Operations Manager

Sterling Multi-Chem is seeking an Operations Manager to lead our downstream business in Corpus Christi and the surrounding Coastal Bend region. This leader will oversee field personnel, customer service execution, and business performance for specialty chemical treatment programs serving refining, petrochemical, and related industrial customers.

The Operations Manager is accountable for safe operations, employee development, customer retention, technical service quality, and profitable growth. The successful candidate will combine strong people leadership with technical credibility and commercial judgment to strengthen customer relationships and deliver measurable improvements in reliability, performance, and total operating cost.

• Champion Sterling Multi-Chem’s commitment to “Safety First, Always” and reinforce safe work practices through field engagement, coaching, and accountability.
• Ensure employees follow company and customer requirements for chemical handling, personal protective equipment, site access, and incident reporting.
• Direct daily service activities across assigned accounts, ensuring adequate staffing, dependable coverage, and timely completion of customer commitments.
• Coordinate support for turnarounds, outages, treatment program transitions, and urgent customer needs.
• Work with supply chain and technical teams to maintain product availability, appropriate inventory, and reliable chemical feed and monitoring equipment.
• Lead corrective actions following service failures, customer concerns, or operational incidents.

• Lead, coach, and develop account managers, site leaders, technical representatives, and service personnel within the assigned organization.
• Set clear expectations for safety, service quality, customer communication, and individual performance.
• Conduct regular field visits, coaching discussions, and performance reviews.
• Partner with Human Resources to recruit, onboard, and retain qualified employees.
• Establish training, succession, and backup coverage plans that strengthen technical capability and service continuity.
• Build a team culture grounded in accountability, teamwork, and open communication.

• Oversee delivery of water and process chemical treatment programs within the assigned customer portfolio.
• Ensure treatment programs are monitored against agreed operating targets and that emerging risks receive timely attention.
• Raise the quality-of-service reporting by requiring interpretation of trends, explanations of deviations, actionable recommendations, and documented follow-through.
• Engage technical specialists to resolve complex problems and support program optimization.
• Lead identification and documentation of customer value, including improved reliability, reduced corrosion or fouling, lower water and energy consumption, and reduced total operating cost.
• Ensure significant technical concerns are escalated promptly and communicated clearly to customers and company leadership.

• Build trusted relationships with customer operations, engineering, technical, procurement, and plant leadership teams.
• Maintain account plans that identify customer priorities, decision makers, retention risks, and opportunities for broader support.
• Lead regular business reviews that demonstrate treatment performance, service execution, and quantified customer benefits.
• Take ownership of customer concerns and coordinate timely resolution.
• Support renewals and competitive bids with credible staffing plans, technical commitments, and clear value propositions.

• Manage assigned revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, and…