Plant Manager

Hire Velocity; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Materion seeks a Plant Manager to lead our Milwaukee advanced chemical facility. You will oversee safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost, while driving continuous improvement and standardizing processes.

You will manage a multi-shift operation with P&L responsibility, develop talent, and champion a strong safety culture. This hands-on leader will influence cross-functional teams and ensure regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; 5+ years plant leadership in a technical manufacturing environment.
• Minimum 3 years of P&L responsibility, including operating and capital budget ownership.
• Strong understanding of OSHA, environmental, and labor regulations.
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt, or equivalent continuous improvement experience.
• Proven ability to lead multiple projects with discipline and urgency.
• Strong analytical, communication, and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day and strategic leadership to achieve or exceed targets for safety, quality, delivery, productivity, efficiency, and cost.
• Champion a best-in-class safety culture and lead all Environmental, Health & Safety initiatives.
• Maintain a strong, hands-on presence on the manufacturing floor to promote engagement, accountability, and disciplined operations.
• Lead efforts to standardize, simplify, and streamline processes for consistent and sustainable operational performance.
• Manage full P&L responsibilities, including budgeting, cost control, capital planning, and financial goal achievement.
• Build, develop, and coach a high-performing team; strengthen talent pipelines and support succession planning.
• Drive continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, and structured problem-solving methodologies.
• Foster a growth-oriented business mindset aligned with customer needs and strategic expansion opportunities.
• Serve as a leader of change adoption, promoting agility and innovation across the organization.
• Model resilience and a never-quit approach to overcoming operational and organizational challenges.
• Ensure compliance with OSHA, environmental regulations, and labor laws.
• Represent the facility externally, including community engagement when required.

Skills

Plant leadership

Cross-functional influence

P&L ownership

Lean Six Sigma

OSHA knowledge

Budgeting

Root-cause analysis

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

At Materion, everyone is included, respected and offered opportunity to grow. Join us!

PLANT MANAGER ADVANCED CHEMICS

The Plant Manager leads all manufacturing operations at our Milwaukee, WI advanced chemical facility. This hands-on operational leader is responsible for safety, environmental stewardship, production, quality, efficiency, cost, and talent development. The role drives continuous improvement, standardizes and streamlines processes, and builds a culture that embraces change, develops people, and maintains a resilient, never-quit mindset to deliver exceptional performance.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

We are a global provider of high-performance materials and advanced chemical solutions serving customers in semiconductor, aerospace, defense, photonics, and industrial technology markets. The organization combines deep technical expertise with a strong focus on quality, innovation, and operational excellence.
The Milwaukee facility supports customers with specialized chemical processing capabilities and tightly controlled production environments. The operation emphasizes precision, consistency, and reliability to enable production of critical materials used in demanding applications.
Teams across research, engineering, production, and quality work together to deliver high-purity products while continuously improving safety, sustainability, and efficiency. Every employee plays a role in maintaining disciplined, streamlined processes that meet evolving customer needs and support long-term business growth.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide day-to-day and strategic leadership to achieve or exceed targets for safety, quality, delivery, productivity, efficiency, and cost.

• Champion a best-in-class safety culture and lead all Environmental, Health & Safety initiatives.

• Maintain a strong, hands-on presence on the manufacturing floor to promote engagement, accountability, and disciplined operations.

• Lead efforts to standardize, simplify, and streamline processes for consistent and sustainable operational performance.

• Manage full P&L responsibilities, including budgeting, cost control, capital planning, and financial goal achievement.

• Build, develop, and coach a high-performing team; strengthen talent pipelines and support succession planning.

• Drive continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, and structured problem-solving methodologies.

• Foster a growth-oriented business mindset aligned with customer needs and strategic expansion opportunities.

• Serve as a leader of change adoption, promoting agility and innovation across the organization.

• Model resilience and a never-quit approach to overcoming operational and organizational challenges.

• Ensure compliance with OSHA, environmental regulations, and labor laws.

• Represent the facility externally, including community engagement when required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent is required.

• 5+ years of plant leadership experience in a multi-shift, highly technical manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated success leading teams and influencing cross-functional stakeholders.

• Minimum 3 years of P&L responsibility, including operating and capital budget ownership.

• Strong understanding of OSHA, environmental, and labor regulations.

• Knowledge of business and management principles, including budgeting, strategic planning, and resource allocation.

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt, or equivalent continuous improvement experience.

• Proven ability to lead multiple projects simultaneously with discipline and urgency.

• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, communication, and leadership skills.

• Strong technical background with the ability to understand chemical processes, equipment, safety systems, and root-cause analysis.

• Familiarity with high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) production environments, including managing frequent changeovers, process variation, and variable demand.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience as a Tier 1 supplier to the semiconductor industry.

• Experience in advanced chemicals, advanced materials, or similar high-purity manufacturing environments.

The selection of the person to be hired for this position is contingent on the candidate having export compliance eligibility for access to U.S. controlled technology which comes under the licensing jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of State, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

The candidate selected will have to qualify as either a U.S. citizen, a U.S. National, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., a Person Admitted into the U.S. as an Asylee or Refugee., a National of a country that is not prohibited from having access to U.S. controlled technology (via a letter of assurance), or a Person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on Materion's determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with Materion's business requirements.

Materion Corporation and its subsidiaries (the "Company") is an equal employment opportunity employer. It is the Company's policy to not unlawfully discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. The Company also prohibits harassment of applicants and employees based on any of these protected categories. It is also the Company's policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions. The information collected by this application is solely to determine suitability for employment, verify identity and maintain employment statistics on applicants.

Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship on the Company. Please inform the Company's personnel representative if you need assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process.

Materion's Veteran Employee Resource group supports veterans and promotes the benefits of hiring veterans in the workplace. We honor all those who have served and are a military friendly company. Veterans are encouraged to apply and military experience and skills are transferrable to Materion careers.

Please provide complete information. An incomplete application may affect your consideration for employment.