Position SummaryErgon's Energy & Specialty Solutions (ESS) division is seeking a
Director of Operational Excellence & Optimization to lead the business unit efforts that strengthen operational and business performance. Reporting to the Vice President - ESS Business Operations, this role integrates people, processes, systems, technology, and performance to improve safety, reliability, profitability, and organizational resilience.
The Director will lead cross-functional optimization, continuous improvement, innovation, and technology initiatives while building scalable capabilities that support Ergon's values of
Respectful Relationships, Empowered Service, Purposeful Growth, and Selfless Leadership.
Key Responsibilities- Establish and lead the ESS Operational Excellence strategy, standards, governance, priorities, and performance measures aligned with business objectives.
- Lead cross-functional optimization and continuous-improvement initiatives that improve safety, reliability, efficiency, profitability, and organizational effectiveness.
- Identify recurring operational and business performance issues and implement sustainable solutions using disciplined problem-solving, standardization, and organizational learning.
- Evaluate and advance technology, analytics, automation, and innovation opportunities based on business value, risk, scalability, and organizational readiness.
- Partner with Engineering, Operations, Maintenance, Reliability, Asset Integrity, Safety, and other functions to embed Operational Excellence principles and lifecycle thinking into operating and capital-project decisions.
- Partner with Finance and business leaders to quantify opportunities, prioritize initiatives, establish performance measures, and validate realized business value.
- Build organizational capability by strengthening continuous-improvement practices, change leadership, knowledge sharing, and adoption of scalable solutions across ESS.
Basic Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or a related field.
- 10+ years of experience in operations, engineering, operational excellence, continuous improvement, business optimization, or a related industrial discipline.
- 5+ years of experience leading cross-functional improvement, optimization, or transformation initiatives.
- Experience leading initiatives involving multiple operational or business functions from opportunity identification through implementation and performance measurement.
- Experience establishing and using operational or business performance metrics to identify opportunities and measure results.
- Experience presenting recommendations, performance results, and improvement priorities to senior business or operational leaders.
- Experience working within refining, petrochemical, chemical processing, energy, manufacturing, or a comparable industrial environment.
Preferred Qualifications- 15+ years of progressive experience in industrial operations, engineering, operational excellence, or business optimization.
- 7+ years leading enterprise, multi-site, or business-unit-level continuous-improvement or optimization initiatives.
- Experience developing or implementing an Operational Excellence framework, governance model, or performance-management system.
- Experience implementing technology, analytics, automation, or digital solutions that produced measurable operational or business improvements.
- Experience developing business cases and partnering with Finance to quantify opportunities and validate realized financial or operational value.
- Experience leading organizational change or capability-building initiatives across multiple functions or operating locations.
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean certification, or comparable continuous-improvement certification.
