Lean Sigma Program Manager - Tempe, AZ

Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first — developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72+ million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact.

A Day in the Life

Are you passionate about transforming operations, eliminating waste, and delivering measurable business results? As the Lean Sigma Program Manager, you will spearhead high-impact continuous improvement initiatives across the Tempe, AZ site, driving strategic objectives related to burden and scrap reduction, programmatic cost savings, Manufacturing Performance System (MPS) deployment, and Lean Sigma capability building.

We bring bold ideas forward with speed and decisiveness to put patients first in everything we do. In-person exchanges are invaluable to our work. We’re working 5 days a week onsite as part of our commitment to fostering a culture of professional growth and cross-functional collaboration as we work together to engineer the extraordinary.

In this highly visible role, you will partner with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities, solve complex business challenges, and implement sustainable improvements that enhance quality, efficiency, and operational performance. You'll leverage Lean Sigma methodologies, advanced problem-solving techniques, and data-driven decision making to deliver significant business impact while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative and influential leader with a proven track record of leading enterprise-wide improvement programs, coaching teams through transformational change, and developing Lean Sigma talent through training, certification, and mentorship. If you thrive on driving operational excellence and creating lasting organizational value, we'd love to hear from you.

Primary Responsibilities:

Responsible for deploying the “One Best Way” in alignment with the Medtronic Performance System (MPS).

Owner of the programmatic savings program that delivers labor, burden and material usage variance including a 2x pipeline for concept projects.

Collaborate with cross-functional focus factory leaders to develop and deploy lean transformation strategies.

Develop and deploy a multi-year strategy for MPS to achieve best-in-class safety, quality, service, and cost performance results.

Establish operating mechanism to track progress to plan for critical site level initiatives as well as for programmatic savings.

Train and coach Yellow Belts and Green Belts.

Defines, designs, and implements continuous improvement programs to ensure programs are integrated vertically and horizontally across the organization.

Develop, implement and sustain process improvement initiatives utilizing Six Sigma methodologies.

Define, design and implement continuous improvement programs to ensure programs are integrated vertically and horizontally across the organization.

Define improvement projects aligned with business strategies.

Analyze improvement programs and potential results.

Facilitate and coach improvement teams.

Establish and maintain performance metrics to measure program success.

Install process excellence supports for program governance, project reviews, communications, training, certifications and rewards.

Required Qualifications:

To be considered for this role, please ensure the minimum requirements are evident in your applicant profile.

Requires a Bachelor’s degree and minimum of 5 years of relevant experience, or advanced degree with a minimum of 3 years relevant experience.

Certified Six Sigma Green Belt or Advanced Lean

Preferred Qualifications:

Black Belt trained (Medtronic or External)

Certified PMP (PMI)

Experience both leading and coaching lean transformations (demonstrating strong aptitude for value stream analysis and lean transformations)

Experience leading continuous improvement programs (e.g. Maintenance Excellence, Belt Certification Program etc.) in manufacturing environments.

Ability to craft and deploy

strategy for process improvement that aligns with Medtronic strategic objectives

Ability to respectfully deliver candid feedback to all levels of the organization

Ability to lead, energize and influence change efforts at all levels of the organization.

Strong energy, aptitude, and attitude for continuous improvement

Cross functional business experience with solid understanding of how business processes interconnect

Operational management experience

Strong ability to see process improvement opportunities in the Gemba

Track record of delivering results through continuous improvement

For Baccalaureate degrees earned outside of the United States, a degree that satisfies the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) is required.

Physical Job Requirements

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position.

The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role.

U.S. Work Authorization & Sponsorship

At Medtronic, we are committed to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and make a meaningful impact. In alignment with our enterprise-wide workforce planning approach, U.S. work authorization sponsorship (H-1B, TN, J, etc.) is offered exclusively for Principal-level roles and above, where specialized expertise aligns with long-term business needs. Roles below the Principal level require candidates to possess unrestricted U.S. work authorization at the time of hire and for the duration of employment.

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Recruitment Fraud Alert

We are aware of phishing scams targeting job seekers. Please keep the following in mind:

Apply only through official Medtronic channels. All legitimate Medtronic recruiting communications come from approved Medtronic platforms and official @medtronic.com email addresses.

Medtronic will never ask for payment or sensitive personal information (such as bank account or Social Security details) during early stages of the hiring process. Any such requests are not legitimate.

If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Medtronic, do not respond, click links, or open attachments.

If you have any questions, concerns regarding the authenticity of a communication alleged to have been made by or on behalf of Medtronic, please contact us immediately at AskHR@medtronic.com .

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Benefits & Compensation

• Medtronic offers a competitive Salary and flexible Benefits Package
• A commitment to our employees lives at the core of our values. We recognize their contributions. They share in the success they help to create. We offer a wide range of benefits, resources, and competitive compensation plans designed to support you at every career and life stage.

Salary ranges for U.S (excl. PR) locations (USD):$112,000.00 - $168,000.00

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This position is eligible for a short-term incentive called the Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP).

The base salary range is a