Operations Leader - Paper

Georgia Pacific Corp.; Clatskanie (OR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Georgia-Pacific is seeking an Operations Leader - Paper to support the Wauna Paper Mill in Clatskanie, Oregon. The role focuses on driving operational excellence by improving asset reliability, process performance, and team capability within a safety-first culture.

You will partner with cross-functional teams to optimize paper manufacturing, lead transformational changes, and manage capital projects that create sustainable value for the mill.

Qualifications

• Leadership experience in a paper manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading continuous improvement, reliability, or process improvement initiatives.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, training, or developing leaders to improve capability and performance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Paper Department with Principle-Based Management, fostering safety, ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Provide leadership to department leaders, aligning priorities with long-term objectives.
• Develop, coach, and mentor leaders while building organizational capability and succession strength.
• Own the overall performance of the Paper Department across safety, quality, production, cost, reliability, and environmental stewardship.
• Lead transformational change initiatives to improve operational effectiveness and business performance.
• Partner with operations, maintenance, engineering, reliability, and quality teams to improve asset utilization and manufacturing performance.
• Drive strategic improvements focused on productivity, yield, efficiency, waste reduction, fiber utilization, energy optimization, and product quality.
• Establish a clear vision and operating strategy for the Paper Department and align resources.
• Lead capital projects, outage planning, and major initiatives creating sustainable mill value.
• Utilize data and metrics to identify opportunities and accelerate results.
• Ensure compliance with safety, environmental, quality, and regulatory requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Continuous improvement

Coaching & development

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Paper Science, or related field

Paper and/or Pulp experience

Technical leadership experience

Tools

PI Vision

PARCview

SAP

Job description

Your Job

Georgia-Pacific is seeking an Operations Leader - Paper to support our Wauna Paper Mill in Clatskanie, Oregon. A successful candidate will drive operational excellence by improving asset reliability, enhancing process performance, developing team capabilities, and creating long-term value through continuous improvement initiatives. This role partners closely with operations, maintenance, reliability, quality, and environmental teams to optimize paper manufacturing performance while fostering a culture of safety, accountability, and Principle-Based Management.

Our Team

For over 50 years, the Wauna Paper Mill has been a major part of the economic lifeblood of the region. With more than 900 employees, Wauna strives to lead the tissue, towel and napkin business. Our team recently invested more than $150 million to grow our brands and continue to serve our loyal consumers with the great quality they have come to expect.

Learn more by visiting our consumer products homepage.

What You Will Do

• Lead the Paper Department with Principle-Based Management, fostering a culture of safety, ownership, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Provide leadership and direction to department leaders, ensuring alignment on priorities, operational excellence, and long-term business objectives.
• Develop, coach, and mentor leaders and employees while building organizational capability and succession strength across the department.
• Own the overall performance of the Paper Department, driving results in safety, quality, production, cost, reliability, and environmental stewardship.
• Lead transformational change initiatives that improve operational effectiveness, organizational capability, and business performance.
• Partner with operations, maintenance, engineering, reliability, and quality teams to improve asset utilization, operating capability, and manufacturing performance.
• Drive strategic improvement efforts focused on productivity, yield, efficiency, waste reduction, fiber utilization, energy optimization, and product quality.
• Establish and communicate a clear vision and operating strategy for the Paper Department while aligning resources to achieve business objectives.
• Lead capital improvement initiatives, outage planning, and major operational projects that create sustainable value for the mill.
• Utilize data, performance metrics, and operational insights to identify opportunities, remove barriers, and accelerate results.
• Ensure compliance with all safety, environmental, quality, and regulatory requirements while promoting risk identification and mitigation throughout the department.
• Collaborate with mill leadership to achieve integrated manufacturing objectives and support the overall success of the Wauna Paper Mill.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Leadership experience in a paper manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading continuous improvement, reliability, or process improvement initiatives.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, training, or developing leaders to improve capability and performance.

What Will Put You Ahead

• Bachelor's Degree or higher in Engineering, Paper Science, Bioresource Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Paper and/or Pulp experience.
• Experience providing leadership to teams in a manufacturing environment, formally or informally.
• Experience using process analytics and maintenance systems such as PI Vision, PARCview, SAP, or similar platforms.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location.

Hiring Philosophy

All Koch companies value diversity of thought, perspectives, aptitudes, experiences, and backgrounds. We are Military Ready and Second Chance employers. Learn more about our hiring philosophy here.

Who We Are

As a Koch company and a leading manufacturer of bath tissue, paper towels, paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers, building products and much more, Georgia-Pacific works to meet evolving needs of customers worldwide with quality products. In addition to the products we make, we operate one of the largest recycling businesses. Our more than 30,000 employees in over 150 locations are empowered to innovate every day -to make everyday products even better.

At Koch, employees are empowered to do what they do best to make life better. Learn how our business philosophy helps employees unleash their potential while creating value for themselves and the company.

Our Benefits

Our goal is for each employee, and their families, to live fulfilling and healthy lives. We provide essential resources and support to build and maintain physical, financial, and emotional strength - focusing on overall wellbeing so you can focus on what matters most. Our benefits plan includes - medical, dental, vision, flexible spending and health savings accounts, life insurance, ADD, disability, retirement, paid vacation/time off, educational assistance, and may also include infertility assistance, paid parental leave and adoption assistance. Specific eligibility criteria is set by the applicable Summary Plan Description, policy or guideline and benefits may vary by geographic region.

Additionally, everyone has individual work and personal needs. We seek to enable the best work environment that helps you and the business work together to produce superior results.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. Except where prohibited by state law, some offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test. This employer uses E-Verify.