Business Solution Manager

SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES

The Business Solution Manager will collaborate with senior leadership, functional teams, and market leaders to prioritize and drive high-impact strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and financial performance at FirstKey Homes. By developing a comprehensive understanding of the company's operations and technology, they will play a critical role in streamlining processes and designing and implementing transformative solutions. In this high-visibility, fast-paced role, the Business Solution Manager will lead and manage multiple concurrent projects, overseeing the full project lifecycle from ideation and analysis to the delivery of recommended solutions. Engaging with diverse business units and leadership, they will offer innovative insights to influence decision-making and strategy while thriving in a dynamic, high-performing environment.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

Business Process Improvement and Strategic Solutions:

• Proactively evaluate to identify or benchmark projects that will enhance business operations and reduce organizational inefficiencies.
• Leveraging a deep understanding of FirstKey Homes’ strategies, business model, and operational nuances, identify strengths and gaps in workflows, procedures, and policies, and recommend comprehensive solutions based on informed insights.
• Facilitate multi-department discussions to design, vet and finalize proposed solutions. Act as an extension of each business unit, delivering solutions that address cross-functional needs.
• Develop evidence-based solutions and prepare documents, reports, or presentations that leverage ROI, cost-benefit, and other types of analyses that enable strategic decision-making at senior leadership levels.
• Confidently present findings and facilitate discussions with senior management, including operating Program Managers, executives, board members, and private equity sponsors.

Program Management and Execution:

• Lead and/or support multiple projects simultaneously that enhance organizational performance. Create and manage project plans from inception to execution, translating abstract ideas into implemented solutions.
• Define project scopes, timelines, dependencies, business requirements, technical requirements, budget, resources, and risks in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Communicate project updates to stakeholders weekly and address changes to project scopes, timelines, risks, and resources. Resolve and escalate any issues that arise.
• Develop and maintain detailed budget plans, monitor expenditures and benefits against the budget, and ensure alignment with project goals. Provide regular financial reports, analyze variances, and make recommendations to optimize financial performance and achieve desired project outcomes.
• Work with markets to develop a broader understanding of operational and financial challenges that team members are facing, facilitate design sessions, or assist in the training and deployment of a new solution.

Drive Design of Technical Solutions:

• Facilitate design sessions to define how technology will best enable business objectives in the short, medium and long-term.
• Develop comprehensive business requirements to guide IT teams in system modifications, documenting functional and non-functional requirements, use cases, process flows, and user stories. Ensure requirements address all systems affected by new solutions.
• In partnership with developers and Scrum Masters, facilitate UAT to ensure the solution meets the requirements and needs of the business.

Implementation and Change Management

• Partner with internal teams such as Operations, Legal, Compliance, Communications and Learning & Development to develop comprehensive implementation plans that support effective change delivery and adoption.
• Document procedures, create job aids, and other supporting content to ensure team members understand and adopt enhanced products and solutions.
• Where needed, deploy solutions into the business. Assist with training, post go live support and adoption. 

Data Management and Analysis:

• Analyze large data sets from multiple technology platforms using Microsoft Excel or Structured Query Language (SQL) to evaluate current processes and isolate problem areas. Test and validate models and results.

Ad Hoc and Executive Support:

• Ad hoc projects to support the senior leadership team

This brief summary is not an all-inclusive description of job duties.  Other job duties and responsibilities may also be assigned by the incumbent’s Program Manager at any time based upon Company need.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Primarily working indoors, office environment.
• May sit for several hours at a time.
• Prolonged exposure to computer screens.
• Repetitive use of hands to operate computers, printers, and copiers.
• May require travel to FirstKey Homes’ field markets (25%-50%)

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Business or equivalent work experience and/or education
• 8-10 years working in program management, operations, product management or IT
• Advance proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Proven ability to interface and present information to executives and board of directors
• Proven ability to act as a business partner and influence organizational practices to achieve organizational goals
• Experience working in a fast paced, high-performing company

PREFERRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Demonstrates an insatiable curiosity and a proactive approach to self-education, constantly seeking a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of relevant topics
• Experience leading complex cross-functional change
• Familiarity with interactive data visualization tools such as Power BI
• Ability to use structured query language (SQL) to pull and analyze large datasets preferred
• Familiarity with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms such as Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE

• Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Active Listening— Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Active Learning— Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Critical Thinking— Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Complex Problem Solving— Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Judgment and Decision Making— Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Systems Analysis— Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
• Mathematics— Using mathematics to solve problems.
• Writing— Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Speaking— Talking to others to convey information effectively.

WORK STYLES & BEHAVIORS

• Leadership— Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
• Initiative— Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
• Persistence— Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
• Analytical Thinking— Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
• Achievement/Effort— Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
• Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
• Cooperation— Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
• Adaptability/Flexibility— Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.

FirstKey Homes is an equal opportunity employer and will not tolerate discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, genetic information or any other legally protected classification or status.