Director, Manufactured Chemicals

Travel Requirement: Approximately 35%

Position Overview

We are seeking a dynamic and visionary Director to lead our manufactured chemicals business unit. This role is responsible for driving capability maturation across new product development, commercialization, price optimization, channel strategy, and product lifecycle management. The ideal candidate will bring deep industry expertise, strategic foresight, and a passion for innovation to guide our portfolio toward sustainable, profitable growth.

Major Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Provide oversight and direction for the manufactured chemicals business, ensuring alignment with enterprise goals and market demands.
• P&L Ownership: Responsibilities include owning manufactured product P&L, influencing decisions that improve both topline revenue and bottom-line profitability.
• Market & Competitive Insights: Lead the development of product-focused insights to understand competition, engage customers, participate in line reviews and stimulate channel growth.
• Regulatory & Sustainability Strategy: Develop and own the business unit’s strategy for responding to regulatory and sustainability changes ensuring decisions are made to keep our company at the forefront of impact to key product categories.
• Product Development and Lifecycle Management: Develop a multiyear product road map for new product development, evaluating both internal capabilities and developing external alliances to build a robust product offer for our customers strategic decisions on emerging technologies and partnerships to drive innovation. Partner with manufacturing to determine key investments in capabilities that require investments and drive incremental growth or profitability improvements. Manage end-to-end lifecycle of both new and existing products.
• Pricing Strategy: Understand the market to determine market competitive pricing and partner with pricing to implement best-in-class pricing strategies to maximize value and minimize leakage across product and customer segments.
• Forecasting & Analytics: Partner with product forecasting through the Budget and IBP process, incorporating predictive analytics and demand modeling to ensure we are forecasting demand to maximize growth and profitability.
• Cross Functional Team Leadership: Lead the product team and partner with cross functional business partners to develop customer-centric growth strategies and ensure each team is accountable for key deliverables.

Education & Experience

• Minimum 15 years of professional experience, including 10+ years in Product Development, Product Management, Product Engineering, and relevant business-related fields.
• Proven success in leading product management in a manufacturing or distribution environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, finance, or business-related field; MBA preferred.
• Experience in automotive chemicals or engineering-focused industries.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a matrixed, multi-site organization.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and financial insight.
• Servant leader with strength-based leadership capabilities.
• Collaborative influencer with excellent relationship-building skills.
• Creative problem-solver with a bias toward execution and innovation.
• Exceptional communicator with public speaking experience.

Key Decisions

• Guide product managers in aligning product strategy with business goals.
• Define pricing strategies and lifecycle optimization plans.
• Shape product responses to regulatory changes.
• Lead Make vs. Buy vs. Acquire decisions for product lines.