Waynesboro Plant Manager

Job Family Group:

Manufacturing Operations

At Ingevity, we develop innovations that purify, protect and enhance the world around us. Our products enable oil to flow better, crops to grow fuller, roads to last longer and ensure that the air we all breathe is cleaner.

Our people come from all different backgrounds and help reimagine new possibilities daily. We understand there is no challenge too big and no contribution too small. We seek out new ideas for tackling complex problems and celebrate achieving the improbable. We value each person's unique talents and synergize them to create meaningful impact and sustainable solutions for our customers and our world.

Bold. Energetic. Ingenious. Genuine. If these qualities describe you, we'd love for you to join Ingevity!

Are you ready to lead a manufacturing site and shape its culture and performance while making a real impact on safety, sustainability, customer experience and employee engagement every day? Are you energized by the opportunity to build a strong plant culture in a role that will allow you growth and visibility across an organization's operations and leadership network? If so, this Waynesboro, Georgia Plant Manager role is for you.

In this role, you will lead end-to-end operations for Ingevity's Waynesboro, Georgia Plant in a 24/7 manufacturing environment. You will ensure safe, reliable, and cost-effective production in a high-volume manufacturing environment serving demanding customer requirements. You will set the vision, clear expectations, build strong frontline leadership, strengthen employee engagement, and drive continuous improvement across safety, quality, delivery, cost, and sustainability. This role reports to the Vice President, Global Manufacturing, and is a key site and community leader.

• Lead with safety: Champion a proactive safety culture on the shop floor; ensure OSHA/EPA compliance; drive near-miss reporting, root-cause analysis, and effective corrective actions.

• Run the plant: Own production planning, operational performance, inventory, and logistics to meet service, quality, and cost targets in a 24/7 operation.

• Drive Customer Focus: Coordinate with S&OP to ensure that operational schedules are executed and optimized to meet customer needs.

• Maintain assets: Direct preventive/predictive maintenance, turnaround planning, reliability engineering, and critical spares to maximize uptime.

• Assure quality: Maintain and improve management systems and certifications rigor, and customer complaint resolution; partner closely with QA and Technical teams.

• Elevate performance: Deploy Lean/TPM/Six Sigma to reduce waste, improve OEE, stabilize processes, and sustain standard work.

• Lead a continuous improvement culture: Build a culture of continuous improvement focused on improving and automating equipment operation, standardizing work, and reducing unnecessary manual labor.

• Develop people and teams: Coach and mentor leaders; foster an inclusive, high-trust environment across hourly and salaried teams and with non-union stakeholders.

• Plan and budget: Build and manage site operating and capital budgets; evaluate and execute Cap Ex with clear ROI, risk controls, and timely delivery.

• Represent the site: Serve as the face of the plant with employees, community partners, auditors, and regulators.

• Employee relations: Maintain a positive non-union site culture:
  Build and sustain strong employee relations through visible leadership, clear communication, fair and consistent practices, and proactive engagement with frontline teams.

• Decision authority: Exercise authority to make decisions necessary to operate the facility safely, reliably, and in an environmentally sound manner.

• Education: Bachelor's degree in engineering, operations, or a related field. Advanced degrees or certifications (e.g., Six Sigma, CMRP) are a plus.

• Experience: You bring 15 years of experience in Manufacturing or production environments, including working in high-volume operations with…