Operations Systems and Practices Advisor

Company:

Interested in joining a winning team? A team whose employees are empowered to make a difference?

Job title: Operations Systems and Practices Advisor

Location: Houston Area Operating Sites

Job Grade: H37 

INEOS has grown to become a leading chemical company, with sales today of around $68 billion annually.  INEOS is a global company with 26,000 employees on 180 sites in 30 countries.

The Olefins & Polymers USA (O&P USA) Business within INEOS includes the product lines Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE).  Our 4 Manufacturing sites encompass Chocolate Bayou Works (Alvin, TX), Battleground Manufacturing Complex (LaPorte, TX), and Carson (Carson, CA), with a division office in League City, TX.  Overall, O&P USA has approximately 1,300 employees, 1,400 contractors, and annual revenue of $6.5 billion.

Job Purpose

The Operations Systems and Practices Technical Authority (TA2) is the most senior enterprise-wide authority for operational discipline, holding binding governance over the systems, behaviors, and integrated multi-disciplinary practices that protect INEOS O&P USA’s license to operate, prevent high-potential incidents, and sustain top-quartile operational performance. This role defines, governs, and enforces the systems, behaviors, and standards that determine how operations are executed at every level — from frontline shift practices to the multi-disciplinary Resource Teams that manage specific process areas.

Operational discipline in this context extends beyond rounds, alarm management, permitting, shift handovers, and return-to-service practices. It mandates the cadence, methodology, and accountability framework through which Resource Teams must identify, track, and mitigate operational risks. This includes setting the best-practice standards, tools, and decision-making frameworks for cross-functional teams of operations, process engineering, control systems, mechanical, and electrical disciplines.

The TA2 owns the Operational Discipline element of the INEOS O&P USA Operations Management System (OMS) and holds governance authority over its implementation at all sites. Site leadership teams are accountable to this role for compliance with these standards, and any deviation, deferral, or exception with potential safety, compliance, or operational risk requires TA2 approval. This is a transformation-driven mandate to architect, implement, and embed operational discipline into daily work, ensuring sustained top-quartile performance in safety, reliability, and cost efficiency.

The O&P USA Business has been and remains a very dominant contributor to INEOS Group financial performance. Although financially strong, the Business has been and remains devoid of effective operational management systems, practices, procedures and competencies, and this set of structural deficiencies, coupled with an ongoing loss of experience and ageing assets in relatively poor condition is a real and very significant threat to the continued success of the Business in the short- through long-term. The Business has operated over the long-term with a poor understanding of and compliance with many INEOS Group, regulatory, industry and performance standards.

A significant intervention to address this structural threat to the Business has been defined and actioned by the O&P USA Board and endorsed by INEOS Capital. Central to this intervention is creation and implementation of a corporate Operations Management System (OMS) that will define, at a corporate level, how all elements of engineering, operations and technology will be defined, structured, standardized and managed going forward.

Critical to the successful delivery of the OMS is creation of a Corporate Engineering & Technology Organization, and population of that organization with senior, competent and experienced discipline leaders, with the technical capability and gravitas to design, communicate and manage their engineering / operational discipline to significantly improved and consistent standards across the entire O&P USA Business.

The E&T organization will hold all discipline engineering Technical Authorities in the Business, who will set corporate standards, practices, procedures and competency requirements across all operating locations. This is a purposeful and complete reversal in structure to previous / current where personnel at the operating Sites had an assumed authority for all technical discipline policies, practices, structures and standards at their individual location; an approach that has not worked and is the root cause of the many performance issues encountered today.

The post holder must have deep understanding of their engineering discipline and have successful experience of setting policy and driving compliance to required standards across a large and diverse manufacturing organization. The post holder must be a proven and resilient agent for change.

Accountability 1:

Enterprise Stewardship of Operational Discipline

Most important activities:

• Establish binding enterprise standards for operational discipline, including Resource Team cadence, threat management, safe work practices, and readiness verification
• Own the Operational Discipline OMS element, defining the vision, objectives, and performance expectations for enterprise-wide operational discipline.
• Provide governance authority to approve, challenge, or mandate operational discipline practices at site level; no deviation without TA2 or higher approval.
• Exercise final technical authority over shift execution, operator surveillance, and operational readiness practices.
• Define and govern best-practice methodologies, tools, and cadences for Resource Teams to identify, assess, track, and mitigate unit operational risks and long-term threats.
• Establish standard frameworks for prioritizing operational threats and assigning cross-discipline accountability for mitigation.

Accountability 2:

Operator Surveillance and Threat Management

Most important activities:

• Establish and govern enterprise-wide standards, tools, and best practices for identifying, assessing, and managing operational threats through integrated Resource Team cadences, ensuring these practices are embedded into daily, weekly, and monthly operations to drive consistent, proactive risk management across all sites.
• Define expectations for Operations Managers to lead multi-disciplinary Resource Teams — including process, control systems, mechanical, and electrical engineers — in systematic surveillance of unit health, operational readiness, and emerging risks.
• Standardize the use of tools and methods to document threats, assign ownership, track mitigation progress, and remove long-term risks.
• Mandate the integration of threat management into Resource Team cadences and verify compliance.
• Benchmark threat management performance across sites, identifying systemic gaps and leading maturity improvement initiatives enterprise-wide.
• Ensure effective communication of threat status and mitigation progress to all relevant stakeholders, including site leadership and corporate functions.

