Sr. Specialist, Operational Readiness Lead

Merck•Elkton, VA

3d•$117,000 - $184,200•Onsite

About The Position

The Operational Readiness Lead is a critical technical support and enablement role dedicated to ensuring workforce readiness, operational reliability, environmental compliance, and rapid contingency recovery across all site facilities operations. Serving a high-capacity pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, this position does not have direct day-to-day operational or compliance ownership. Instead, it serves as a vital support partner to the operations team, focusing on building technical competency, standardizing knowledge transfer, and fortifying operational readiness and response capability.

Requirements

High School Diploma/GED and 8 years of direct, hands-on experience in industrial utilities/infrastructure operations.
OR Associate degree in engineering or related scientific field and 6 years of direct, hands-on experience in industrial utilities/infrastructure operations.
OR Bachelor degree in engineering or related scientific field and 4 years of direct, hands-on experience in industrial utilities/infrastructure operations.
Demonstrated, successful track record of working collaboratively with both salaried employees and unionized operating staff and contract execution.
Proven experience designing, writing, and executing formal technical curriculums or operator qualification programs.
Experience designing, planning, and coordinating operational readiness drills and business continuity preparation.
High-performing individual with a visible track record of developing others, fostering teamwork, and supporting culture change.
Current state-issued licenses and certifications (wastewater, potable water, and ASOPE) compensatory to the facility classification or demonstrated progression with ability to achieve facility classification level within 1 year of hire.
Deep technical understanding of boiler operations, chillers, cooling towers, HVAC, compressed air, wastewater treatment unit operations, and use of digital control systems to facilitate high-quality technical instruction.

Responsibilities

Formalize Technical Curriculum: Design, build, and implement a structured, formal curriculum for operators and first-line managers, replacing legacy "person-to-person" informal onboarding.
SOP & Skills-Refresh Administration: Partner with operations to systematically review and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Coordinate and deliver the mandatory SOP curriculum alignment to ensure all operational staff are rapidly updated on revised or newly issued SOPs.
Workforce & Process Stabilization: Safeguard operational stability and mitigate process variability by establishing clear technical competency matrices, standardizing shift-to-shift execution, and implementing structured coaching initiatives to secure critical institutional knowledge.
Fortify Operational Readiness: Develop, update, and maintain comprehensive contingency planning procedures that operations teams can execute to minimize utility downtime and prevent environmental compliance excursions.
Facilitate Simulation Drills: Design, schedule, and execute regular contingency response and disaster recovery drills. Coach both salaried and union personnel on swift and safe responses to critical utility system failures.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Support: Assist operations and compliance teams in investigating utility interruptions or compliance near-misses including After Action Review (AAR) to evaluate response effectiveness, identify lessons learned, assign corrective actions, and drive continuous improvement.
Onboarding New Equipment: Support the operational integration of incoming new equipment by developing technical curriculum materials, running instructional sessions, and drafting initial standard procedures for the operations team.
End-of-Life Asset Reliability Support: Collaboratively develop operator troubleshooting guides and reliability coaching to help the team safely and effectively manage aging, end-of-life (EOL) facilities operations assets.
Compliance Integration: Align all technical curricula with current state and federal air, wastewater, and water permit requirements to ensure operator behavior naturally supports regulatory compliance.
Audit Readiness: Drive a clear understanding of compliance requirements by ensuring continuous expectation alignment across the operations team. Coach team to fully understand how their daily actions, routine housekeeping, and operational decisions directly contribute to the facility's overall regulatory compliance and audit readiness.
Collaborative Support: Work effectively across a diverse department consisting of salaried professionals and unionized operations personnel, serving as a trusted technical advisor, coach, and support partner.
Talent Development: Act as a high-performing mentor with a strong desire to coach, grow, and elevate the technical capabilities of first-line managers and operators.