Eastman Chemical

Specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer

Assistant Site Manager

Manufacturing & Production OperationsUpdated on Nov 14

Full-timeNanjing, Jiangsu, ChinaNo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related discipline.
Knowledge of China safety, environmental protection, and other legal requirements and regulations.
8–12+ years of operations experience in chemical or continuous processes, with progressive leadership roles.
Proven track record in continuous improvement deployment using Lean or Six Sigma and in plant operations.
Government relationship management experience.
Strong understanding of health, safety, and environment requirements, process safety, quality systems, and maintenance strategies.
Operational leadership, problem-solving, project management, stakeholder management, coaching, and cross-functional influence skills.
Lean or Six Sigma Green Belt certification at minimum.
Good verbal, written, and presentation skills in English and Chinese.

Responsibilities

Translate site-level targets into clear, measurable objectives and action plans across production, maintenance, quality, and supply.
Monitor daily, weekly, and monthly performance dashboards; drive recovery and corrective actions to meet key performance indicators.
Lead shift and operations reviews and ensure functional leads own performance metrics.
Define and lead the site continuous-improvement agenda, including Lean, Six Sigma, process optimization, energy reduction, and waste reduction.
Sponsor and deliver prioritized continuous-improvement projects with measurable savings and throughput gains.
Identify, prioritize, and implement low-cost operational improvements and standard work.
Ensure compliance with health, safety, and environment and process-safety requirements, and lead site continuous-improvement efforts to reduce incidents and risk.
Coach leaders in proactive hazard identification and corrective-action closure.
Improve site management processes, including production planning, shift handover, standard operating procedures, maintenance planning, and corrective and preventive action.
Facilitate cross-functional coordination among engineering, supply chain, quality, and maintenance, and remove execution barriers.
Coach, develop, and build bench strength for key operator and leader roles; lead competency development plans.
Mentor potential successors for critical site roles.
Serve as Acting Site Manager when required and maintain external stakeholder relationships with local authorities, customers, and the community under Site Manager guidance.
Deliver performance updates, continuous-improvement project business cases, and capital expenditure proposals to the Site Manager and regional or corporate leaders.
Drive accurate and timely data for decision-making and audits.

Desired Qualifications

An MBA or advanced degree.
International work or study experience.
Lean or Six Sigma Black Belt certification, or a commitment to a pathway to Black Belt.
A 3–6 month overseas assignment for work or study, and occasional domestic or overseas business travel.

Responsibilities

JOB FUNCTIONS:

Translate site-level targets into clear, measurable objectives and action plans across production, maintenance, quality and supply.
Monitor daily/weekly/monthly performance dashboards; drive recoveries and corrective actions to meet KPIs.
Lead shift / operations reviews and ensure ownership of performance metrics at functional leads.
Define and lead the site CI agenda: Lean, Six Sigma, process optimization, energy & waste reduction.
Sponsor and deliver prioritized CI projects with measurable savings and throughput gains.
Identify, prioritize and implement low-cost operational improvements and standard work.
Ensure full compliance with HSE and process safety requirements and lead site CI efforts to continuously reduce incidents and risk.
Coach leaders to maintain proactive hazard identification and corrective action closure.
Drive improvements in site management processes (production planning, shift handover, SOPs, maintenance planning, CAPA).
Facilitate effective cross-functional coordination (engineering, supply chain, quality, maintenance) and remove execution barriers.
Coach, develop and build bench strength for key operator and leader roles; lead competency development plans.
Actively mentor potential successors for critical site roles.
Serve as Acting Site Manager when required and maintain strong external stakeholder relationships (local authorities, customers, community) under Site Manager guidance.
Deliver regular performance updates, CI project business cases and CAPEX proposals to the Site Manager and regional/corporate leaders.
Drive accurate and timely data for decision-making and audits.

Qualifications

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL REQUIREMENT

Education and Knowledge Background

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related discipline; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
International work or study experience will be preferred
Knowledgeable on China safety, environment protection, and other legal requirements and regulation

Business Skill and Experience

Experience:

8–12+ years operations experience in chemical/continuous processes with progressive leadership roles. Proven track record in CI deployment (Lean / Six Sigma) and plant operations required. Government relationship management experience.

Technical:

Strong understanding of HSE, process safety, quality systems and maintenance strategies.

Skills:

Operational leadership, problem-solving, project management, stakeholder management, coaching and cross-functional influence.

Certifications:

Lean / Six Sigma Green Belt minimum; Black Belt preferred or committed pathway to Black Belt.

Language:

Good verbal and written, presentation skills in English/Chinese

BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES

Results oriented — drives accountability and follow-through.
Safety-minded — demonstrates visible leadership and ownership for HSE.
Collaborative leader — builds trust and aligns diverse teams.
Change agent — influences and sustains process improvements.
Strategic thinker with hands-on execution ability.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

3-6 months oversea assignment for work/study
Few domestic/oversea business travel

About the Company

Eastman Chemical

Specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer

Eastman Chemical Company, which brands itself as Eastman, is a global specialty materials company that develops and manufactures specialty chemicals, polymers, and cellulosic fibers. Its products include copolyesters such as Eastman Tritan and Cristal, Naia cellulosic fibers, Tetrashield protective resin systems, and recycled-content materials like Eastman PET Renew, developed with customers across roughly 13 industries including packaging, consumer goods, transportation, and textiles. A central part of its operations is molecular recycling, which converts hard-to-recycle plastic waste into feedstock for new materials at plants in Kingsport, Tennessee, Longview, Texas, and France. What sets Eastman apart is this circular-economy focus—its molecular recycling capacity and "It's the feedstock" model—paired with a broad specialty portfolio. The goal is to address challenges like climate change and plastic waste while supplying sustainable materials to industry.

Company size: 5,001-10,000
Company stage: IPO
Headquarters: Kingsport, TN
Founded: 1920

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