Operational Excellence Consultant

Operational Excellence Consultant

Collaborative. Respectful. A place to dream and do. These are just a few words that describe what life is like at Toyota. As one of the world's most admired brands, Toyota is growing and leading the future of mobility through innovative, high-quality solutions designed to enhance lives and delight those we serve. We're looking for talented team members who want to Dream. Do. Grow. with us.

An important part of the Toyota family is Toyota Financial Services (TFS), the finance and insurance brand for Toyota and Lexus in North America. While TFS is a separate business entity, it is an essential part of this world-changing company- delivering on Toyota's vision to move people beyond what's possible. At TFS, you will help create best-in-class customer experience in an innovative, collaborative environment.

Toyota does not offer sponsorship of job applicants for employment-based visas or any other work authorization for this position at this time.

Who We're Looking For

Toyota's Enterprise Enablement Department is looking for a passionate and highly motivated Operational Excellence Consultant.

Operational Excellence is a philosophy of the workplace where problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership results in the ongoing improvement in an organization. The process involves focusing on the customers' needs, keeping the team members positive and empowered, and continually improving the current activities in the workplace.

The Global Operational Excellence (GOE) team plays a significant role in advancing Global quality customer satisfaction, and profitability across Regions and Sales Finance Companies (SFCs), process effectiveness and profitability by leading the global implementation of The Toyota Way mindset and tools, including Toyota Production System (TPS), Ji Kotei Kaneketsu (JKK), Toyota Business Practice (TBP), On-the-Job Development (OJD), and Hoshin Kanri (HK). The GOE team creates strategy, frameworks, learning assets and provides facilitation, coaching, and overall management of the following global programs:

• TWoW! – Toyota Way of Working group – maintain the network of TW Champions, at least one in each TFS company globally, plus a Regional Coordinator for each Region. This network embeds Toyota Way mindset and capability using the strategy and tools developed by GOE. The team is also tasked with "rolling out TPS" across TFS globally. This includes strategy development, project plan creation, and implementation. The roll out plan requires us to build awareness, knowledge and capability globally, after which global oversight will be required to maintain the program.
• POET – President's Operational Excellence Team, a high potential leader development program focusing on applying Toyota Way Tools to help other SFCs solve business problems through best practice sharing and collaboration. In turn, the POET Members gain exposure to different TFS practices and functions globally.
• Kyodo – Kyodo is a regional leadership development program for senior leaders across the Americas Oceania Region (AOR), designed to strengthen leadership capability through hands-on application of the Toyota Way and TPS. Through cross-regional collaboration and direct engagement with an SFC, participants address real business challenges using structured problem-solving, Genchi Genbutsu, and best-practice sharing. The program broadens exposure to new business priorities and regional leadership while fostering stronger networks across AOR. Ultimately, Kyodo develops leaders who can deliver meaningful business results while advancing a culture of kaizen and continuous improvement.

Success Factors

• Superior analytical capabilities, strong quantitative skills, strong communication skills, convincing delivery style to influence strong decision making, and ability to work in ambiguous situations.
• Strong "problem consciousness" and proven problem-solving capabilities in administrative environments.
• Deep experience facilitating problem solving projects using the Toyota Way tools, particularly TPS, TBP, JKK, and coaching others to use these tools.
• Ability to think "clean slate" meaning not encumbered by past practices. The key to this position is someone that will not make assumptions and work with the teams to not only to think creatively but to go the Genba (the place where the work is performed) and observe the problems firsthand.

The primary responsibility of this role is to lead Kaizen projects across global TFS Sales Finances Companies (SFCs) and Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC), support President's Operational Excellence Team (POET) and Kyodo leadership development programs and develop and deliver Toyota Way Global Content and Toyota Production System (TPS) training to TFS team members globally.

Reporting to the Global Operational Excellence Senior Manager, the person in this role will support the Enterprise Enablement department's objective to empower transformation and drive high-impact business results with measurable outcomes for TMCC and Global Partners through program management, learning and application of TPS and Toyota Way, and development of business strategy.

What You'll Be Doing

• Global Projects: Lead Kaizen Efforts and Projects across Global TFS Sales Finance Companies (SFCs)

  • TWoW!: Build and sustain a partnership with each TFS regional HQ and each SFC, to do the following:

    • Create awareness of the applicability of Toyota Way tools to achieve strong business results.
    • Increase motivation to apply Toyota Way/TPS to business problems by producing case studies showing the benefits of the approach.
    • Foster best practice sharing by developing strong relationships with, and between, the Toyota Way Champions in each SFC.
    • Scope TPS projects based on the local situation.
    • Lead cross-functional project teams in problem solving activities / Jishukens. using JKK, TBP, and TPS (Lean Thinking) to improve/re-engineer processes.
    • Provide subject matter expertise in the use of TPS tools.
    • Exercise change management principles to achieve process improvement adoption.
    • Improve SFC Capability: Grasp and visualize condition of global TWoW! / TPS maturity for each SFC and Region. Partner with TFSC on strategy and deliver global reporting. Ideal state: level up all SFCs to a target maturity.
    • Build self-sufficiency: Upskill and develop TWoW! Champions through TPS/MIFC training, eLearning modules, SFC best practice sharing, and local, regional & global competitions.
    • Provide guidance and direction to TWoW! Champions, coaches, and leaders in the proper application of TPS, TBP, JKK and facilitation of Jishukens.
    • Assist with organizing and moderating TWoW! coach and TWoW Champion conferences (virtual and in person).
    • Identify opportunities for collaboration between SFCs to share best practices.

  • POET and Kyodo: Support POET and Kyodo leadership development programs through new member nominations, project set-up & scoping, kaizen coaching, and site visits to support projects. Deliver business results to target SFCs.

  • Present status of above items to Global Operational Excellence Senior Manager and TFSC (Japan) on an established frequency.

• Domestic (TMCC) Projects: Lead Kaizen Efforts and Projects across TMCC

  • Build and sustain a partnership with each TMCC department to accomplish the following:

    • Lead cross-functional project teams to identify problems, map processes, analyze data, and develop & implement solutions to address root cause(s).
    • Leverage JKK, TBP, and TPS tools to surface issues and improve processes in each department.
    • Facilitate process mapping sessions to visualize initial, ideal, and target conditions.
    • Identify and prioritize "pain points" as opportunities to leverage Kaizen with a focus on cost and lead time reduction while maintaining quality and compliance.
    • Lead teams through process improvement / reengineering initiatives.
    • Provide subject matter expertise in the use of Kaizen tools.
    • Exercise change management principles to achieve process improvement adoption.
    • Connect improvement opportunities that exist between departments as part of the larger TMCC value stream.
    • Identify relevant Kaizen training opportunities for Team Members to include use of Kaizen training as differential investment.

  • Present status of above items to Global Operational Excellence Senior Manager on an established frequency.

• Culture and Training: Develop and Deliver training, programs, and communications that support a Toyota Way / TPS culture

  • Lead Kaizen Competition annual events: Regional Kaizen Competition