Solenis · 22 hours ago
Operations Director
Wilmington, Delaware, United States of America
Full-time
Hybrid
Director/Executive
10+ years expSolenis is a leading global provider of water and hygiene solutions, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. As the Operations Director, you will be responsible for overseeing operational performance across nine manufacturing sites, focusing on safety, compliance, quality, service, cost, and people leadership while collaborating with various departments to achieve business objectives.
ChemicalIndustrialManufacturing
Responsibilities
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Qualification
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
Benefits
Medical
Dental
Vision
401K
Company
Solenis
Solenis is a producer of specialty chemicals for industrial water treatment operations.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Solenis has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (3)
2024 (13)
2023 (7)
2022 (1)
2021 (4)
2020 (3)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknown2021-07-06Acquired
Leadership Team
John Panichella
CEO
Recent News
globallegalchronicle.com
2025-11-07
2025-11-01
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