International Company is looking for a Laboratory Director

Position Title/Vəzifə adı:

Position Type/Kateqoriya:

☒White collar/Mühəndis-texniki heyət

☐Blue collar/Fəhlə heyəti

Reports to/Tabelilik

CoO (as per organizational structure)

Department/Departament

Laboratory

Job Purpose/Vəzifənin məqsədi

Job Holder manages and leads continuous improvement and guidance to SDM organization laboratory services for different SDM sites namely at HAOR Refinery, Bitumen and Azerneftyag Sites and other entities. He/She ensures the issuance of the reliable and proper Certification of Quality Passports for the Export products Oil/Gas and petroleum products, process, and intermediate testing. These services will be in compliance with Company rules and regulations, Azerbaijani law and 17025 requirements.

 
The Laboratory Director will ensure all HSE & Quality processes are implemented for safe laboratory activities together with Company HSE and QA disciplines, and to develop local staff competence for sustainable and reliable operations together with laboratory management.

The Jobholder will support the assets with clear Quality KPI-targets for all the product streams and performs the data-interpretation, optimization, excellence and continuous improvement for the activities of SDM entities laboratory services/operations.

This is a critical managerial position dealing with the overall company lab operations for both routine and non-routine testing operations of the laboratory for internal and external purposes, also covering product quality requirements.

Location/İş yeri:

Baku, Azerbaijan

Job Responsibilities/Vəzifə öhdəlikləri:

The Job Holder supervises for Company Laboratory Operations (100+FTE) as holding the title of Laboratory Director Role.

The Laboratory Director has the following accountabilities:

•              Provides Management information of the compliance of the import/export and waste streams against the specifications, intervening to escalate when necessary

•              Sets laboratory operations strategy and objectives in alignment with company direction
•              Provides information to management and supervisors to allow problem-solving of operational and Asset related issues, intervening to escalate when necessary
•              Responsible for overall administrative, quality, technical laboratory activities and leads, directs and supervises the Laboratory teams, guides lab managers accordingly
•              Develops and implements the laboratory organization, policies and procedures, roles and responsibilities, competencies, specialized activities descriptions in line with Socar Downstream Management (SDM) direction
•              Ensure Legal compliancy with the guidance of Company Legal and Compliance team, to all relevant Azerbaijani Laws and ISO 17025 requirements providing the framework within which laboratory operation can effectively be performed
•              Develops and updates laboratory operations and equipment maintenance strategy which identifies roles, responsibilities of Laboratory Staff and service companies and ensures laboratory technical and operational integrity
•              Creates and populates all related documents outlining targets and ensuring leadership to the integrated working groups within Company laboratory organization
•              Ensures effective liaison of company laboratories with Production, Asset Management and other stakeholders
•              Advises to operation regarding safety of sampling, sampling transportation, testing and promotes to operations implementing Job Hazard Analyses and mitigations where required

•              Provides services to investigation teams for specialized testing and Inspection-teams for routine testing
•              Collates, approves and communicates all necessary laboratory associated reports at agreed intervals
•              Drives continuous improvements for the laboratory services by developing / identifying and apply improved procedures and equipment
•              Ensures consistency of the implemented standards, specifications and procedures for all analytical tests carried out in company
•              Manages internal/external audits of company laboratories
•              Ensures that all contracts and contractors related to Laboratory activities are managed in line with company processes and procedures
•              Assure the Quality measurements in company is in place to execute; process utility streams  and certification of Environmental waste streams, import/export products and intermediate streams.

•              Develops financial figures for Laboratory annual budget.
•              Manages Laboratory HR activities and manpower coordination/requirement identifying suitable candidates and conducting interviews.

•              Manages Laboratory management reviews together with lab management in order to achieve continuous improvement and sustainable operations.

•              Ensure local personnel development and competence with continuous guidance and training opportunities.

Direct Reports/Birbaşa tabeliyində olan:

 Direct Reports              2
 Indirect Reports          +100

Main Interfaces (internal and external)/Əlaqəli tərəflər (daxili və xarici):

 External

– Contractors: International/National Accreditation Centre, Instrument suppliers, Service Suppliers.
– Azerbaijani authorities
– Stakeholders and partners: Internal & External Customers – For quality testing requests and clarification to reports.
– Research institutes, universities, and local authorities.

Internal

– SDM authorities and dicipline leads.

– Laboratories & other discipline leads for different departments.

Qualification Requirements/Kvalifikasiya Tələbləri:

• University degree in Chemistry (or equivalent) in technical sciences.
• Minimum 15 years’ experience in a Chemical Laboratory related to Oil and Gas, Environmental Industries with a minimum of 5 years managerial position experience in similar positions.
• Experience in Chemical Laboratory Quality Management System administration
• Knowledge in Quality Management Systems such as ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 17025, ILAC requirements
• Knowledge of the statistical tools used in the evaluation of QA/QC parameters such as uncertainty evaluation, method validation, proficiency tests results evaluation;
• Knowledge of the standards used for the expression of results in the reports to ensure quality aspects are covered.
• Good working knowledge of Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
• Good organization and team working skills.

Experience Requirements/Təcrübə Tələbləri:

The job holder must have proven

•              Comprehensive  knowledge and extended experience in refinery & production chemistry laboratory analyses and testing (flow assurance, well fluids testing, crude oil, gas and by-products processing and treatment);
•              Quality control techniques of above activities including  export products certification (GLP, ISO 17025 etc);
•              Has leadership (influencing) skills and commercial skills to influence suppliers to drive innovation to address existing or emerging technology challenges & deploy new analytical techniques
•              Coach for performance within and across group organizations
•              Drive knowledge sharing through knowledge management & discipline networks to grow team knowledge base.
•              Hands on experience in operating, calibrating, and maintaining state of the art of various laboratory equipment (Gas Chromatographs, AAS, ICP OES etc);
•              Has leadership and commercial skills related to cost evaluation and monitoring activities; evaluates costs and priorities both in-Company and contractor activities to drive down costs
•              Has leadership and commercial skills to manage the contracting process & contractors; to determine contract strategy, and acquire and assess tenders
•              Qualification and experience to operate in presence of toxic substances specifically H2S;
•              Knowledge in international and Azerbaijani state standard test procedures such as GOST, ASTM, UOP, ISO, etc.;
•              Knowledge of local and international codes and regulations regarding plant operation activities;
•              Knowledge of Laboratory Information Management and automation systems
•               Ability to intervene and take necessary action for any unsafe actions or incorrect acts either behavioral or technical.