Assistant Director – Refinery Operations & Digital Transformation

Location: Remote (Preferred: Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, Houston, Findlay, Chicago, etc.)

About the Role

As an Assistant Director, you will provide leadership in refinery operations and digital transformation, advising clients on operational excellence, production optimization, and technology enablement to drive business performance improvements.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a subject matter expert for downstream refining operations and business processes.
• Provide operational leadership across refinery unit operations and integrated refinery value chains.
• Advise clients on operational excellence, production optimization, yield improvement, energy efficiency, and margin enhancement initiatives.
• Support operational assessments, benchmarking studies, and business transformation programs.
• Drive improvements in refinery reliability, throughput, safety, and sustainability.
• Lead client discussions around digital transformation strategies and roadmaps.
• Enable adoption of advanced manufacturing and digital technologies across refining operations.
• Identify opportunities to leverage data, analytics, automation, AI, cloud platforms, and industrial digital solutions to improve business performance.
• Support implementation and value realization of manufacturing and operational technology solutions, including MES and related digital platforms.
• Bridge the gap between business objectives and technology capability.
• Build and maintain strong executive-level relationships with key stakeholders.
• Understand client priorities, challenges, and growth objectives to develop value-driven solutions.
• Lead business reviews, strategic workshops, and executive discussions.
• Serve as the primary escalation and governance point for strategic engagements.
• Identify and develop new business opportunities within existing and prospective accounts.
• Contribute to account growth through strategic planning, consulting-led engagements, and digital transformation programs.
• Collaborate with delivery, consulting, and technology teams to create compelling client solutions.
• Support proposal development, solution positioning, and business development activities.
• Stay current with industry trends, regulatory developments, digital technologies, and emerging refining best practices.
• Represent the organization at industry events, conferences, and client forums.
• Contribute to thought leadership, capability development, and internal knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Mentor and guide consulting, account, and delivery teams.
• Foster a collaborative, client-focused, and high-performance culture.
• Support talent development, coaching, and organizational growth initiatives.

Requirements

• Experience in downstream refining, manufacturing, or energy operations.
• Understanding of refinery business processes, operations management, supply chain, blending, logistics, and operational performance improvement.
• Proven experience in leading digital transformation programs within industrial or manufacturing environments.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing technologies, MES platforms, advanced analytics, industrial automation, cloud technologies, AI/ML, and operational intelligence solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to engage with executive and C-level stakeholders.
• Strong business acumen, strategic thinking, and problem-solving capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in consulting, client-facing leadership, account management, or transformation leadership roles.
• Experience leading large-scale operational and technology transformation programs.
• MBA or advanced business qualification.

Pay

Salary Range: $140,000 to $160,000. Pay range offered to a successful candidate will be based on several factors, including the candidate's education, work experience, work location, specific job duties, certifications, etc.

Benefits

Benefits are provided by the client as this is a direct hire position.