Operations Excellence Manager Jobs in Illinois
Operations Excellence Manager jobs in Illinois are consistently active, with demand concentrated in manufacturing, logistics, food and beverage processing, and healthcare operations across seniority levels from continuous improvement coordinator through senior director. Chicago, Peoria, and Rockford anchor most of the hiring, where established employers like Caterpillar, Kraft Heinz, and Abbott have deep operational footprints and ongoing need for process improvement leadership. The most in-demand specialties in Illinois include Lean Six Sigma program management, supply chain optimization, and quality management system implementation. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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See related jobsThe Director, Operations Excellence & Performance sits within BCBSA's Health Plan Operations function and is responsible for four interconnected areas of accountability: Divisional Planning & Coordination, Performance Management, Continuous Improvement, and Duals and Marketplace Performance. The role reports directly to the Senior Vice President, Health Plan Operations.
As the divisional planning and coordination lead, this role serves as the operational backbone of Health Plan Operations — owning portfolio reporting, budget coordination, AI initiative tracking, and continuous improvement project oversight across the division. As the performance management lead, this role ensures all segments operate within a consistent, accountable, and audit-ready performance framework. As the enterprise CI leader, this role owns the design and execution of BCBSA's continuous improvement discipline across all Health Plan Operations programs. As BCBSA's primary subject matter expert on Duals and Individual Market, this role leads strategy development and provides consultative advisory support to BCBSA leadership and Blue Plans across the System.
This role partners across BCBSA functions — Finance, Enterprise Technology, Data and Analytics, Legal, Compliance, Regulatory Affairs and FEP Operations — as well as with Blue Plan CFOs, CMS, OPM, state Medicaid agencies, and third-party vendors to coordinate divisional deliverables, validate performance results, sustain improvement gains, and maintain regulatory compliance across a complex, multi-segment portfolio.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to
Continuous Improvement
- Own the design and execution of BCBSA's Health Plan Operations continuous improvement discipline — establishing the CI strategy, methodology standards, and operating model across all programs: Government Markets, Inter-Plan Programs (BlueCard, BlueSquared, BlueExchange, ITS), FEP Medicare Advantage EGWP, Duals, and Market Performance.
- Partner with segment leaders to identify process inefficiencies, pain points, and high-value improvement opportunities across the division.
- Lead and facilitate Lean/Six Sigma project teams, kaizen events, and DMAIC cycles across all segments from scoping through sustained implementation.
- Establish value-stream mapping for core operational workflows for all Health Plan Operations processes.
- Build and lead a team of CI professionals; develop and administer the Health Plan Operations CI training curriculum, including Lean Six Sigma green belt and yellow belt programs; cultivate CI champions across all segments to embed improvement capability at the front-line level.
- Partner with Finance to validate CI savings estimates and ensure accurate attribution of CI-driven productivity gains across the division.
Performance Management
- Own enterprise performance reporting across all Health Plan Operations segments — Inter-Plan Programs, FEP Medicare Advantage, Government Markets, Duals, Individual Market, and Market Performance — ensuring the SVP and BCBSA leadership have accurate, timely, and decision-ready operational intelligence.
- Design and maintain segment-specific scorecards and executive dashboards that integrate operational health, financial performance, regulatory compliance posture, and member experience outcomes across all programs in a single, coherent view.
- Establish performance reporting cadences — weekly operational, monthly executive, and quarterly planning — with standardized metrics definitions and templates that enable meaningful cross-segment comparison and trend analysis.
- Partner with Finance, FEP Medicare Advantage, and Plan counterparts to reconcile performance data against program financial results and CMS/OPM encounter data submissions; translate performance reporting into executive narratives for the FEP Board of Managers, BCBSA Board committees, and CFO-level planning forums.
- Establish accountability structures, operating rhythms, decision rights, and escalation protocols across all Health Plan Operations segments; lead recurring planning forums including segment performance reviews and cross-segment risk reviews.
- Develop and maintain the Health Plan Operations policy and SOP library, ensuring all segments operate within consistent, documented, and audit-ready standards; partner with Legal and Compliance to ensure standards reflect current regulatory obligations.
- Serve as the primary owner of Health Plan Operations' audit readiness posture — coordinating evidence collection, corrective action tracking, and response documentation for CMS, OIG, and BCBSA internal audits across all segments.
