The opportunity: The Operations Manager is responsible for establishing the safety, quality, cost, and productivity of the facility. This position provides overall operational leadership support to align to the mill's strategic plan. This role is responsible for day-to-day management of the mill operations supervisory staff, including utilities, pulp mill, paper machines, and finishing and shipping. The Operations Manager is responsible for achieving production goals, managing performance of direct reports, making sound operational decisions, and troubleshooting customer issues. How you will impact Westrock Business Excellence \u2022 Direct manufacturing operations to ensure manufacturing standards are met and exceed all industry and customer requirements \u2022 Formulate solutions to minimize lead time and maximize product quality, productivity, and profit margin \u2022 Forecast financial requirements to inform annual budget development, schedule expenditures, analyze variances, and capital projects \u2022 Provide technical expertise when necessary to resolve operational issues \u2022 Ensure the timely production of quality products that meet or exceed customer expectations \u2022 Ensure staffing is appropriate to meet workload requirements and productivity standards \u2022 Champion of maintaining or enhancing a culture of continuous improvement \u2022 Stay abreast of continuous improvement best practices and apply to Smurfit Westrock \u2022 Direct engineering initiatives to ensure continuous product and process improvements \u2022 Achieve safety, environmental, and quality standards to meet and exceed performance and production metrics \u2022 Proactively manage metrics that impact cost (e.g., downtime, run speed, and waste) People and Culture \u2022 Develop coaching plans to ensure timely and consistent feedback to employees and conduct annual performance reviews \u2022 Analyze root causes and solve employee or customer issues effectively and in a timely manner \u2022 Foster a team atmosphere, provide vision, and demonstrate support of the company\u2019s core values \u2022 Work cross-functionally with the mill lead team and department heads to create a long-term strategic plan to forecast mill performance \u2022 Provide a safe work environment for employees and ensure compliance with environmental policies and procedures Critical Skills / Capabilities: \u2022 Leadership: Leads and motivates a team of people to achieve performance excellence; ability to read people and situations and adjust approach; accordingly, proactively leads and enforces initiatives that drive organizational effectiveness; teaches others how to build trust-based relationships \u2022 Problem-Solving: Applies knowledge to frame, simplify and solve complex issues; focuses on identifying root causes to create solutions in a timely and decisive manner; reconciles conflicting and/or incomplete information to develop solutions \u2022 Decision-Making: Uses strong problem-solving skills and supporting information to arrive at optimal decisions in an appropriate timeframe; knows when to decide and/or when to seek additional input, and drive for consensus \u2022 Strategic Thinking: Develops short and long-term courses of action that support the organization's overall vision and mission; balances business, technical, and operational issues when determining a strategy; identifies problems with current strategies and suggests ways to resolve them; incorporates knowledge of WestRock\u2019s goals/strategy as well as competitive, customer, supplier, industry, or marketplace trends into strategic plans; capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks \u2022 Communication: Creates and delivers engaging presentations to internal and external audiences; develops new communication strategies and approaches to communicate data, insights, and critical messages resulting in clear understanding \u2022 Growth and Results Oriented: Delivers personal or organizational results by successfully influencing others (i.e. co-workers, other teams, external partners, etc.) within a matrixed organization; delivers high quality work within the stipulated time period to achieve maximum results \u2022 Process-Oriented: Plans, designs, and manages processes while focusing on refining and improving to increase efficiency and effectiveness; understands process inputs, activities, outputs, roles and sequencing Technical Skills: \u2022 Microsoft Office- Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint \u2022 Process Management \u2022 Data historian software (i.e., Process Book, PI Vision, PARCview) What you need to succeed: Experience: \u2022 Required: 5 to 7 years of supervisory experience in pulp and paper manufacturing \u2022 Preferred: Paper engineering, chemical engineering, or integrated paper mill experience Education: \u2022 Required: Bachelor\u2019s degree in a related field, Pulp & Paper Engineering or Chemical Engineering preferred Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) is a global leader in sustainable paper and packaging solutions. We are materials scientists, packaging designers, mechanical engineers and manufacturing experts with a shared purpose: Innovate Boldly. Package Sustainably. Guided by our values of safety, loyalty, integrity, and respect, we use leading science and technology to move fiber-based packaging forward. Smurfit Westrock is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strive to create and maintain a diverse workforce where everyone feels valued, respected, and included. Smurfit Westrock does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law.