Engineering Lean Cost Champion

Job Description Summary

The Engineering Lean Cost Champion is a visible, strategic leadership role within MR’s Global Program Management Office (PMO), shaping how we plan, invest, and deliver value across the business. Partnering closely with the Director of Agile Delivery & Transformation, Product Management GMs, and Program Managers, this role defines and orchestrates MR’s global operating plan—balancing ambition with discipline through thoughtful prioritization and trade off decisions. The Cost Champion then works hand in hand with global budget leaders to translate strategy into execution. Beyond portfolio cost management, the role plays a critical leadership position in establishing and continuously improving product cost, collaborating with New Product Introduction (NPI) teams to aggressively drive cost out of platforms and deliver strong business outcomes. Serving as the primary engineering interface to the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) organization, the role also leads engineering driven Variable Cost Productivity (VCP). Across these three core pillars—cost management, product cost, and VCP—the Engineering Lean Cost Champion drives standard work, embeds lean thinking, and delivers innovative process and workflow improvements that directly impact business performance.

Job Description

Roles and Responsibilities

• Establish and own the Global MR R&D budget operating plan in partnership with Engineering and Product Management leadership.
• Lead and influence a large, global network of budget owners and program leaders to deliver quarterly financial and operational results aligned to the operating plan.
• Develop and execute proactive strategies and informed trade‑off decisions to keep the business’s highest‑priority initiatives on track amid headwinds and unforeseen challenges.
• Manage and integrate a broad range of budget categories, including program materials, purchased services, capitalized equipment, software capitalization, base cost, and travel.
• Drive consistency and standard work across global budget leadership sites through innovative, scalable, and lean process solutions.
• Partner with NPI program teams and cross‑functional stakeholders to lead Total Landed Cost (TLC) initiatives, ensuring programs meet or exceed cost targets at launch.
• Collaborate closely with the MR Finance team to monitor, baseline, and govern product cost during business cost‑setting windows.
• Work with Finance to develop and optimize software capitalization strategies that maximize the long‑term value of R&D investments.
• Lead the execution and tracking of MR Variable Cost Productivity (VCP) initiatives in partnership with the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) organization.
• Build and sustain robust funnels of current and future cost‑out initiatives, coordinating project‑level support plans to deliver committed benefits.
• Expand cost and margin visibility by incorporating additional cost drivers, identifying wing‑to‑wing efficiency opportunities, and prioritizing the highest‑value actions with clear accountability.
• Develop long‑term design, product cost, and Total Landed Cost strategies to support NPI programs, VCP initiatives, and MR segment teams—driving margin expansion, cost productivity, and best‑in‑class platforming.
• Serve as a key interface to NPI teams during subsystem‑level design integration, ensuring cost targets, estimates, and implementations translate into measurable system‑level benefits through technology innovation and cost‑focused deliverables.
• Partner closely with the MR PMO & Agile organization to influence, support, and embed a wing‑to‑wing cost‑conscious culture that drives sustainable MR business success.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 5 years of operational, analytical, or leadership experience in a technical, healthcare, engineering, or business environment, or equivalent related fields.
• At least 5 years of experience leading cross‑functional teams to achieve business objectives, with demonstrated success in coaching, mentoring, and developing individuals, teams, tools, and process improvements.
• Proven experience driving change and solving complex problems through the application of Lean principles and methodologies.
• Hands‑on experience managing and controlling R&D budgets within a manufacturing and/or engineering environment.
• Prior New Product Introduction (NPI) experience, particularly in driving variable cost productivity through close partnership between engineering and supply chain organizations.
• Direct business‑level finance experience, including budget ownership, financial analysis, and cost governance. Excellent with manage numbers in budgets.
• Demonstrated experience leading Variable Cost Productivity initiatives within product development environments, focused on cost reduction and design optimization.
• 3+ years of experience operating in a global business environment, with a strong understanding of global processes, tools, and governance models to manage segment‑level cost evaluations.
• 3+ years of experience using enterprise financial systems and analytics tools, along with advanced Excel skills for data analysis, compilation, and aggregation.
• Proven experience applying Lean processes and tools to deliver measurable business outcomes, including current‑state cost analysis, future‑state improvement planning, and predictive cost innovation to support NPI and portfolio‑level strategy.

Desired Characteristics

• Demonstrated experience driving functional excellence through technology and process improvements to deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical and business topics into clear, concise, and compelling messages for diverse audiences.
• Ability to partner effectively with contract service providers to deliver high‑quality outputs against well‑defined, accountable timelines.
• Strong analytical capabilities, with a proven ability to link cost drivers to financial results and operational performance, develop alternatives, and drive meaningful change.
• High adaptability and flexibility, including the ability to work effectively amid ambiguity, shifting priorities, and incomplete information—particularly in detailed costing environments.
• Strong insight into cross‑functional, cost‑related challenges, with the ability to identify collaboration opportunities and drive solutions that benefit the broader business.
• Detail‑ and data‑oriented mindset when influencing strategy and delivering insights to cross‑functional leadership teams.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex problems, develop actionable solutions, and lead programs and projects to successful outcomes.
• Proven capability to document, plan, communicate, and execute cross‑functional initiatives with clarity and discipline.
• Established project management skills, with experience coordinating timelines, stakeholders, and deliverables across organizations.
• Prior experience in program, process, or operations management across multiple functional or operational areas.
• Ability to lead through influence, building alignment and driving results without direct authority.
   

  Note:

  
  To comply with US immigration and other legal requirements, it is necessary to specify the minimum number of years' experience required for any role based within the USA. For roles outside of the USA, to ensure compliance with applicable legislation, the JDs should focus on the substantive level of experience required for the role and a minimum number of years should NOT be used.

We will not sponsor individuals for employment visas, now or in the future, for this job opening.

Additional Information

While GE HealthCare does not currently require U.S. employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, some GE HealthCare customers have vaccination mandates that may apply to certain GE HealthCare employees.