Head of Kaizen Promotion Office - Burlington

ADI Development Group is a vertically integrated real estate investment management company with divisions spanning investment management, development, construction management, and forming operations. With over 4,000 units and $3 billion of built value under development throughout ...

Job description

ADI Development Group is a vertically integrated real estate investment management company with divisions spanning investment management, development, construction management, and forming operations. With over 4,000 units and $3 billion of built value under development throughout the GTHA, we are on an insurgent mission to reinvent the customer experience and to deliver homes faster, better, and more cost effectively. We champion ownership and encourage all of our team members to think and act like owners. ADI is committed to not only developing buildings, but to developing the leaders of tomorrow.

We have built a management system that connects strategy deployment to daily execution, and we've been refining it for years. We are now hiring a Head of KPO to lead the next phase of that work as the organization scales.

The Role

You will lead ADI's Kaizen Promotion Office — the function responsible for developing the people and leadership capabilities required to drive improvement in quality, waste reduction, and lead time across the enterprise. This is fundamentally a people development role. Your success is not measured by the improvements you make. It is measured by the improvements your people make because of how you developed them. You will be the persistent, patient presence that turns good intentions into habits and habits into culture. The role is equal parts coaching, methodology stewardship, and organizational development. You will spend the majority of your time where the work happens — on construction sites, in pre-construction offices, alongside the QCI team, with sales and customer delivery — developing leaders to see problems in their own operations, think structurally about root causes, and build countermeasures that stick.
Key Responsibilities

• Capability Development (Primary)
• Coach functional leaders (VPs, Directors, Project Managers, Superintendents) on how to see problems in their operations, think structurally about root causes, and develop countermeasures that stick — through coaching at the place where work happens, not classroom training alone
• Develop internal champions in each function who can run their own daily management, facilitate their own problem-solving, and coach their own teams without ongoing dependence on the KPO
• Build a coaching chain across the organization: develop the CEO's direct reports, who develop their direct reports, who develop front-line leaders. The goal is an organization that thinks differently — not just one that uses the tools
• Design and deliver development programs that build problem-solving capability, not just tool knowledge. Mentor through structured problem solving and build the daily disciplines that make improvement sustainable
• Make yourself progressively less needed. The measure of your success at 12 months is how many leaders are independently practicing what you taught them at month 3

• Strategy Deployment Support
• Partner with executive leadership to ensure strategic objectives are connected to operational execution across all divisions
• Coach leaders through the strategy deployment process — developing their ability to translate objectives into action plans, not doing the translation for them
• Strengthen review cycles and drive accountability from strategy through daily management by developing leaders who own those reviews, not by owning the reviews yourself

• Value Stream and Process Development
• Guide teams through process mapping, root cause analysis, and standardized work development so they can see waste in their own operations and build their own improvement targets
• Coach leaders on data collection, metric development, and interpretation — building their capability to manage by fact rather than managing by fact for them
• Ensure daily management systems are functioning across all functions and coach leaders to close the gaps between standard and actual practice

• Kaizen Discipline and Calendar Ownership
• Develop and maintain kaizen discipline across the enterprise. Own the kaizen calendar — preparation, scoping, sponsorship, execution, and follow-through
• You are accountable both for event outcomes and for the measurable development of team members who participate. This is a development system, not an event calendar
• Ensure that improvement results are standardized by the teams who made them, sustained through their daily management, and shared across projects and functions
• Prioritize improvement work based on strategic objectives; challenge ad-hoc requests that don't connect to company goals

• KPO Build-Out
• Build the KPO function as ADI scales. Recruit, develop, and lead a team of improvement professionals who share your philosophy: develop people, don't fix problems for them
• Design the structure and capability requirements for the function over time, matched to the organization's maturity and scale

• Organizational Navigation
• Build trust with operational leaders before pushing for change — demonstrate value through results, not mandates
• Navigate organizational complexity with discretion, patience, and strategic awareness
• Communicate in business language — cost, schedule, quality, customer experience — not methodology jargon
• Escalate systemic barriers to the CEO with clear problem statements and proposed countermeasures

Requirements

• Experience
• 15+ years progressive operational improvement experience with significant time at director level or equivalent
• Track record leading transformation in operationally intensive, brownfield environments — measured in leaders developed and systems built, not projects completed and dollars saved
• Demonstrated experience developing front-line and middle managers into stronger operational thinkers; can name specific individuals developed and describe observable changes in their leadership behavior
• Experience standing up value streams and processes, developing metrics, and building daily management systems — through coaching others to do the work, not by doing it yourself
• Demonstrated use of structured improvement methodology with accountability for both outcomes and participant development
• Experience building and leading teams of improvement professionals
• Background in construction, manufacturing, or related operationally intensive industries strongly preferred

• Capabilities
• Command of operational improvement methodology and quality tools with sound judgment on when and how to apply each element
• Coaching disposition — your instinct when you see a problem is to ask the leader a question, not to solve it yourself. You develop others to see what you see, not depend on your seeing it
• Ability to manage up to executives and influence across organizational boundaries without formal authority
• Commercial orientation — able to connect improvement work to business outcomes and communicate in terms leadership understands
• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence; able to build trust across levels and navigate complex organizational dynamics with patience and strategic awareness
• Strategic perspective on where the function needs to go and how to build it over time

• Education and Professional Development
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, or related discipline required. MBA with operations or supply chain concentration preferred.
• Lived experience inside a functioning production system or operating system is essential. We value years spent practicing inside these systems over certifications earned about them.
• TWI (Training Within Industry) background valued
• Study tours, external coaching methodology experience, or assessment/examiner experience with recognized operational excellence bodies considered assets

What This Role is NOT

• To be transparent with candidates, we are specific about what we are not looking for:

• Project-based improvement track records. If your value proposition is measured in projects completed and dollars saved rather than people developed and systems built, this is not the right fit. Projects end. Systems endure.
• Expert/fixer mindset. If you describe yourself as someone who comes in and fixes things, you will struggle here. We need someone who develops others to fix things themselves.
• Tool deployment without system experience. If you can run an improvement event but have never built or sustained a daily management system, strategy deployment cadence, or leader standard work architecture, the scope of this role will exceed your experience.
• Credential-first profiles. Certifications demonstrate exposure. We are hiring for demonstrated capability — the ability to develop other leaders, build management systems, and sustain change in complex operating environments.

Why This Role

• Construction is an industry where operational discipline has historically been underdeveloped. ADI has committed to a different approach, and this role is central to scaling that commitment. You'll have direct access to a CEO who is personally committed to operational excellence and actively practices it. You'll have accountability for outcomes that matter. And you'll have the opportunity to build a function that shapes how an entire company operates — in an industry that desperately needs it.

$125,000 - $145,000 a year

Adi Development Group is committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible environment, where all employees and customers feel valued, respected and supported. We are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diversity of our customers and communities in which we live and serve. Adi Development Group is committed to creating an environment where every employee has the opportunity to reach their potential. We hire based on merit and are committed to the principle of equity in employment. We welcome diversity and encourage applications from all qualified individuals. As part of our commitment to accessibility for all persons with disabilities, Adi Development Group will, upon the request of the applicant, provide accommodation during the recruitment process to ensure equal access to applicants with disabilities. If you are selected for an interview and you require accommodation, please inform Human Resources.