Plant Manager

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

Job summary

Pilot Chemical Company in Cincinnati seeks a Plant Manager for the Lockland facility to lead safe, compliant, and cost-efficient operations. You will set operating cadence, foster a culture of safety and environmental compliance, and align production, quality, maintenance, logistics, and people development with site goals.

This role requires visible floor leadership, strong technical judgment, and disciplined execution of management systems, with cross-functional partnership across EHS&S,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Chemical Engineering preferred) or equivalent technical leadership experience.
• Minimum 12 years of professional experience, with at least 5 years leading operations in a multi-product chemical manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of OSHA, EPA, PSM, RMP, DHS, Responsible Care, and quality-management systems.
• Proven ability to lead safety-sensitive operations, develop people, manage budgets, and drive continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Safety, health, environmental, and security leadership: Own site safety performance and ensure compliance with OSHA, EPA, PSM, RMP, DHS, Responsible Care, and internal EHS&S requirements.
• Operational execution: Direct daily manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, and support activities to meet customer commitments, production schedules, product quality, and cost targets.
• Quality and customer performance: Act 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 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 and morale.
• 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.

Skills

Safety leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Lean and Six Sigma

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Chemical Engineering preferred)

Lean/Six Sigma certification

Tools

ERP systems

ISO 9001

Job description

PLANT MANAGER - LOCKLAND

Role Summary

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.

Required Competencies

• 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.

Preferred Competencies

• 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.

Join our growing team!