Chief Operating Officer - Fertilizers/Chemicals

Job Purpose:

Lead safe, reliable, and cost-efficient operations across large fertilizer and chemical manufacturing complexes. Translate business strategy into annual production, maintenance, quality, energy, and project execution plans. Drive productivity, yield, energy efficiency, and quality across the product portfolio. Ensure process safety, statutory compliance, environmental performance, and operating risk management. Integrate operations with R&D, commercial, supply chain, finance, digital, and capital projects to support growth.

Key Responsibilities:

Manufacturing Strategy & Leadership:

• Lead plant heads and central technical functions.
• Define operating strategy, philosophy, and annual performance agenda.

Operations Planning & Cost Performance:

• Lead annual budgeting and AOP preparation for operations, including manpower, utilities, maintenance, services, and shutdowns.
• Own plant P&L for controllable costs.
• Review plant-wise actuals vs AOP; isolate yield, energy, maintenance, and fixed-cost variances and assign corrective actions.

Production Performance & Excellence:

• Ensure production plan delivery, plant availability, and capacity utilization.
• Improve yield, quality, energy intensity, and conversion cost across key products.
• Lead shutdown planning, operating-risk reviews, and timely corrective actions.

Capital Projects & Engineering Governance:

• Provide operational input to technology selection, design, maintainability, and handover.

Integrated Planning & Cross-Functional Execution:

• Align production plans with commercial priorities.
• Support R&D trials and execution readiness.
• Coordinate performance tracking with Finance and automation with Digital/IT.

Organization & Capability Building:

• Build succession plans and capability across operations, maintenance, QC, and EHS.
• Strengthen contractor management, operating discipline, and performance ownership.

Process Safety, Quality & Compliance:

• Ensure quality control, assurance, and product-specification adherence.
• Ensure process safety, statutory, and environmental compliance.
• Close major audit findings, incidents, near misses, and regulatory commitments.

Skills & Capabilities:

• Deep experience in continuous process manufacturing, plant operations, maintenance, and process safety.
• Strong exposure to boilers, steam, power, utilities, shutdowns, and asset-reliability management.
• Working knowledge of DCS, APC, MES, plant-performance analytics, and digital manufacturing tools.
• Proven capability in operations P&L, cost reduction, energy optimization, and multi-plant leadership.