Operations Manager

About the team

At Castrol’s Gemlik plant, you’ll lead approximately 60–65 people, with at least eight direct reports, as the site prepares for higher production volumes and two-shift working. Reporting to the Plant Manager and joining the Plant Leadership Team, you’ll combine day-to-day operational leadership with a voice in the site’s wider direction.

Key tasks

• How do you grow production without compromising safety or quality? That’s the challenge you’ll help lead, with responsibility across the full operation, from raw materials arriving by vessel at the site’s jetty to blending, filling and on-site warehousing.
• Turn demand into a workable plan. Align capacity, staffing and resources so products meet quality standards and orders are delivered safely, on time and in full.
• Connect the shop floor with site leadership. Lead daily performance discussions at operator, supervisor and management level. Resolve issues, escalate what needs wider support, and use safety, quality, output, overall equipment effectiveness, capacity utilisation and first-time-pass data to focus action where it matters.
• Develop the people who run the operation. Coach supervisors, engineers and operators, set clear expectations, assess competencies and close capability gaps. Work with HR and HSSE on training, match people to appropriate roles and build succession plans.
• Make higher volumes sustainable, not just faster. Partner with Engineering, Quality and Continuous Improvement to improve blending and filling performance, reduce safety and quality risks, and embed lean ways of working. Keep raw material and work-in-progress inventories accurate and ERP records up to date.
• Keep safety and compliance at the centre of every decision. Apply Turkish legal requirements, the Code of Conduct, the Operating Management System (OMS), Control of Work and Hazard Identification and Task Risk Assessment (HITRA) procedures. Keep operating documents and risk assessments current, participate in high-risk assessments and fulfil assigned work-permit and area-authority responsibilities.
• Lead safe jetty operations and emergency readiness. Oversee vessel offloading, prepare teams through training and emergency exercises, investigate incidents and see corrective actions through. You may take assigned emergency-response leadership responsibilities, including acting as local On-Scene Commander.
• Hold contractors to the same standard. Assess suppliers and contractors, oversee safe contracted work and apply the Working with Contracts process. Take Contract Accountable Manager and operational risk-register responsibilities where assigned.
• Shape the plant’s next stage. Work with the leadership team to balance today’s delivery with long-term capability, maintain operational continuity during disruption and represent the plant externally when needed.
• This is a daytime, fully on-site management role. Your team will operate across two shifts, and you may need to respond to operational issues outside normal working hours.

Experience required

• A degree in Chemical or Mechanical Engineering and at least eight years of relevant manufacturing operations experience, including operational leadership in a plant environment.
• A strong track record of managing safety, quality and operational performance, with practical experience in process safety, risk management, compliance and contractor management.
• Experience leading both supervisors or engineers and frontline production teams, including coaching, capability development, performance management and employee and industrial relations. An understanding of relevant labour regulations is also required.
• Hands-on lean manufacturing experience, strong technical knowledge of production and filling processes, and improvement projects you can discuss in detail: what you changed, how you brought the team with you and what improved.
• Strong planning and analytical skills, including resource allocation, capacity planning, scheduling, SAP or another ERP system, and Microsoft Office. You’ll also bring an understanding of budgets, capital expenditure and operational financial measures.
• Calm, sound judgement under pressure and the ability to lead people through change, balancing immediate operational demands with longer-term priorities.
• Fluent written and spoken English, with the ability to communicate effectively with colleagues at every level and with external partners.
• Experience in automotive, FMCG, lubricants or comparable chemical manufacturing is a plus. Whatever your industry background, an established safety and lean manufacturing culture is essential.
• Experience working in a multinational or matrix organisation is a plus.
• Experience leading through a significant operational crisis is a plus.
• Broader supply chain experience or familiarity with jetty and vessel-offloading operations is a plus. Prior jetty experience is not required, and training is available.