Senior Director of Process Excellence

A lot of companies are still working out what AI means for how work gets done. At Equinix, this role sits at the center of that question In this role, you’ll help decide how the company reimagines its most critical value streams leveraging AI, and how its leaders build the management habits that make the changes stick The Senior Director, Process Excellence guides how Equinix reimagines some of its most critical value streams for AI transformation. Forward-deployed engineers build and deploy the solutions This leader facilitates the work that comes before and alongside them: bringing business leaders and engineers into the same room to examine how work flows today, decide what the future flow should look like, and place AI and human judgment where each adds the most value, so the redesign starts from outcomes and decisions rather than from tools The role also develops the management practices / operating system that put continuous improvement principles to work, drawing on lean principles, along with the toolset that supports them, in partnership with HR In selected areas of focus, this leader coaches parts of the organization directly on building the operating system that sustains a culture of continuous improvement You’ll work with business leaders, people team, and our Digital and Innovation Organization, with visibility to senior leadership Reimagining Critical Value Streams for AI Transformation: Facilitate working sessions with business leaders and forward-deployed engineers to examine how work actually flows, find the structural bottlenecks, handoffs, and rework, and define the future flow before solutions are built Bring Lean, Six Sigma, BPM, and value stream thinking together with process and process mining, so the redesign is grounded in how work runs today and aimed at measurable gains in speed, quality, cost, and decision-making Help business leaders design for decisions and outcomes rather than tasks, build intelligence into core workflows, and place AI, automation, and human judgment where each adds the most value Advise senior leaders on where AI applies and where it does not, and challenge designs that only speed up an existing process Connect business leaders, the Digital and AI organization, and change efforts so that opportunities move from identification to deployment and adoption Promote always-on visibility into how redesigned processes perform, so gains are sustained and drift is caught early Establish a consistent approach across the enterprise to prioritizing, framing, and launching value stream redesigns Management Practices / Operating System: Develop the Equinix management practices / operating system that builds from some of the best and enforces continuous improvement principles into daily use, including visual management, structured problem solving, performance management, and standard work Build, with partners, the toolset that supports those practices, including standards, templates, and routines that teams can adopt and adapt Work with HR so the practices reinforce the leadership expectations set for the company, and so the language, learning experiences, and capability pathways are consistent Help create the shared language and mindset that make continuous improvement part of how the company operates Coach selected parts of the organization on best practices for building the operating system that drives continuous improvement, with hands-on enablement in priority areas so teams and leaders can apply the practices and the redesign approach themselves Decide what is standard across the enterprise and what can flex by region or function, and set a deliberate path for starting the practices where they will take hold Embed process excellence disciplines at scale, and build communities of practice in process redesign and AI-enabled improvement so the capability spreads beyond this team Assess how mature the practices are across the organization, establish feedback loops on adoption and effectiveness, and refine the system based on what is learned Strong facilitation and coaching skills, with credibility working with senior leaders and executivesComfort building something without an established playbook, balancing structure with pragmatismWorking knowledge of AI, analytics, automation, and digital platforms, with the ability to translate capability into business outcomesBachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, or equivalent experienceExperience developing management practices and tools built on lean principles, and helping an organization adopt them at scale 12-15+ years leading enterprise-level operational excellence, process excellence, or large-scale change in complex, global organizationsDeep understanding of organizational behavior and what it takes to change habits and shared languageFluency in Lean, Six Sigma, BPM, and value stream methods, and the ability to apply them to redesign how end-to-end work flowsExperience partnering with HR on capability programsHands-on experience with process or task miningExperience in technology, services, or infrastructure environmentsLean Six Sigma, change management, or comparable certification