Duals & Marketplace Performance
- Lead Individual Market strategy and SME support for the Blue System, encompassing ACA Marketplace (on- and off-exchange), Special Enrollment Period (SEP) processing, premium tax credit reconciliation, risk adjustment, and QHP certification obligations; serve as BCBSA's consultative resource to Plans on Individual Market product, operations, and regulatory compliance.
- Monitor Individual Market regulatory developments and synthesize competitive and regulatory intelligence into strategic briefings for the SVP, BCBSA leadership, and Plan executives.
- Partner with BCBSA Government Markets, Policy, and Legal teams to represent Blue System interests in CMS, CMS-CMMI, and state-level Individual Market policy discussions; support comment letter development and stakeholder engagement on relevant regulatory proposals.
- Develop and disseminate System-wide Individual Market best practices, playbooks, and operational frameworks that Plans can adapt to their market context; facilitate peer learning and cross-Plan knowledge sharing on strategy and execution.
Divisional Planning & Coordination
- Serve as the planning and coordination hub for Health Plan Operations — owning the division's portfolio of strategic and operational deliverables and ensuring the SVP has a real-time, integrated view of divisional priorities, progress, and risks.
- Own and manage Health Plan Operations portfolio reporting — consolidating project status, milestones, risks, and outcomes across all segments and initiatives into a single, executive-ready view for the SVP and BCBSA leadership.
- Lead annual and multi-year budget planning and coordination for Health Plan Operations, partnering with segment leaders and Finance to develop, track, and report on divisional budgets; monitor actuals against plan and surface variances with recommended actions.
- Track, coordinate, and report on AI initiatives across the Health Plan Operations division — maintaining a consolidated inventory of AI projects, implementation status, vendor relationships, and outcomes; ensure AI investments are aligned to divisional priorities and that progress is visible to the SVP and executive stakeholders.
- Own the Health Plan Operations CI project portfolio — tracking active continuous improvement initiatives across all segments, ensuring project owners are accountable to milestones, and reporting aggregate CI progress and financial impact to the SVP on a regular cadence.
- Coordinate divisional deliverables across segments, ensuring alignment on timelines, dependencies, and resource commitments; proactively identify and resolve coordination gaps before they become execution risks.
- Develop and maintain the Health Plan Operations operating calendar — governance forums, reporting cycles, planning milestones, regulatory deadlines, and board deliverables — ensuring the division operates on a disciplined, forward-looking cadence.
- Prepare and coordinate executive briefings, board materials, and divisional communications on behalf of the SVP, ensuring consistent quality, accuracy, and narrative alignment across all Health Plan Operations outputs.
The posting range for this position is:
154,300.00 - 223,750.00
Required Education, Certifications and Experience
Education
- Required BS in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Industrial Engineering, Operations Management; or equivalent experience
- Preferred MS MBA, MHA or equivalent strongly preferred
Experience
- Required 10+ Years progressive experience in operations, process improvement, or operational performance management.
Knowledge Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated experience in a health plan, managed care organization, or health insurance operations environment; direct experience across multiple lines of business — Medicare, Medicaid, Duals, Individual Market, or inter-plan programs — strongly preferred; subject matter expertise in Medicare-Medicaid dual-eligible programs and policy is a significant differentiator.
- Proven track record leading large-scale, cross-functional improvement initiatives with measurable financial and operational outcomes across a complex, multi-segment portfolio.
- Experience leading divisional planning, portfolio coordination, and budget management functions in a matrixed organization; track record of building performance reporting structures and executive accountability mechanisms across a complex portfolio.
- Experience partnering with finance functions to validate savings estimates and productivity claims; familiarity with actuarial or program economics contexts is an asset.
- Strong command of DMAIC, value stream mapping, PDCA, kaizen, and root-cause analysis methodologies.
- Familiarity with CMS, CMS-CMMI, and state Medicaid agency regulatory requirements across Medicare, Duals, and Individual Market lines of business; HEDIS/Stars quality measurement; and NCQA/URAC accreditation standards.
- Proficiency with operational analytics, dashboard development, performance reporting, and KPI design; experience with tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or equivalent; familiarity with portfolio management and project tracking platforms (e.g., Smartsheet, Azure DevOps, or equivalent).
- Demonstrated ability to track, coordinate, and report on AI and technology initiatives across a large division; working knowledge of AI use cases in health plan operations is a differentiator.
- Familiarity with BlueCard, Inter-Plan settlement, or FEP program operations is a significant differentiator.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and drive accountability across organizational boundaries without direct line authority across a large, matrixed portfolio.
- Executive presence and communication skills; comfortable presenting to boards, C-suite, Blue Plan CFOs, CMS, and OPM audiences.
