Make improvement a capability, not a project.
Develop improvement specialists who lead complex DMAIC projects with deep Lean Six Sigma expertise, statistical rigour and the leadership to coach others, so improvement keeps happening across your organisation.
Develop the people who carry your improvement strategy into practice.
Improvement specialists lead significant improvement work. They use structured methods, data and professional judgement to solve complex problems, manage change, develop other people and sustain the benefits.
Deploy strategy
Link improvement to organisational goals, customers and commercial context, then select, scope and prioritise the projects that matter most.
Analyse with rigour
Use sampling, measurement system analysis, hypothesis testing, regression and designed experiments to reach conclusions that stand up.
Lead and coach
Lead cross-functional teams, coach practitioners through project reviews and train others in improvement tools.
Prevent failure
Apply failure mode avoidance, statistical process control and control plans so processes stay capable and benefits are sustained.
The full occupational standard, applied to strategic work.
Specialist knowledge
Improvement strategy deployment, advanced Lean concepts, statistics and process capability, experimentation, failure mode avoidance and the commercial environment improvement operates in.
Leadership and technical skills
Leading improvement teams, planning complex projects, change management, designing experiments, statistical process control and developing improvement capability in others.
Professional behaviours
Process thinking, drive for results, team working, professionalism, safe working and continuous development of self and others.
Experienced improvement professionals who lead and develop others.
Apprentices typically build on Level 4 improvement capability or equivalent experience, and finish at the level widely associated with Lean Six Sigma Black Belt practice.
- Initial assessment and an individual learning plan built on existing experience
- Fortnightly live virtual workshops with apprentices from other organisations and sectors
- Online pre-work before each session and a practical task after it
- Substantial strategic improvement work in the apprentice’s own organisation
- Hands-on practice with statistical analysis software
- Support to design and deliver a training session to Level 4 colleagues
- Regular progress reviews with the apprentice, line manager and development coach
- Portfolio building, timed case-study practice and assessment preparation
DMAIC runs through the whole programme, at specialist depth.
Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control is the backbone of every project apprentices lead. At Level 5 they go further: choosing when DMAIC is the right method, applying advanced tools at each stage, and guiding other practitioners through it.
Define
Select and scope strategic projects, capture the voice of the customer with QFD and build the business case.
Measure
Plan sampling and data collection, and prove the measurement system is fit for purpose before trusting the data.
Analyse
Verify root causes with hypothesis testing, correlation and regression rather than opinion.
Improve
Optimise with full and fractional designed experiments, creativity tools and failure mode avoidance.
Control
Hold the gains with SPC and control plans, then replicate and share the learning across the business.
Five stages, from strategy to lasting capability.
The curriculum moves from strategy to capability. Apprentices connect improvement to organisational goals, deepen their Lean and statistical methods, master capability and control, develop the leadership of improvement, and then bring it all together in their own organisation.
Strategy & deployment
Connect improvement to what the organisation needs.
- S2Deploying improvement strategy
- K5The commercial environment
- K6Choosing improvement methods
- S8Project selection and scoping
- K7Voice of the customer and QFD
- K2Business cases and benefits
Advanced Lean & statistics
Deepen the methods and the maths.
- K11Value streams and Lean deployment
- K8Advanced process analysis
- K9Sampling and data acquisition
- K12Measurement system analysis
- S12Hypothesis testing
- S13Correlation and regression
- K15Designed experiments
Capability & control
Prove performance and keep it there.
- K13Process capability
- S17Statistical process control
- K14Verifying root causes
- K16Creative solutions: TRIZ, Pugh
- K17Failure mode avoidance
- K18Control and reaction plans
Leading improvement
Develop the people who deliver it.
- K1Leading improvement teams
- K3Coaching through project reviews
- K4Planning and leading change
- S3Communicating to senior audiences
- S4Training and developing practitioners
- S18Benchmarking
Consolidation
Bring it together and prepare for assessment.
- S20Sustaining and replicating benefits
- S4Delivering a Level 4 training session
- B1–6Portfolio and reflection
- EPATimed case-study practice
- EPAProfessional discussion preparation
Indicative structure. Session-by-session content is being finalised and may change.
Improvement that serves the strategy and lasts.
Bigger, better-chosen projects
Focus improvement effort on the problems that matter most to customers and the bottom line, with business cases and benefits tracked.
Decisions backed by data
Replace opinion with statistically sound analysis, from measurement systems through to capability and control.
Capability that multiplies
Grow a specialist who trains, coaches and develops your practitioners, so improvement doesn’t depend on one person.
Two assessment methods, graded Pass, Merit or Distinction.
After gateway, apprentices are assessed independently. Both methods must be passed, and an overall Distinction needs a Distinction in both.
Professional discussion
A competency-based conversation with an independent assessor, underpinned by a portfolio of workplace evidence covering strategy, leadership, projects, methods and sustainability.
Case-study examination
Data-based mini case studies completed on a computer with analysis software, covering sampling, measurement systems, capability, hypothesis testing, regression and SPC.
A training session they deliver
The portfolio includes a recorded session the apprentice designs and delivers to Level 4 colleagues, evidence that they can develop others.
Part of the City Skills improvement pathway.
Build from local improvement to specialist practice, and add AI and automation to put improvement strategies into action at scale.
Improvement Technician
Deliver and support improvement in your own area using Lean and Six Sigma.
Explore Improvement Technician →Improvement Specialist
Lead strategic improvement, apply advanced statistics and develop improvement capability in others.
AI and Automation Practitioner
Implement improvement strategies with AI and automation that save time, cut errors and scale across teams.
Explore AI and Automation Practitioner →Ready to build specialist improvement capability?
Speak to City Skills about using the Level 5 Improvement Specialist apprenticeship to develop the people who lead your improvement strategy and grow capability in others.
Or call us on 0203 870 4836