Operations Manager - Chemical Formulation Manufacturing

About the Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Operations Manager to lead production at a high-performance chemical formulation manufacturing site. This role is ideal for a hands-on leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment and is passionate about safety, people development, and operational excellence.

As a key member of the site leadership team, you will play a critical role in delivering safe, reliable, and efficient operations while supporting new products, capacity growth, and continuous improvement initiatives.

What You'll Do

Lead Safe, Compliant Operations

Champion a strong safety-first culture through visible leadership, engagement, and accountability.
Partner closely with Environmental, Health & Safety to ensure compliance with all safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements.
Lead or support incident investigations, root cause analysis, and corrective actions to continuously strengthen personal and process safety.

Drive Production Performance

Own daily and weekly production execution to ensure on-time delivery, high quality, and cost control.
Optimize labor utilization, equipment efficiency, material usage, and product yields across formulation and packaging operations.
Collaborate with scheduling, warehouse, and logistics teams to ensure smooth material flow and accurate inventory management.

Develop and Lead High-Performing Teams

Lead and develop production supervisors, engineers, and schedulers.
Build a culture of engagement, accountability, and continuous learning through coaching, performance feedback, and skill development.
Partner with Human Resources to support performance management, labor relations, and employee development.

Enable Growth and Continuous Improvement

Lead continuous improvement initiatives to increase throughput, reduce costs, and improve quality.
Support site and corporate capital projects from concept through execution.
Collaborate on production scheduling strategies to improve flexibility, reduce changeovers, and support seasonal demand.

Support Innovation and New Products

Play a key role in introducing new products by supporting process design reviews, hazard analyses, SOP development, training, and scale-up.
Ensure new processes are safe, stable, and efficient as they transition into routine manufacturing.

What We're Looking For

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Chemistry, or a related technical field.
Experience leading operations in a chemical manufacturing or formulation environment.
Proven leadership experience in a manufacturing environment with both salaried and hourly employees (union experience preferred).

Preferred Experience & Skills

Strong knowledge of Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement tools (Kaizen, 5S, SMED, SPC).
Experience with process safety, root cause analysis, and Management of Change (MOC) practices.
Strong analytical and systems skills (advanced Excel required; SAP and statistical software preferred).
Demonstrated ability to lead change, develop teams, and deliver results.

Compensation Range: $140k to $174k

#indhp