- Strong planning and change management capability — track record of building enterprise operating rhythms, coordinating complex divisional portfolios, and driving sustained adoption of new standards across a matrixed organization.
- Analytical rigor paired with strategic judgment; able to translate complex, multi-segment data into decision-relevant executive insight.
- Commitment to building team capability and a durable culture of continuous improvement across a diverse, multi-segment operational scope.
#LI_HYBRID
The posted salary range is the lowest to highest salary we, in good faith, believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the hiring range and this hiring range may also be modified in the future. A candidate’s position within the hiring range may be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, relevant experience, skills, seniority, performance, shift, travel requirements, and business or organizational needs. This job is also eligible for annual bonus incentive pay.
We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, 11 holidays, medical/dental/vision insurance, generous 401(k) matching, lifestyle spending account and many other benefits to eligible employees.
Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, or any other form of compensation that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.
The Director, Operations Excellence & Performance sits within BCBSA's Health Plan Operations function and is responsible for four interconnected areas of accountability: Divisional Planning & Coordination, Performance Management, Continuous Improvement, and Duals and Marketplace Performance. The role reports directly to the Senior Vice President, Health Plan Operations.
As the divisional planning and coordination lead, this role serves as the operational backbone of Health Plan Operations — owning portfolio reporting, budget coordination, AI initiative tracking, and continuous improvement project oversight across the division. As the performance management lead, this role ensures all segments operate within a consistent, accountable, and audit-ready performance framework. As the enterprise CI leader, this role owns the design and execution of BCBSA's continuous improvement discipline across all Health Plan Operations programs. As BCBSA's primary subject matter expert on Duals and Individual Market, this role leads strategy development and provides consultative advisory support to BCBSA leadership and Blue Plans across the System.
This role partners across BCBSA functions — Finance, Enterprise Technology, Data and Analytics, Legal, Compliance, Regulatory Affairs and FEP Operations — as well as with Blue Plan CFOs, CMS, OPM, state Medicaid agencies, and third-party vendors to coordinate divisional deliverables, validate performance results, sustain improvement gains, and maintain regulatory compliance across a complex, multi-segment portfolio.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to
Continuous Improvement
- Own the design and execution of BCBSA's Health Plan Operations continuous improvement discipline — establishing the CI strategy, methodology standards, and operating model across all programs: Government Markets, Inter-Plan Programs (BlueCard, BlueSquared, BlueExchange, ITS), FEP Medicare Advantage EGWP, Duals, and Market Performance.
- Partner with segment leaders to identify process inefficiencies, pain points, and high-value improvement opportunities across the division.
- Lead and facilitate Lean/Six Sigma project teams, kaizen events, and DMAIC cycles across all segments from scoping through sustained implementation.
- Establish value-stream mapping for core operational workflows for all Health Plan Operations processes.
- Build and lead a team of CI professionals; develop and administer the Health Plan Operations CI training curriculum, including Lean Six Sigma green belt and yellow belt programs; cultivate CI champions across all segments to embed improvement capability at the front-line level.
- Partner with Finance to validate CI savings estimates and ensure accurate attribution of CI-driven productivity gains across the division.
Performance Management
- Own enterprise performance reporting across all Health Plan Operations segments — Inter-Plan Programs, FEP Medicare Advantage, Government Markets, Duals, Individual Market, and Market Performance — ensuring the SVP and BCBSA leadership have accurate, timely, and decision-ready operational intelligence.
- Design and maintain segment-specific scorecards and executive dashboards that integrate operational health, financial performance, regulatory compliance posture, and member experience outcomes across all programs in a single, coherent view.
- Establish performance reporting cadences — weekly operational, monthly executive, and quarterly planning — with standardized metrics definitions and templates that enable meaningful cross-segment comparison and trend analysis.
- Partner with Finance, FEP Medicare Advantage, and Plan counterparts to reconcile performance data against program financial results and CMS/OPM encounter data submissions; translate performance reporting into executive narratives for the FEP Board of Managers, BCBSA Board committees, and CFO-level planning forums.
- Establish accountability structures, operating rhythms, decision rights, and escalation protocols across all Health Plan Operations segments; lead recurring planning forums including segment performance reviews and cross-segment risk reviews.
- Develop and maintain the Health Plan Operations policy and SOP library, ensuring all segments operate within consistent, documented, and audit-ready standards; partner with Legal and Compliance to ensure standards reflect current regulatory obligations.
