Operations Director

Solenis is a leading global provider of water and hygiene solutions. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of water treatment chemistries, process aids, functional additives, cleaners, disinfectants, and state-of-the-art monitoring, control and delivery systems. These technologies are used by customers to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets, minimize environmental impact, and create cleaner and safer environments. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has 78 manufacturing facilities strategically located around the globe and employs a team of over ~23000 professionals in >160 countries across six continents. Solenis is a 2025 Best Managed Company Gold Standard honoree.

For additional information about Solenis, please visit www.solenis.com or follow us on social media.

As Operations Director you are a senior, highly visible professional responsible for end-to-end operational performance across nine (9) manufacturing sites within the Solenis North America network. You will own results across safety, compliance, quality, service, cost, reliability, and people leadership, while collaborating with Supply Chain, Commercial, EHS, Quality, Engineering, and HR to deliver business objectives.

You are required to be an enterprise operator, someone who can inspire and guide teams, create operational discipline through visible management systems, drive continuous improvement and cost productivity, and stabilize underperforming sites while scaling best practices across the network.

Key Responsibilities:

Safety, Health, Environmental & Regulatory Excellence

Foster a strong Safety & Health culture across all nine sites by ensuring consistent execution of EHS standards, full regulatory and corporate compliance (OSHA, EPA, DOT, permits), and a proactive approach to incident prevention through risk identification, field presence, and disciplined corrective action.

Multi-Site Performance Leadership (Network Scorecard Ownership)

Own multi-site operational performance across safety (including process safety), customer service, quality, reliability, and cost, using robust metrics, governance routines, and performance management tools to drive top-quartile results, ensure accountability, and close performance gaps through structured escalation and review cadences.

Reliability, Maintenance & Asset Performance

Drive reliability program maturity across sites by strengthening preventive maintenance, reducing downtime, and managing structured root-cause problem solving, while partnering with Engineering and Maintenance to improve asset health, eliminate chronic failures, and ensure disciplined turnaround and outage planning and execution.

Cost Productivity, Operational Excellence, and Continuous Improvement

Lead continuous improvement across sites using Lean, Six Sigma, and operational excellence systems to enhance throughput, yield, productivity, and cost performance, while driving structural cost reductions (labor productivity, conversion costs, waste, utilities, inventory) and sponsoring adoption of digital and standardization tools aligned with enterprise best practices.

Strategic Planning, Capital Discipline & Network Optimization

Partner with Finance and Engineering to develop and execute annual and multi-year operating plans, lead capital plan prioritization across nine sites to align investments with reliability, safety, capacity, growth, and cost objectives, and support strategic projects and footprint/network optimization initiatives as needed.

Talent Development & Organizational Capability

Coach, Support, and develop Plant Managers and Site Leaders by setting high standards of leadership and accountability, building succession plans, addressing capability gaps, strengthening the leadership bench, and fostering an engaged, disciplined, and high-performance organizational culture.

Cross-Functional Integration

Collaborate with Commercial, Supply Chain, R&D, Procurement, Quality, Engineering, and IT to ensure customer requirements, planning priorities, and business growth are met, act as the primary escalation point for major operational disruptions, and align site operations with corporate standards and enterprise-wide transformation initiatives.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Chemistry, Supply Chain, or related technical discipline (advanced degree preferred).
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing/operations leadership experience in a complex industrial environment (chemicals, specialty chemicals, industrial manufacturing preferred).
• Demonstrated success managing multiple sites OR a very large/complex flagship manufacturing site with broad scope.
• Strong knowledge of operational risk, EHS management systems, and compliance expectations; PSM knowledge strongly preferred for chemical manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience deploying Lean / CI systems with measurable results.
• Strategic, execution-focused professional who translates strategy into measurable site results.
• Strong financial acumen with deep understanding of cost drivers, yield, and operational efficiency.
• High standards and accountability, with a coaching mindset and ability to influence across levels.
• Thrives in complex, ambiguous environments with excellent communication and a bias for action.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence across all levels and functions.

Preferred

• Six Sigma certification (Green/Black Belt) or equivalent operational excellence qualification.
• Experience steering turnaround or performance recovery across a multi-site portfolio.
• Experience interfacing with senior leadership teams, private equity stakeholders, or board-level updates.

Travel Requirement

• Up to 50% travel across assigned sites, with heavier travel during site transitions, major outages, or performance recovery.

At Solenis, we understand that our greatest asset is our people. That is why we offer competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits which include medical, dental, vision & 401K, and numerous opportunities for professional growth and development. So, if you are interested in working for a world-class company and enjoy solving complex challenges, whether in the lab or the field, consider joining our team.

Solenis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer, including Minorities / Women/ Veterans / Disabled.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Should you require assistance in applying to this opportunity, please reach out to Solenis Talent Acquisition at [email protected]