Accountability 3:

Safe Operating Limits and Integrity Management

Most important activities:

• Set enterprise standards and governance for safe operating limits, alarm response, and operational readiness to protect asset integrity and prevent high-potential incidents.
• Define expectations for managing Safe Operating Limits (SOLs) and operational integrity checks within the operational discipline framework.
• Assure that deviations are documented, risk assessed, and addressed promptly, with systemic lessons integrated into procedures and training.
• Oversee integration of operational discipline practices with the Equipment Integrity and Care element of OMS.

Accountability 4:

Training, Competency, and Procedural Discipline

Most important activities:

• Govern the enterprise framework for operator and frontline leader competency, ensuring capability to execute operational discipline to defined standards.
• Establish enterprise competency standards for operators, First Line Leaders, and Resource Team members, covering both behavioral discipline and technical knowledge.
• Direct the design and periodic refresh of high-quality, risk-informed operating procedures aligned to OMS standards.
• Govern operations procedure development to ensure accuracy, clarity, and alignment with regulations and  best practices.

Accountability 5:

Execution Assurance and Field Validation

Most important activities:

• Define and govern enterprise processes for shift handovers, rounds, permit-to-work, return-to-service, and bypass management, ensuring consistency and high reliability across all sites.
• Oversee enterprise deployment of digital field execution tools, driving standardization and enabling transparent performance tracking.

Accountability 6:

Incident Learning and Continuous Improvement

Most important activities:

• Ensure operational discipline expectations are fully integrated into incident investigation processes.
• Lead enterprise-wide learning loops to translate incident findings, near misses, and proactive hazard observations into systemic changes.
• Measure and monitor the maturity of operational discipline across sites, adjusting strategy based on performance trends and emerging risks.

Accountability 7:

External Industry Engagement

Most important activities:

• Participates in and, where appropriate, leads INEOS Group discipline networks to ensure alignment, knowledge sharing, and adoption of best practices across the enterprise.
• Represent INEOS in external forums such as AFPM and the API Operating Practices Symposium.
• Monitor emerging best practices, threat insights, and human factors advancements relevant to operations execution.
• Bring external learnings into OMS design and discipline coaching efforts.

Accountability 8:

Contract Strategy and Technical Stewardship

Most important activities:

• Provide technical direction on how third-party service providers are used within operations.
• Evaluate vendor capabilities, technical risks, and opportunities to reduce complexity by streamlining or consolidating partners.
• Partner with Procurement to shape vendor strategies that deliver consistent, high-quality outcomes aligned with OMS and business needs.
• Lead the technical review and endorsement of new vendors or third-party technologies before use.
• Participate in vendor performance reviews with a focus on discipline-specific outcomes and long-term value.

Required Profile

Level of education & Experience in general

• Degree in Chemical Engineering or related discipline is required.
• Recognized internal and external authority on operational discipline, with the credibility to challenge site leadership and influence cross-discipline engineering teams.
• 15-20+ years operations experience in refining, petrochemical, or industrial manufacturing is required.
• At least 10+ years in operations leadership experience in refining, petrochemical, or industrial manufacturing is required. 
• Proven track record in leading enterprise-level operational discipline or operational excellence programs in complex manufacturing environments.
• Deep understanding of integrated operations and engineering team dynamics, and the ability to embed governance standards across disciplines and organizational levels.
• Proven ability to engage, coach, and influence field operators and front-line leaders.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills, with a bias for practical application and consistency.
• Active engagement in AFPM, API, or similar industry operational networks preferred.

Technical skills

• Deep understanding of frontline operations in refining and petrochemical environments, including shift structure, operator rounds, control room operations, and field execution
• Strong knowledge of operational work processes such as permit-to-work, shift handover, return-to-service, bypass governance, and Safe Operating Limit (SOL) management
• Skilled in designing and implementing structured operational discipline frameworks that drive consistency and reduce risk
• Experienced in integrating human performance principles into operating procedures, checklists, and field tools
• Familiarity with incident investigation methods focused on human error and work process gaps (e.g., causal learning, 5-Whys)
• Able to evaluate field execution in real time and translate observations into meaningful feedback and systemic improvements
• Knowledgeable in OMS frameworks, especially elements related to operational readiness, surveillance, and integrity management
• Skilled in collaborating with training teams to define and assess role-based operator competencies
• Familiar with digital field tools (e.g., electronic rounds, digital permit systems, mobile field devices) and their application in reinforcing operational discipline
• Awareness of external industry practices from AFPM, API, and human factors networks relevant to shift operations and procedural execution

Behavioral skills

• Strong field presence and credibility with frontline operators and leaders
• Communicates clearly, directly, and respectfully across all levels of the organization
• Coaches with empathy and purpose—reinforces positive behaviors while constructively addressing gaps
• Leads by example, modeling consistency, discipline, and personal ownership of safety-critical practices
• Proactively identifies risks in shift execution and takes action to address systemic contributors
• Maintains composure and clarity during high-pressure situations, particularly during operational upsets or post-incident engagements
• Willing to challenge entrenched norms or legacy behaviors when they introduce risk or inconsistency
• Builds trust through authenticity, follow-through, and commitment to site-level improvement
• Seeks continuous learning and stays engaged in industry networks to bring forward external insights
• Understands that cultural change in operational discipline is earned over time through engagement, repetition, and respect

Our culture is one of honesty and integrity with an emphasis on safety, health and environmental performance.On our team, people are acknowledged for embracing new practices that help create real value for customers.