There is no doubt that many top financial institutions have embraced some form of Lean Six Sigma. As an exercise we went to Indeed.com in order to get a snapshot of what the demand for jobs might be.

 Accordingly, we looked at job notices on Indeed for six top financial institutions.

  • J.P. Morgan
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Citigroup
  • Bank of America
  • Capital One
  • Wells Fargo

This was not meant to be a scientific study.

We searched on the company name and Six Sigma jobs. What follows is a sampling of the company and required/desired skills they listed with Six Sigma. Each bullet is from a separate job description.

Selected Required/Desired Skills by Institution: Five listings per Company

J.P. Morgan

  • Formal project management training (PMI/Six Sigma/other) and project management experience
  • Demonstrated process improvement experience required with formal Lean/Six Sigma certification a plus
  • Contribute to continuous improvement by leveraging CMM, Six Sigma or other methodologies
  • Bachelor’s degree required from an accredited university/institution; advanced degree and/or certifications (e.g., PMP, Six Sigma/ Lean Certification, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner) a plus
  • Drive Quality, Cost, and Service Delivery projects to completion using formal process improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma and Capacity Planning.

Goldman Sachs

  • Six Sigma and Lean Certification (Green Belt or Black Belt preferred)
  • Certification in Six Sigma / Lean / other process improvement methodologies
  • Exposure to Lean, Agile, Six Sigma, BPM and ITIL preferable (Two listings)
  • Six Sigma or similar certifications is a strong plus

Citigroup

  • Experience with Lean Six Sigma process improvement preferred
  • PMP/PMI certification is a plus, as is Six Sigma training
  • Experience driving transformational process change in organizations and executing process improvement methods, preferably using Lean and Six Sigma practices and tools
  • Previous experience with Lean Methodology / Six Sigma
  • Process improvement experience (Six Sigma, Lean)

Bank of America

  • Six Sigma, BPM (business process management), or Project Management (PMP) certification
  • Knowledge of PMI, Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Agile (SCRUM), Waterfall, and/or Six Sigma (Lean) methodologies
  • Six Sigma or Lean certification, with significant applied experience to improving processes.
  • Experience in Strategy and Operational Excellence, process assessment & engineering, Lean Six Sigma and Project/Program Management
  • Experience with Six Sigma/Lean practices and change management required.

Capital One

  • Lean, Six Sigma certification
  • PMP, Lean, Agile or Six Sigma certification
  • BPM, Lean, Agile or Six Sigma certification
  • Six Sigma Green or Black Belt
  • Lean, Agile, Six Sigma, Business Process Management, or Project Management certification

Wells Fargo

  • Experience working with process improvement methodologies such as Lean or Six Sigma
  • BA/BS degree or higher and 1+year of experience in one or a combination of the following: process engineering, military (supply chain, analytics and/or engineering); or LEAN/Six Sigma Green belt
  • Experience in Business Process Management practices• Lean Six Sigma Green or Black Belt Certification or equivalent process improvement Operational Excellence experience
  • Knowledge and understanding of Six Sigma methodology
  • LEAN/Six Sigma Green belt and 3+ years of experience in one or a combination of the following: process engineering, military (supply chain, analytics and/or engineering)

This simple exercise should give an idea of the inroads Lean and Six Sigma have made in the financial arena.