Global Capital Project Start-Up & Commissioning Leader

DuPont•Richmond, VA

About The Position

DuPont is seeking a Global Capital Project Start-Up & Commissioning Leader to lead commissioning, readiness-to-operate (RTO), turnover, start-up, and operational stabilization across its global capital project portfolio. The role serves as the enterprise subject matter expert, establishing standards, work processes, capabilities, and governance to help project teams execute safe, reliable, and sustainable transitions from construction completion to manufacturing operations. Reporting to the Capital Projects Director, the leader partners globally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Maintenance, EHS, Quality, and business leadership. The position may be based at a major DuPont manufacturing facility in North America and requires global travel as needed for project planning, readiness reviews, commissioning, and start-up activities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or a related engineering discipline.
15+ years of experience across manufacturing, operations, maintenance, engineering, commissioning, start-up, or capital project execution.
10+ years of leadership responsibility supporting major capital projects.
Demonstrated experience successfully leading commissioning and start-up for significant industrial capital projects.
Strong knowledge of commissioning, turnover, readiness-to-operate, process safety, manufacturing operations, reliability, and risk management.
Ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams within a global matrix organization.
Global travel required, 25–30%.

Nice To Haves

Experience with complex capital projects, including greenfield, brownfield, expansion, debottlenecking, and technology deployment projects.
Experience across multiple manufacturing technologies, businesses, or geographic regions.
Deep understanding of industry-standard capital project work processes, Front-End Loading (FEL), and project governance.

Responsibilities

Establish global strategies and best practices for commissioning, turnover, readiness-to-operate, start-up, and operational stabilization.
Develop and maintain standards, procedures, tools, and governance processes for consistent execution across regions and businesses.
Provide commissioning and start-up subject matter expertise and coaching throughout FEL, design, construction, commissioning, and start-up.
Drive continuous improvement in safety, reliability, operational readiness, and schedule performance.
Provide functional leadership for commissioning and start-up activities across the global capital portfolio.
Participate in project gate reviews and assess readiness for major projects.
Partner with Project Team Leaders to develop commissioning execution plans, turnover strategies, resource plans, and integrated start-up schedules.
Identify and mitigate risks affecting safety, quality, cost, schedule, or business outcomes.
Provide senior project leadership with recommendations on project status, risks, readiness, and critical decisions.
Define expectations for readiness-to-operate, systemization, turnover packages, acceptance criteria, and phased handover.
Ensure readiness plans address staffing, training, procedures, maintenance systems, spare parts, technical documentation, quality, and supply readiness.
Lead readiness reviews and drive closure of critical gaps, punch-list priorities, and action items.
Align Engineering, Construction, Operations, Maintenance, EHS, Quality, and business stakeholders ahead of facility start-up.
Promote a zero-incident culture and alignment with Process Safety Management, environmental, regulatory, quality, and company requirements.
Strengthen commissioning and start-up risk-management practices.
Support Pre-Startup Safety Reviews and operational readiness verification for major projects.
Ensure critical safeguards, interlocks, alarms, protective systems, and required documentation are verified before start-up.
Develop commissioning and start-up competency programs for engineering and manufacturing organizations.
Establish communities of practice for commissioning and operational readiness professionals.
Coach commissioning leaders and project teams; capture and deploy lessons learned from major projects.
Build a strong global pipeline of commissioning and start-up expertise.