Assoc Director, Productivity (Finance)

Associate Director Productivity Location: The Woodlands, TX Responsible for the Center of Excellence and the development of the Productivity Program aligned with the business to improve operation efficiency. Partners with stakeholders at various levels of senior Engineers and Operations Directors/Managers to align and drive initiatives for helium & rare gases distribution centers, refineries, and global distribution assets. Facilitates collaboration amongst process contributors. Leverages process owner expertise to identify improvement opportunities. Steers productivity efforts towards operating profit improvement projects. Demonstrates expertise in productivity methodology and philosophy. Ensures region-wide project control plan compliance and Power Steering utilization. Leads monthly Helium & Rare Gas productivity meetings to facilitate ongoing project progress and identification of new projects. Achieves productivity financial goals by skillfully implementing productivity projects. Principal Responsibilities: • Establish and implement productivity targets. • Understands and contributes to the overall strategic direction of the Global Helium & Rare Gases business. Blended objective 50% Strategic Planning, 50% Tactical Project Execution. • Implements action plans to meet the needs of the business and key stakeholders; drives bottom-line focus with productivity team and plants. • Partners with business controllers to analyze and validate impact of productivity on the process. • Manages productivity project queue, prioritizing the implementation of the highest impact projects in the shortest schedule first. • Ensures region-wide project control plan compliance and Power Steering utilization. • Solves complex problems. Identifies innovative solutions to systemic issues for rare gases projects as they interact with the Air Separation operations in the different geographies. • Monitor He&RG plants performance and identify opportunities for improvement • Provide technical support to operations as needed. • Monitor and provide guidance and direction around the process safety within operations • Perform site assessments to identify process safety gaps • Lead technical SME's providing guidance and direction • Troubleshoot technical issues looking for production improvement or cost reduction • Develop Standards and procedures regarding best practices • Perform site assessments to measure operational performance, identifying opportunities for improvement and optimizing the current operation • Provide technical support to other operating business regarding He&RG production process and best practices • Lead the Project Management team and ensure projects are on schedule and on budget • Perform site assessments as needed for project scope definition, execution quoting by vendors, project execution and start-up • Lead the execution of small projects within operations • Promote a Liaison between He&RG, LE and Operations • Provide guidance and direction to the project management team • Lead the Digital team, providing prioritization, business process knowledge and support • Develop the digital program to improve the He&RG business process by developing tools and reports needed by organization • Collaborates with Master Black-Belts to implement Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology, maximize replication opportunities with all Value Stream Leads (Production, Business, and Distribution), and identify and implement best practices. • Engages resources outside regions to re-emphasize Lean Six Sigma learnings; and suggest improvement opportunities for applications and processes used by belts in project execution. • Leads monthly Helium & Rare Gas productivity meetings to update status of ongoing projects. • Productivity Champion for the business. Partners with other Productivity Champions during Global Calls to share and identify opportunities for project replication. • Establishes a strong leadership presence with the productivity team as well as with key stakeholders. • Facilitates idea generation through collaborative efforts (e.g. brainstorming, lean events, and stakeholder engagement). Experience and Skills Required: • Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering • Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience that include the following, or equivalent: -- Thermodynamical process modeling experience - Operations process monitoring and troubleshooting - Project Management and field construction Experience in an industrial environment - Experience in applying Six Sigma and statistical principles in a hands-on environment - Experience on Cryogenic Industrial Process Operation and Design (Air separation units, liquefiers, heat exchangers and distillation columns) - Experience on finding process bottlenecks and driving changes on process and people's behaviors/procedures - Experience in developing Standards, Procedures and Best Practices • Certifications/Licenses: Six Sigma Black Belt Certification preferred • Strong analytical skills, interpersonal skills, and the ability to influence • Demonstrated leadership and Project Management skills • Moderate 25-50% travel to various Linde plant sites nationally and internationally. • While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to sit for long periods of time. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus. Employee must occasionally climb up to heights of 70 feet. Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2024 sales of $33 billion. We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain, decarbonize and protect our planet. The company serves a variety of end markets such as chemicals & energy, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining. Linde's industrial gases and technologies are used in countless applications including the production of clean hydrogen and carbon capture systems critical to the energy transition, life-saving medical oxygen and high-purity & specialty gases for electronics. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions. For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.linde.com #LI-BL1 All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other reason prohibited by applicable law.