solutions. Transform the reinsurance landscape with the brightest minds at RGA Reinsurance Company, where leadership, innovation, and a commitment to diversity training shape the future of the industry. Lead from a unique position in the marketplace, at the crossroads of deep industry expertise and groundbreaking innovation. Engage with a global team of business and reinsurance advisors to help clients master their strategic objectives. Collaborate with the most skilled group of reinsurance professionals in the world, dedicated to excellence and forward-thinking solutions.

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The initiative aims to build a market-leading team to guide some of the world’s most renowned companies through their strategic reinsurance needs with unmatched expertise.

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