R&D Pilot Plant Supervisor

Ketjen is hiring for our FCC R&D Pilot Plant Supervisor role. This position is a fully in-office role located in Bayport, TX.

The Pilot Plant Supervisor is responsible for leading safe, reliable, and effective pilot plant operations that support research, product development, process scale-up, manufacturing support and customer sample generation. This role requires strong technical judgment, analytical problem solving, and people leadership, with the expectation to identify practical solutions, improve operating discipline, and strengthen pilot plant capability in alignment with business and R&D priorities.

What You Will Do

Operations and Safety Leadership

• Supervise and develop a team of 5 pilot plant operators, setting clear expectations, effective work planning, and consistent execution of operating priorities. Gather and deliver performance feedback.
• Maintain a safe operating environment through regular inspections, audits, procedure discipline, and proactive improvement of process technology. Serve as a trainer and key participant in Ketjen safety programs; develop safe operating procedures for new equipment; and support process hazard analyses and root cause investigations as needed.
• Establish training and development plans for pilot plant equipment, maintenance practices, troubleshooting, and operational readiness.
• Manage the end-to-end process for producing high-quality samples for internal and external customers, balancing delivery commitments with safety, quality, and resource constraints.
• Provide pilot plant equipment, technical services, and operating support for research and development activities across internal customer groups.
• Drive continuous improvement in pilot plant efficiency, reliability, capability, and capital readiness.
• Manage pilot plant resources and priorities in alignment with business needs. Develop and track performance metrics to improve planning, throughput, backlog management, operational effectiveness, and bottleneck resolution.
• Establish and supervise quality programs for equipment, processes, raw materials, and sample outputs.

Product Development and Scale-Up Support

• Participate in product development projects by translating laboratory results into safe, practical, and executable pilot-scale plans.
• Document pilot plant results, observations, and learnings in technical reports that support future scale-up, troubleshooting, and knowledge transfer.

Process Development and Technical Stewardship

• Contribute to process development projects by providing pilot plant expertise, capability assessments, and guidance on data translation between laboratory, pilot, and commercial scales.
• Serve as a steward for process know-how on current technologies. Capture and grow technical expertise in compounding, mixing, drying, fluidization, TOPAZ, JADE, and related pilot plant processes.
• Develop, validate, and continuously improve translation factors between pilot plant and commercial plant operations for relevant technologies and equipment.
• Identify and implement tangible improvements to existing technologies, operating practices, and pilot plant capabilities.
• Develop capital projects that improve pilot plant capability, reliability, safety, and flexibility.

Strategic Leadership and Continuous Improvement

• Support strategic goal setting for the pilot plant, translating business and R&D priorities into clear improvement plans for capability, capacity, safety, and operational performance.
• Lead the pilot plant team with a focus on capability building, communication, accountability, continuous improvement, cost efficiency and effective cross-functional support.

Key Competencies

• Safety Leadership: Demonstrates visible ownership of safety, procedure discipline, hazard recognition, and risk-based decision making.

• People Leadership: Builds capability, sets clear expectations, coaches operators, and reinforces accountability through effective communication and follow-up.

• Operational Discipline: Manages priorities, resources, schedules, and performance metrics to deliver reliable execution and improve pilot plant effectiveness.

• Customer and Stakeholder Focus: Understands internal and external customer needs, communicates tradeoffs clearly, and aligns pilot plant support with business and R&D priorities.

• Continuous Improvement Mindset: Identifies opportunities to improve safety, quality, efficiency, reliability, capability, and knowledge transfer.
• Technical Judgment: Applies sound engineering, process, and operational judgment to troubleshoot problems, evaluate options, and develop practical solutions.

What You Bring

Required:

• Education: High school degree and 10 years of pilot plant, manufacturing, or process operations will be considered.
• Technical Experience: Experience in pilot plant or commercial plant operations, manufacturing, process development, product development, or scale-up operations, preferably in a chemical, catalyst, materials, or related industrial environment.
• Supervisory Experience: Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop operators or technical staff in an operations-focused environment.
• Safety and Compliance: Working knowledge of process safety, operating procedures, hazard recognition, incident investigation, management of change, and safe work practices.
• Operational and Technical Skills: Ability to troubleshoot equipment and process issues, manage competing priorities, interpret technical data, document results, and communicate effectively with research, operations, engineering, and business stakeholders.

Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science, or a related technical field preferred;
• Experience in pilot plant or commercial plant operations, manufacturing, process development, product development, or scale-up operations in a chemical, catalyst, materials, or related industrial environment.