Plant Manager

Pilot Chemical Co.; Cincinnati (OH); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Pilot Chemical Co. is seeking a Plant Manager for its Lockland, OH facility to drive safe, compliant, reliable, and cost-effective operations. You will set the operating cadence, lead a culture of safety and environmental compliance, and ensure production, quality, maintenance, logistics, and people development goals are met.

You will supervise six direct reports and 18-24 indirect staff, partnering with EHS&S, Quality, Engineering and other functions to deliver a best-in-class site performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering preferred, or equivalent technical leadership experience.
• Minimum 12 years of professional experience, including at least 5 years leading operations in a multi-product chemical manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Own site safety performance and promote a prevention-based safety culture.
• Direct daily manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, and support activities to meet commitments.
• Serve as the site quality management representative and improve on-time shipment and perfect-order performance.
• Improve equipment uptime through preventive and predictive maintenance.
• Manage site operating expenses, labor, utilities, repairs and maintenance, and capital plans.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of direct reports and indirect employees.
• Use data and Lean methods to drive continuous improvement.
• Partner with cross-functional areas to align site with company strategy.

Skills

Safety leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Operations management

Lean Six Sigma

Budget management

People development

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Lean Six Sigma certification

Job description

The Plant Manager is accountable for the safe, compliant, reliable, and cost-effective operation of the Lockland facility. This leader sets the operating cadence for the site, builds a strong culture of safety and environmental compliance, and ensures production, quality, maintenance, logistics, and people-development objectives are achieved. The role requires visible floor leadership, sound technical judgment, disciplined execution of management systems, and strong cross-functional partnership with EHS&S, Quality, Engineering, Integrated Supply Chain, Commercial, Accounting, and other plant leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Safety, health, environmental, and security leadership: Own site safety performance, promote a prevention-based safety culture, ensure compliance with applicable OSHA, EPA, PSM, RMP, DHS, Responsible Care®, and internal EHS&S requirements, and lead effective emergency preparedness and response
• Operational execution: Direct daily manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, and support activities to meet customer commitments, production schedules, product quality standards, and cost targets.
• Quality and customer performance: Serve as the site quality management representative, maintain ISO 9001 discipline, reduce nonconforming product and customer complaints, and improve on-time shipment and perfect-order performance.
• Asset reliability and maintenance: Improve equipment uptime through preventive and predictive maintenance, disciplined work execution, spare-parts planning, housekeeping, and targeted debottlenecking.
• Financial and resource management: Manage site operating expenses, labor, utilities, repairs and maintenance, production supplies, scrap, and capital plans to deliver budget commitments and improve total delivered cost.
• People leadership: Lead, coach, and develop a team of six direct reports and 18-24 indirect employees; build capability, accountability, morale, succession depth, and effective employee relations.
• Continuous improvement: Use data, root-cause analysis, Lean principles, and structured problem solving to improve safety, quality, yield, reliability, productivity, inventory performance, and working capital.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with Commercial, Integrated Supply Chain, Engineering, EHS&S, Quality, Accounting, and other Plant Managers to align site execution with company strategy and customer needs.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering with Chemical Engineering preferred, or equivalent technical experience in chemical manufacturing leadership.
• Minimum of 12 years of professional experience, including at least 5 years leading operations in a multi-product chemical manufacturing environment.
• Strong working knowledge of OSHA, EPA, PSM, RMP, DHS, hazardous materials management, Responsible Care®, and applicable quality-management systems.
• Proven ability to lead safety-sensitive operations, develop people, manage budgets, improve performance metrics, and drive continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated mechanical aptitude and ability to understand chemical manufacturing processes, equipment, maintenance needs, and operational constraints.
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to influence across functions and organizational levels.
• Ability to access all required plant areas, wear required personal protective equipment, respond to emergencies, and satisfy all requirements for a safety-sensitive position.
• Experience leading OSHA PSM-covered chemical manufacturing operations.
• Advanced coursework or certification in engineering, chemistry, business, accounting, supervision, auditing, Lean, Six Sigma, or related disciplines.
• Experience with ISO 9001, SPC/SQC, Total Quality Management, ERP systems, and large Capital project execution.