A global chemicals group focused on the development and manufacture of chemicals and additives.

The group has over 2,500 employees, and an international network of manufacturing sites located across Europe, Asia, and North America, with annual sales of c.$1.5b.

The group’s corporate head office is in Europe, where the leadership team, and support functions for finance, supply chain, HR, and procurement are located. As one of a small number of global suppliers in its sector, this is a well-known and established brand, with a well-invested manufacturing asset base.

The Manufacturing Site Director role will be responsible for leading the group’s plant in Malaysia. With 250 employees, this site produces speciality chemicals for customers across Asia.

Reporting to the SVP Operations, the Manufacturing Site Director is responsible for planning, directing and leading the manufacturing operations activities for the plant, ensuring safe, sustainable, competitive, efficient and cost-effective operations.

You will help lead the optimisation of the plant, to produce more from its assets and enable the site to remain competitive for inward investment from the group. You will also be tasked with developing the site’s people – promoting a culture of accountability and agility – creating a more sustainable and forward-thinking organisation.

Reporting directly to the SVP Operations, this is a role for an experienced and hands-on manufacturing operations leader from the Chemicals and Process Industries sector, with a track record of leading a manufacturing plant of scale. You will be someone who thrives in an autonomous environment, and will be experienced in transforming operational performance and achieving manufacturing best practice through collaboration with your peers, and your own personal driven leadership style.

Key requirements include:

• Degree qualified ideally in an Engineering / Chemical discipline.
• Significant experience of leading plant manufacturing operations within a process / chemical / petro-chemical industries.
• Experience of leading transformation projects, process improvement and manufacturing excellence programmes.
• Proven management and interpersonal skills, and fluent in spoken and written English.
• The ability to operate at the most senior levels in the business, and able to remain effective in a multi-cultural / multi discipline environment.
• Ability to interact with and influence external stakeholders, including government organisations, environmental regulators and business partners.

Initial longlist interviews will be held with Jonathan Burke of Berwick Partners by video, in October 2024. The shortlist interviews will be held with the SVP Operations and HR Director, by video. Candidates selected to progress to a third stage will meet other members of the senior leadership team. 

For an informal and confidential discussion, please speak with our advisors at Berwick Partners; Jonathan Burke on 0113 3868525