Director, Operations

**Portfolio Business**_:_** Huber Engineered Materials
Huber Engineered Materials (HEM) is a portfolio of global mid-sized specialty chemical and mineral businesses within J. M. Huber Corporation. HEM is organized into three strategic business units as follows: Huber Advance Materials, Huber Specialty Minerals and Huber AgroSolutions.
Huber AgroSolutions, a business unit within Huber Engineered Materials, consists of several companies based around the world, including Biolchim, CIFO and ILSA. Our companies share a culture that is deeply committed to plant nutrition and the success of its many customers around the globe.
**Position Summary**:
The Director of Operations will oversee all production sites in Italy including site supply chain, site purchasing, and quality control along with engineering and continuous improvement. As a key member of the EMEA/APAC leadership team, this position works cross-functionally with other critical leaders to perform efficient and creative solutions to business challenges. With the proper combination of manufacturing and operations management, financial, and people skills, leads the organization of 4 manufacturing plants (1-Biolchim Italy, 1-Cifo Italy, 1-Matecsa Hungary, 1-Biolchim China) to the next level of operational excellence. This position will be based in the Bologna area between Medicina (Biolchim plant) and San Giorgio de Piano (CIFO plant).
**Principal Duties & Responsibilities**:
- Ensure and continuously improve the safety of our plants with respect to personal, process safety, and environmental and product safety compliance
- Challenge and motivate the operations organization
- Ensure maintenance of all production assets, providing an appropriate maintenance plan
- Build and manage a local Operations Team to operate as a cohesive unit leveraging best practices across the manufacturing function and in full alignment with other business functions
- Identify and implement potential production synergies within the plants
- Optimize manufacturing footprint and drive out costs aligned with business strategy
- Implement best practices in operational effectiveness and reliability consistently improving metrics year over year
- Effectively engineer and deploy capital, aligned to the strategy, returning projects to operations on time, meeting or beating budgets
- Develop and implement the most effective technologies for the various product lines
- In partnership with HEM's central purchasing function, ensure an effective procurement strategy is developed and implemented for achieving reliable, cost-effective sources of supply
- Ensure an effective and efficient distribution and logistics strategy is developed and implemented
- Partner with R&D/Innovation to bring new products to market. Support and participate in the implementation of non-product Innovation (manufacturing technology, sustainability, etc)
- Contribute to and influence the business strategies from a capacity, cost, and sustainable competitive advantage perspective
- Responsible for the expenses and headcount within his/her function. Integrate budgets manage budget targets and authorize expenditures within established limits.
**Specialized/Technical Knowledge or Required Skills**:
- Chemical or Mechanical engineer background - Extensive experience and understanding of various dry, aqueous and organic liquid blending and formulation systems.
- Understanding of complex production processes, experience with complex specialty chemical operations, preferred
- 10+ years of experience with a minimum of 5 years overseeing operations for a multi-plant business.
- Proven experience delivering strong EHS&S performance and supply chain excellence
- Demonstrated strengths in optimizing production efficiency, driving productivity improvements with change management experience.
- Drive LEAN Six Sigma, continuous improvement in processes, quality, cost, sustainability, training and people development. Serve as the HAS business champion of continuous improvement.
- International experience across multiple regions preferred
- High level of business acumen, including analytical and financial skills
- High cognitive abilities, stress tolerance, enjoys ambiguity and thrives in a complex environment, with a willingness to stand alone
- Approximately 20% of international travel required
- English language required
- Outstanding analytical and problem-solving abilities with some experience in LEAN Six Sigma principles and problem-solving methodology. Black Belt level experience preferred.
- Exceptional leadership skills including the ability to lead, motivate and inspire direct reports and colleagues to a common goal
Our employees are our strongest asset, and their safety, health, and well-being is our highest priority. We respect the individual by providing opportunities for professional and personal development. Our Principles drive us to create an inclusive workplace where employees share core values, show dignity a