Associate Director - Plant Utilities

Location: Basel

A Career at Lonza

What you’ll get

• An agile career and a dynamic work culture
• An inclusive and ethical workplace
• Compensation programs that recognize high performance
• In addition to a competitive salary, you can expect numerous lifestyle, family, and leisure benefits.
• Relocation support for eligible candidate

The Associate Director, Plant Utilities provides global technical leadership and engineering governance for reliable, fit-for-purpose and lifecycle-efficient plant utility infrastructure. The role owns global standards and provides technical leadership across thermal systems, cooling, technical gases and vacuum, water, wastewater, heat and energy recovery, and utility monitoring, from incoming supply and generation through distribution, user interfaces and discharge. The role supports investment prioritization, capital projects and site infrastructure development while establishing clear technical boundaries with Clean Utilities, HVAC, Asset Management, Sustainability, EHS and Electrical. Sites remain accountable for operation, maintenance and local performance, while Quality/CQV retain accountability for quality-impact assessment and qualification requirements.

The role is based in Basel.

What you will do:

• Lead and own global Plant Utilities standards, specifications and reference designs, defining requirements for system sizing, capacity margins, resilience and risk-based redundancy, maintainability, energy efficiency and lifecycle cost.
• Provide global technical leadership for Plant Utilities, including thermal systems, cooling, technical gases and vacuum, water, wastewater, heat and energy recovery systems, and utility monitoring, from incoming supply and generation through distribution and discharge.
• Define and maintain clear technical system boundaries and interfaces with Clean Utilities, HVAC, Electrical, Automation, EHS and other engineering disciplines, including the distinction between technical and process gases and between plant and compendial water systems; support technical deviations within delegated authority and escalate significant capacity, reliability, compliance and ownership risks.
• Lead Plant Utilities technical assurance for CAPEX projects and infrastructure investments, assessing utility balances, central utility concepts, capacities, tie-ins, resilience and expansion requirements, challenging overdesign and evaluating lifecycle-efficient investment alternatives.
• Define global engineering requirements for commissioning, performance testing and technical handover of Plant Utilities, supporting projects and sites in demonstrating that systems meet approved design and performance requirements.
• Support sites in the development of utility master plans, infrastructure renewal strategies and investment priorities, identifying systemic risks, capacity constraints and lifecycle improvement opportunities in collaboration with Site Engineering and Asset Management.
• Develop global Plant Utilities reliability and lifecycle-management principles with Asset Management, while sites retain accountability for maintenance strategies, execution, asset performance and local reliability; provide expert support for significant failures and systemic root-cause investigations.
• Define global engineering requirements for wastewater systems and translate applicable environmental and discharge requirements into technical design criteria in collaboration with sites and EHS.
• Provide technical requirements for equipment standardization, supplier evaluation, utility metering, monitoring and performance benchmarking, partnering with Procurement, Sustainability and relevant functions while sites retain accountability for implementation, operational performance and improvement actions.
• Lead the global Plant Utilities technical network and capability development, driving standardization, knowledge sharing, lessons learned and cross-site adoption of engineering good practices and relevant industry standards.

What we are looking for:

• Bachelor or Master degree in the field of Mechanical, Chemical, Process Engineering or related discipline
• Energy management certification is an asset
• Experience in Plant utility design, commissioning and operational support in complex manufacturing environments
• CAPEX delivery, infrastructure planning, reliability and lifecycle-cost improvement experience
• Demonstrated senior technical leadership and influence across sites and multidisciplinary teams without line authority
• Broad technical expertise across Plant Utilities (Black Utilities), including thermal systems, central cooling, technical gases and vacuum, non-compendial water, wastewater, heat and energy recovery systems, and utility monitoring.
• Apply relevant engineering standards, codes and regulatory requirements for plant utility infrastructure, including applicable EN, ISO, SIA and ASHRAE standards and local requirements.
• Evaluate utility generation, distribution and recovery concepts and translate complex technical risks, alternatives and investment options into clear recommendations for site, project and senior leadership.
• Provide technical governance and expert support while recognizing that sites retain accountability for utility operation, maintenance, local performance and implementation
• English fluent
• Willingness to travel approximately 20%

About Lonza

At Lonza, our people are our greatest strength. With 30+ sites across five continents, our globally connected teams work together every day to manufacture the medicines of tomorrow. Our core values of Collaboration, Accountability, Excellence, Passion and Integrity reflect who we are and how we work together. Everyone’s ideas, big or small, have the potential to improve millions of lives, and that’s the kind of work we want you to be part of.

Innovation thrives when people from all backgrounds bring their unique perspectives to the table. At Lonza, we value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. If you’re ready to help turn our customers’ breakthrough ideas into viable therapies, we look forward to welcoming you on board.

Ready to shape the future of life sciences? Apply now.