- Serve as the primary owner of Health Plan Operations' audit readiness posture — coordinating evidence collection, corrective action tracking, and response documentation for CMS, OIG, and BCBSA internal audits across all segments.
Duals & Marketplace Performance
- Lead Individual Market strategy and SME support for the Blue System, encompassing ACA Marketplace (on- and off-exchange), Special Enrollment Period (SEP) processing, premium tax credit reconciliation, risk adjustment, and QHP certification obligations; serve as BCBSA's consultative resource to Plans on Individual Market product, operations, and regulatory compliance.
- Monitor Individual Market regulatory developments and synthesize competitive and regulatory intelligence into strategic briefings for the SVP, BCBSA leadership, and Plan executives.
- Partner with BCBSA Government Markets, Policy, and Legal teams to represent Blue System interests in CMS, CMS-CMMI, and state-level Individual Market policy discussions; support comment letter development and stakeholder engagement on relevant regulatory proposals.
- Develop and disseminate System-wide Individual Market best practices, playbooks, and operational frameworks that Plans can adapt to their market context; facilitate peer learning and cross-Plan knowledge sharing on strategy and execution.
Divisional Planning & Coordination
- Serve as the planning and coordination hub for Health Plan Operations — owning the division's portfolio of strategic and operational deliverables and ensuring the SVP has a real-time, integrated view of divisional priorities, progress, and risks.
- Own and manage Health Plan Operations portfolio reporting — consolidating project status, milestones, risks, and outcomes across all segments and initiatives into a single, executive-ready view for the SVP and BCBSA leadership.
- Lead annual and multi-year budget planning and coordination for Health Plan Operations, partnering with segment leaders and Finance to develop, track, and report on divisional budgets; monitor actuals against plan and surface variances with recommended actions.
- Track, coordinate, and report on AI initiatives across the Health Plan Operations division — maintaining a consolidated inventory of AI projects, implementation status, vendor relationships, and outcomes; ensure AI investments are aligned to divisional priorities and that progress is visible to the SVP and executive stakeholders.
- Own the Health Plan Operations CI project portfolio — tracking active continuous improvement initiatives across all segments, ensuring project owners are accountable to milestones, and reporting aggregate CI progress and financial impact to the SVP on a regular cadence.
- Coordinate divisional deliverables across segments, ensuring alignment on timelines, dependencies, and resource commitments; proactively identify and resolve coordination gaps before they become execution risks.
- Develop and maintain the Health Plan Operations operating calendar — governance forums, reporting cycles, planning milestones, regulatory deadlines, and board deliverables — ensuring the division operates on a disciplined, forward-looking cadence.
- Prepare and coordinate executive briefings, board materials, and divisional communications on behalf of the SVP, ensuring consistent quality, accuracy, and narrative alignment across all Health Plan Operations outputs.
The posting range for this position is:
154,300.00 - 223,750.00
Required Education, Certifications and Experience
Education
- Required BS in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Industrial Engineering, Operations Management; or equivalent experience
- Preferred MS MBA, MHA or equivalent strongly preferred
Experience
- Required 10+ Years progressive experience in operations, process improvement, or operational performance management.
Knowledge Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated experience in a health plan, managed care organization, or health insurance operations environment; direct experience across multiple lines of business — Medicare, Medicaid, Duals, Individual Market, or inter-plan programs — strongly preferred; subject matter expertise in Medicare-Medicaid dual-eligible programs and policy is a significant differentiator.
- Proven track record leading large-scale, cross-functional improvement initiatives with measurable financial and operational outcomes across a complex, multi-segment portfolio.
- Experience leading divisional planning, portfolio coordination, and budget management functions in a matrixed organization; track record of building performance reporting structures and executive accountability mechanisms across a complex portfolio.
- Experience partnering with finance functions to validate savings estimates and productivity claims; familiarity with actuarial or program economics contexts is an asset.
- Strong command of DMAIC, value stream mapping, PDCA, kaizen, and root-cause analysis methodologies.
- Familiarity with CMS, CMS-CMMI, and state Medicaid agency regulatory requirements across Medicare, Duals, and Individual Market lines of business; HEDIS/Stars quality measurement; and NCQA/URAC accreditation standards.
- Proficiency with operational analytics, dashboard development, performance reporting, and KPI design; experience with tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or equivalent; familiarity with portfolio management and project tracking platforms (e.g., Smartsheet, Azure DevOps, or equivalent).
