Technology Process Manager

The Technology Process Manager will serve as a member of the Technology Leadership Team and play a key role in defining and implementing the technical strategy. This is a senior individual contributor role with no direct reports and a strong emphasis on mentoring: the Technology Process Manager is a guiding force and resource for the organization. The Technology Process Manager will have primary alignment to one Technology but will be cross-trained across the enterprise and provide support to the others as workload requires. The Technology Process Manager is the key link between the Chemical Research and Development (R&D) organization and the plant, working with R&D on new initiatives from research through trials and field execution and ensuring a smooth handoff and scale-up at the plant. This position will provide technical leadership for the development and implementation of new process technologies for new and existing products, and the optimization of existing processes to improve raw material/energy efficiency, productivity and product quality, creating long-term value for the enterprise. This role will also lead documentation of current best practices and development of Most Effective Technology (MET), including evaluating and rolling out new technologies to define new MET, and will develop technology training for site engineers and technical staff.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the key link between R&D and the plant to ensure successful trials and scale-up
• Mentor Unit and Continuous Improvement engineers on first principles of engineering, process technology, process safety and continuous improvement through coaching, technical reviews and knowledge transfer
• Lead documentation of current best practices and development of Most Effective Technology (MET), evaluating, selecting and rolling out new technologies that may become MET
• Develop and deliver technology training, including physical training documentation, for site engineers and technical staff
• Support production units in resolving technical issues and lead data-driven improvement projects that improve yield, quality, productivity and raw material/energy efficiency
• Support alternate raw material source qualification for security of supply and cost savings
• Provide technology- and chemistry-specific input to the process safety function, including design of safety systems, and support compliance with environmental, safety and industry regulations (e.g., OSHA, EPA)
• Serve as lead technical contact for the primary technology; support the other technologies as workload requires, including occasional travel for cross-training and projects; and partner with the other Technology Process Managers to share learnings and align practices

Knowledge, Skills and Capabilities:

8 or more years of relevant chemical manufacturing experience in plant-side technical roles, including direct production plant experience Experience supporting R&D projects, commercial trials or scale-ups, with enough operational background to translate operations requirements to R&D and R&D work to operations Demonstrated experience mentoring or coaching engineers or technical staff Preferred: experience in monomer, specialty chemical, solution polymerization or similar chemistries and processes Understand the Chemical division's products, processes and markets or similar products in the industry, and chemical processes from an engineering perspective Able to effectively mentor, coach and influence others without direct authority Able to build relationships and collaborate across Operations, R&D, the business and multiple sites Able to develop and deliver technical training Knowledge of chemical industry regulatory and compliance requirements (e.g., OSHA, EPA, PSM/RMP) Able to plan, execute and monitor technical projects within scope, schedule and budget Proficient in interpreting production data to drive decision-making Able to solve complex technical challenges with practical solutions Quick to learn new technologies; flexible, adaptive and able to bring order to ambiguity

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering or a related engineering discipline required Six Sigma or other Continuous Improvement training preferred