Remote Quality Process Engineer Jobs in Chicago, IL

Job Title: Business Process Lead
Location: Remote
Travel: Possible travel up to once per month, though travel is unlikely
Rate: $70 - $80/hour
Contract Length: 3 months, with strong possibility of extension through year-end
Start Date: Immediate
Client Industry: Electric energy / utilities
Project Focus: Site Selection Initiative related to data centers and power generation

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Business Process Lead to support a utility client’s Site Selection Initiative related to data centers and power generation. This role will be responsible for designing, refining, and overseeing business workflows that improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase productivity, and support more consistent execution across teams.

The Process Lead will work closely with business stakeholders, project teams, and functional leaders to assess current-state processes, identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, design improved future-state workflows, and support implementation of new procedures and best practices. This individual will serve as a key operational process leader, helping ensure process improvements are practical, adopted by the business, and aligned with project goals.

The ideal candidate brings strong experience in process improvement, workflow optimization, operational readiness, change management, and stakeholder facilitation. Experience in utilities, power generation, energy infrastructure, site selection, or large-scale capital programs is strongly preferred.

Key ResponsibilitiesProcess Design & Workflow Optimization

• Lead analysis of current-state business processes to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.

• Design improved future-state workflows that support faster, more consistent, and more effective execution.

• Partner with business and project stakeholders to define clear roles, responsibilities, decision points, handoffs, and process ownership.

• Develop practical process solutions that support site selection activities related to data centers, power generation, energy infrastructure, and utility planning.

Process Implementation & Governance

• Lead rollout of new or refined processes, procedures, tools, and operating practices.

• Establish process standards, best practices, governance routines, and documentation expectations.

• Support adoption of process improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, or similar frameworks where appropriate.

• Ensure process changes are actionable, sustainable, and aligned with business objectives.

Stakeholder Engagement & Facilitation

• Facilitate working sessions with cross-functional stakeholders to gather input, validate processes, and drive alignment.

• Serve as a process subject matter expert and point of contact for operational process questions or issue resolution.

• Build support and consensus across stakeholders with competing priorities.

• Translate complex operational needs into clear, structured processes and recommendations.

Training, Support & Change Management

• Develop and support training, communications, and enablement materials tied to new processes or workflows.

• Educate teams on new procedures, process expectations, tools, and best practices.

• Guide teams through process transitions to support smooth adoption and reduce resistance.

• Partner with project and change stakeholders to ensure process changes are understood and reinforced.

Performance Monitoring & Continuous Improvement

• Define and track process metrics, KPIs, and performance indicators to measure effectiveness, quality, cycle time, and ROI.

• Monitor whether implemented process changes are delivering intended outcomes.

• Identify opportunities for further improvement and recommend corrective actions as needed.

• Support leadership reporting on process performance, risks, adoption progress, and improvement opportunities.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• Lead process workshops and stakeholder working sessions.

• Review current-state workflows and identify opportunities to simplify or improve.

• Design future-state process maps, procedures, governance models, and operating routines.

• Coordinate with business teams to validate process changes and implementation plans.

• Develop process documentation, training materials, and leadership updates.

• Track process performance, adoption risks, and improvement opportunities.

• Support issue resolution and help teams apply new processes consistently.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in process improvement, business process management, operational excellence, business transformation, or related roles.

• Proven experience leading process design, workflow optimization, and implementation of new procedures or operating models.

• Strong facilitation skills with experience leading cross-functional workshops and stakeholder alignment sessions.

• Experience identifying process gaps, bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and improvement opportunities.

• Ability to develop clear process documentation, workflows, procedures, and implementation plans.

• Experience defining KPIs, tracking process performance, and measuring business outcomes.

• Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to work independently in a remote environment and drive work forward with limited oversight.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in utilities, electric energy, power generation, infrastructure, data centers, or capital project environments.

• Experience supporting site selection, project development, asset planning, permitting, interconnection, or infrastructure-related initiatives.

• Knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, operational excellence, or similar process improvement methodologies.

• Experience with change management, training, and adoption support.

• Experience using tools such as Visio, Lucidchart, Miro, Excel, PowerPoint, Smartsheet, Jira, or similar workflow and project tools.

Core Competencies

• Process Improvement

• Workflow Optimization

• Operational Excellence

• Process Design

• Stakeholder Facilitation

• Change Management

• Training & Enablement

• KPI Development

• Performance Monitoring

• Utilities / Energy Transformation

• Site Selection Support

• Continuous Improvement

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a hands-on process leader who can bring structure to ambiguous work, facilitate cross-functional alignment, and turn complex operational needs into clear, efficient workflows. They are strategic enough to design scalable processes but practical enough to support implementation, training, and adoption. They should be comfortable working remotely, engaging senior stakeholders, and driving measurable process improvement in a fast-moving utility environment.