SME, Asset & Business Operations (ABO), Process Improvement, Analytics and Operational Excellence

SME, Asset & Business Operations (ABO)

Project: USDA Rural Development (RD) Loan Servicing

Division: Asset & Business Operations (ABO) – Process Improvement, Analytics, and Operational Excellence

Location: Remote, occasional travel to St. Louis or DC offices may be required.

Schedule: Monday – Friday, core Agency hours between 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM CST (8-hour workdays expected)

Overview:

USDA Rural Development (RD) is the federal government’s investment arm for rural America — providing loans, grants, and loan guarantees to expand access to housing, utilities, broadband, healthcare, and business opportunity in the communities that private markets too often overlook. The Loan Servicing Office manages those loans from the day they close to the day they’re paid off — ensuring families stay in their homes, rural businesses keep their doors open, and communities hold on to the infrastructure investments that keep them running.

USDA RD Loan Servicing is embarking on a transformational effort to increase efficiency, elevate performance, and build operational excellence across its divisions and directorates — all in service of better outcomes for its borrowers. This Subject Matter Expert (SME) will work directly with the Head of the ABO to lead organizational change through KPI design, business process improvement, and strategic planning across the contact center.

Desired Experience:

• 8–12+ years in operations, shared services, or program delivery with measurable outcomes (e.g., cycle time reduction, cost-to-serve improvements, error-rate reduction).
• Proven leadership in cross-functional process transformation.
• Direct experience in regulated environments (e.g., federal programs, financial services, healthcare) with audit readiness and data governance.
• Strong change management toolkit (e.g., Prosci ADKAR), including stakeholder engagement, communications, training adoption, and sustainment plans.
• Skilled at connecting executive priorities to operational roadmaps.
• Executive presence: succinct storytelling, sharp executive summaries, and strong facilitation with senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written communication, policy interpretation, and ability to convert complex analytics into clear options and recommendations.
• Controls and Compliance: Privacy, data protection, and records management.
• Experience with reporting tools such as Tableau, Power BI, Qlik, etc.
• SQL query experience for data extraction and manipulation.
• Strong communication skills to translate insights into actionable recommendations.
• Problem-solving skills and a proactive approach to improving performance.
• Close attention to detail and data accuracy.
• Experience with workflow development and document management processes.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across Operations, Quality Assessment, Workforce/Flow Management, and Leadership teams.

  Communication & Leadership:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, capable of drafting guidance, job aids, policy clarifications, and training.
• Ability to collaborate with USDA leadership, quality teams, and cross-functional groups.
• Skilled at representing the program area as the technical expert during internal meetings, audits, and external reviews.
• Ability to support development of branch-level strategies, prioritize initiatives, and align foreclosure/bankruptcy operations with agency-wide goals.
• Skilled in assessing workload, identifying staffing gaps, and recommending resource distribution to maintain efficient, proactive operations.
• Capable of evaluating long-term risks, anticipating bottlenecks, and proposing improvements that move the organization from a reactive to a proactive posture.