- Demonstrated ability to track, coordinate, and report on AI and technology initiatives across a large division; working knowledge of AI use cases in health plan operations is a differentiator.
- Familiarity with BlueCard, Inter-Plan settlement, or FEP program operations is a significant differentiator.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and drive accountability across organizational boundaries without direct line authority across a large, matrixed portfolio.
- Executive presence and communication skills; comfortable presenting to boards, C-suite, Blue Plan CFOs, CMS, and OPM audiences.
- Strong planning and change management capability — track record of building enterprise operating rhythms, coordinating complex divisional portfolios, and driving sustained adoption of new standards across a matrixed organization.
- Analytical rigor paired with strategic judgment; able to translate complex, multi-segment data into decision-relevant executive insight.
- Commitment to building team capability and a durable culture of continuous improvement across a diverse, multi-segment operational scope.
#LI_HYBRID
The posted salary range is the lowest to highest salary we, in good faith, believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the hiring range and this hiring range may also be modified in the future. A candidate’s position within the hiring range may be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, relevant experience, skills, seniority, performance, shift, travel requirements, and business or organizational needs. This job is also eligible for annual bonus incentive pay.
We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, 11 holidays, medical/dental/vision insurance, generous 401(k) matching, lifestyle spending account and many other benefits to eligible employees.
Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, or any other form of compensation that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.
See All 5 Operations Excellence Manager Jobs in Illinois
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Find JobsOperations Excellence Manager Jobs by City in Illinois
Where Illinois roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Operations Excellence Manager Job Market in Illinois
A snapshot from current Illinois openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Food & Beverage
- Agriculture & Farming
What Illinois Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in operations excellence manager jobs across Illinois.
- Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, operations management, or a related field required
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Green Belt certification strongly preferred by Illinois employers
- Five or more years of experience leading process improvement initiatives in a manufacturing or operations environment
- Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional teams and drive measurable efficiency gains
- Proficiency with data analysis tools such as Minitab, Power BI, or similar platforms
- Experience with quality management systems such as ISO 9001 or industry-specific Illinois regulatory frameworks
Operations Excellence Manager Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a operations excellence manager in Illinois?
Most operations excellence managers in Illinois enter the role through a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, operations management, or business, followed by several years in process improvement or manufacturing roles. Illinois employers place significant weight on Lean Six Sigma certification, with Black Belt credentials from accredited bodies like ASQ being the most recognized pathway into senior positions. Building experience in industries dominant in Illinois, such as manufacturing, food processing, or healthcare operations, accelerates advancement considerably.
How much do operations excellence managers make in Illinois?
Operations excellence managers in Illinois earn a median of about $103,570 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $53,240 for the lowest 10% to over $269,320 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire operations excellence managers in Illinois?
Employers hiring operations excellence managers in Illinois right now include 3M, ADM, and AbbVie, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Illinois's dense manufacturing corridor and large corporate headquarters presence, particularly in the Chicago metro and the Peoria-Decatur industrial belt, mean that openings appear regularly across both Fortune 500 companies and mid-size industrial firms.
Which Illinois cities have the most operations excellence manager jobs?
DeKalb, Chicago, and Decatur account for the largest concentration of operations excellence manager openings in Illinois. Chicago dominates due to its headquarters density and diverse industrial base, while Peoria draws significant demand from heavy equipment and manufacturing employers, and Rockford's aerospace and machining sector supports a steady pipeline of continuous improvement roles throughout the year.
Are there remote operations excellence manager jobs in Illinois?
Yes, but they're rare. Operations excellence managers typically work on-site because the role requires direct observation of production lines, facility processes, and cross-functional teams. About 100% of operations excellence manager openings tied to Illinois are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting the hands-on nature of most positions. The parts of the role most likely to shift remote are data analysis, reporting, and project coordination with corporate stakeholders.
How can I get hired as a operations excellence manager in Illinois with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through an adjacent operations role such as production supervisor, quality technician, or supply chain analyst at an Illinois manufacturer, then pursuing internal continuous improvement projects to build a visible record. Large Illinois employers like Caterpillar and Abbott run rotational operations development programs for recent graduates. Earning a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt credential while in an entry-level role substantially strengthens candidacy and is widely recognized by Illinois hiring managers as a signal of readiness for dedicated excellence functions.
Where can I find and apply to operations excellence manager jobs in Illinois?
You can find and apply to operations excellence manager jobs in Illinois on Migrate Mate, which lists current Illinois openings across Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and surrounding areas. Find roles that fit your experience and apply directly through the listings.
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