PQ is a leading global provider of silicates, silicas and derivative products. PQ’s products are used in a wide variety of industrial processes and many customer products, from decorative paints to green cement, from clean drinking water to green tires and from toothpaste to biofuels and beer.

Ideal candidates resonate with PQ’s Core Values of Integrity, Sustainability, People, Customer Focus and Safety.  Successful employees embrace and model these values in their behaviors and actions.

The Plant Manager holds overall accountability for the safe, compliant, reliable, and profitable operation of the National Silicates silicate manufacturing facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Leading the site’s operations, maintenance, EH&S, quality, and supply chain functions, the Plant Manager delivers the company’s goals for safety, environmental compliance, quality, customer service, and financial performance. The role also carries stewardship of the facility’s major assets and provides leadership for significant capital projects, working with a multi-disciplinary team across corporate functions (Engineering, Finance, Quality, EH&S, Reliability, and IT).

Key Responsibilities

Environmental, Health & Safety (EH&S)

• Lead the effort to promote a strong EH&S culture that enables an accident-free workplace and ensures compliance with OSHA and all environmental regulatory requirements.
• Ensure full compliance with OSHA, EPA, and applicable state environmental requirements, including all site operating-permit conditions (air, water, and spill-prevention obligations), and own accurate, on-time regulatory reporting.
• Maintain robust process-safety, contractor-safety, and emergency-response programs appropriate to a furnace-based chemical manufacturing operation.
• Advance leading-indicator programs — near-miss reporting, audits, and behavior-based safety — and ensure timely closure of corrective actions.

Operations, Quality & Reliability

• Direct all production operations across all shifts to meet production, quality, and delivery targets.
• Embed a Quality Management System that ensures products are manufactured within specification and raw material losses are minimized.
• Interact with the planning department to design and execute a production plan that meets customer delivery requirements.
• Improve asset reliability and uptime — particularly of furnaces and other critical units — through proactive and predictive maintenance and disciplined maintenance planning.
• Manage utilities and energy (notably natural gas) as both a reliability and a cost lever.

Continuous Improvement & Lean Manufacturing

• Implement a continuous improvement process that uses Lean tools such as OEE and 5S and engages employees at all levels in driving improvements in safety, quality, cost, and delivery.
• Personally deploy structured root-cause problem solving and Kaizen and sustain standard work to lock in gains.
• Drive employee engagement through visible KPIs and daily management / tiered accountability and build continuous-improvement capability across the workforce.

Financial Management

• Own the plant P&L and develop the annual operating plan.
• Create and manage annual budgets for capital expenditure, fixed costs, and variable costs.
• Apply manufacturing-finance acumen — conversion cost / cost-per-ton, standard costing, variance analysis, and an accurate, on-time month-end close in partnership with Finance — and drive structured cost reduction.
• Clearly distinguish operating expense (Opex) from capital expenditure (CapEx); prepare and justify capital appropriation requests (AFEs) and manage approved capital to budget and schedule.
• Control spare-parts and inventory investment, working capital, and open commitments within delegated authority.

Capital Projects & Asset Stewardship

• Collaborate with the Engineering department to develop and implement projects that improve productivity and safety.
• Provide site leadership for major capital projects, partnering with Engineering on scope, schedule, budget, permitting, and supply continuity through any outage.
• Steward the long-term condition of the facility’s critical assets to protect safe, reliable, and cost-effective operation.

Customer & Commercial Interface

• Serve as the site’s senior operational point of contact for key customers, in alignment with the customer service team, and build trust-based relationships.
• Assure supply continuity and product quality against contractual commitments, leading the plant’s operational response with a clear communication and escalation plan when supply is at risk.
• Partner with Customer Service on demand planning, service levels (on-time, in-full / OTIF), forecasts, and customer business reviews.

Procurement, Supply Chain & Planning

• Partner with Procurement to ensure raw materials, supplies, spare parts, and services are available as planned and when needed.
• Drive on-time, in-full (OTIF) and on-time-shipment performance while managing logistics cost.
• Champion a structured integrated business planning (S&OP / IBP) process to execute the consensus demand and supply plan for production, inventory, and on-time delivery.

People Leadership

• Build a high-performing team through effective coaching, training, and the establishment of clearly communicated goals and objectives.
• Drive performance management, talent development, and succession planning to build organizational capability and bench strength.

Compliance & Certifications

• Maintain certifications for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, NSF, and RC 14001, and uphold Responsible Care commitments.
• Make sure all the regulatory, environmental, operational and any required permit to the plant operation its kept updated.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline; engineering preferred.
• A minimum of 5–10 years of experience in a chemical or process manufacturing environment, including progressive leadership responsibility and time in a plant-management or senior operations role.
• A dynamic leader who can inspire others to work toward a common goal.
• An effective communicator who delivers information in a clear, concise, and timely manner.
• Able to build collaborative relationships based on trust and respect.
• Ability to think strategically, anticipating the future needs of the business and developing a plan to deliver them.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience leading Lean / continuous-improvement deployment (OEE, 5S, standard work, problem solving), not theoretical knowledge alone.
• Proven experience building and managing plant operating and capital budgets, and leading capital projects from appropriation through execution.
• Manufacturing-finance acumen — P&L ownership, standard costing, variance analysis, cost-per-ton management, and month-end close.
• A track record of building and sustaining key customer relationships and meeting service and supply commitments.
• A genuine, front-line EH&S leadership orientation with a record of improving safety and environmental-compliance performance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in glass, silicate, or other high-temperature / furnace-based process operations.
• Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.

Key Competencies

• Safety leadership · Results orientation · Financial & business acumen · Decision quality · Customer focus & influence · Strategic thinking · Change leadership · Clear communication · Collaboration & relationship building · Team development

EHS Responsibilities

• Communicates, promotes and personally demonstrates Safety/Health (including PQP Principles) as #1 priority
• Participation in risk assessment audits as applicable
• Understand PQ Principles (PQP) and how they are implemented in the site organization, rules and procedures
• Completes HSE training requirements identified for the job in a timely manner

PQ is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Click on the link to read Know Your Rights: Workplace discrimination is illegal (eeoc.gov). For more information, please review the link Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (eeoc.gov).