Continuous Improvement Specialist

Locke Solutions, a 2024 Best Places to Work winner and Aggie 100 honoree, is a premier provider of custom precast concrete solutions. Led by a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, were Houstons #1 Fastest Growing Company, expanding rapidly while maintaining our mission: To make our customers lives easier and our employees lives better. ROLE SUMMARY/PURPOSE: We believe work shouldnt feel harder than it needs to be. When processes are clear, people win. When theyre messy, everyone feels itwasted time, rework, frustration, and lost momentum. Continuous Improvement Specialist role is perfect for a curious, observant, and proactive individual who wants to learn how a real precast manufacturing business runsfocusing on identifying operational problems, facilitating root cause analysis, implementing improvements, and verifying that improvements produce measurable and sustained results. The Continuous Improvement Specialist supports Lockes operational excellence by improving how work gets done across the organization. This role is a hands-on role, must spend time where the work occurs, observe actual process, engage employees, analyze performance data, and help teams solve recurring problems. SUCCESSFUL RESULTS: Established employee improvement participationDevelop department level improvement championsValidated ROI from improvement initiatives (time saved, cost avoided, or cost reduced)Demostrate sustained improvements in multiple departments.Positive feedback from teams supported and engagedActive portfolio of prioritized improvement initiatives.A repeatable continuous improvement operating system. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES: Improvement Opportunity Identification Complete GEMBA walks: observing and documenting work at the point where it occursReview quality, production, delivery, billing, and operational dataGather employee and customer feedbackPrioritize improvement opportunities based on business impact. Root Cause Analysis and Problem Solving Facilitate structured problem solving sessionsConducting Five Whys, fishbone analysis, pareto analysis, process observation, and cause and effect analysisDistinguishing symptoms from root causesDeveloping and testing countermeasuresDocumenting findings and recommeded actionsEscalating systemic or cross-functional problems. Manage and Report Continuous Improvement Projects Define problem, scope, baseline infromation, targets and ownersFacilitating rapid improvement eventsCoordinating cross-functional improvement teamsMaintaining action plans and project timelinesRemoving implementation barriersTracking measurable resultsConfirming that improvements are sustained. Quality and Corrective Action Support Reviewing recurring quality events and nonconformancessupporting corrective and preventative action investigationsIdentifying systemic causes and recurrence risks.Helping teams develop practical corrective actions.Verifying the effectiveness of completed corrective actions.Connecting quality findings to process improvement actions. Standardization and Sustainability Coordinate with the Process Specialist to update procedures and training.Conducting follow-up observations and audits.Identifying when a process is reverting to previous practices.Creating control plans and process checks. Continuous Improvement Culture Coaching employees and supervisors in pratical problem solving.Encouraging employee-generated improvement ideasFacilitating improvement discussions without blamingRecognizing improvement contributionsHelping leaders build improvement into regular operating rhythms. REQUIREMENTS: Strong curiosity, problem-solving mindset, and willingness to learnClear communicator with the ability to ask thoughtful questionsComfortable interacting across multiple departments and rolesHighly organized, dependable, and detail-orientedManufacturing or process exposure is a plus but not required Join Locke Solutions as a Continuous Improvement Specialist and help us make work smarter, not harder. If you enjoy being hands-on, learning by doing, and seeing the tangible impact of your work in real time, this is an ideal opportunity contributing to meaningful operational improvements.