Chemical Operator III

Buckman•Cadet, MO

151d•Onsite

About The Position

Buckman is a privately held global specialty chemical company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, committed to safeguarding the environment, maintaining workplace safety, and promoting sustainable development. It serves customers in the pulp and paper, leather, and water treatment sectors. The Level 4 Chemical Operator ensures safe, efficient, and high-quality chemical production by operating, monitoring, and optimizing plant processes. The role supports production goals, safety and regulatory compliance, product quality, continuous improvement, and team performance. It also provides leadership and training to other operators and supports crew coordination and shift coverage as needed. The position is based onsite in Cadet, Missouri, and requires no travel.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent.
4–6 years of job experience.
Strong understanding of process controls, troubleshooting techniques, and quality assurance.
Ability to operate various plant equipment and follow detailed technical instructions.
Knowledge of regulatory compliance standards, including OSHA, EPA, DHS, PSM, and FRA.
Strong attention to detail, problem-solving skills, and a continuous improvement mindset.
Effective communication and leadership abilities.
Clear understanding of distillation principles for operating concentrators, fractionation units, and distillation columns, including making in-flight adjustments to achieve proper QC results.
Ability to operate laboratory equipment such as gas chromatography (GC) equipment for organic composition detection.
Competencies include managing ambiguity, communicating effectively, courage in addressing difficult issues, collaboration, and persuasion.

Responsibilities

Enforce safety protocols, including PPE use, chemical handling, and emergency response procedures; follow applicable safety and regulatory standards and report hazards.
Follow SOPs, EOPs, and MOPs; maintain accurate, timely process-control documentation; and participate in safety audits, drills, meetings, and inspections.
Serve as a gatekeeper for the Safe Work Permit system and notify management when process upsets or other issues make work unsuitable to begin.
Understand hazards and mitigation techniques at PSM/HHC facilities and remain prepared to respond to events involving HHC.
Operate and monitor reactors, pumps, mixers, and filtration systems to meet production targets.
Identify and troubleshoot process deviations or mechanical issues, communicate them promptly, and help minimize downtime.
Maintain process logs and production data, execute batch processes to specification and timeline, and collaborate with maintenance and engineering on equipment reliability.
Conduct in-process quality checks and adjust parameters to maintain specifications; work with Quality Control to resolve deviations and escalate quality concerns.
Perform laboratory final QC for outbound finished goods, document quality incidents, contribute to corrective actions, and report right-first-time results when generated.
Identify and implement process and efficiency improvements; participate in root cause analysis and corrective actions; support lean manufacturing and 5S initiatives; and track improvement outcomes.
Propose process enhancements based on observations and data trends, and share ideas for innovation and process automation.
Share knowledge, mentor and train new operators, support onboarding, encourage peer learning, lead by example, and assist with crew coordination and shift coverage as needed.