Vice President, Operations

MP Materials - Fort Worth, TX

Full-time - Executive

Fort Worth, TX

Mining (except Oil and Gas)

About the position

MP Materials (NYSE: MP) is on a mission to restore the full rare earth supply chain to the United States of America. From electric cars to wind turbines and drones, rare earths are essential to the low-carbon, electrified technologies that power modern life. We hire ambitious, mission-driven people motivated to solve problems and effect change. Our values are grounded in teamwork, resiliency, and integrity, with an enduring commitment to our employees, community, and the environment. In the coming years, MP Materials will grow from a core materials and chemical processing company into a large industrial manufacturer. Our employees will lead this exciting transformation and grow professionally with us. MP Materials is seeking a hands-on VP Operations to take a leadership role in the building, launch, and day-to-day operations of a new business unit that will manufacture the rare earth alloys and magnets required to secure the future of US electrification. Reporting directly to the EVP Magnetics, the VP Operations will be responsible for ensuring effective planning and execution across the business unit, including continuous operational tracking and reporting. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated history in building and managing facilities, manufacturing operations, and organizations, in executing complex tasks and projects of scale, and in executive-level communication and collaboration. This will be an on-site position located in Fort Worth, TX.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the MP Magnetics leadership team to define, build, and ensure the effective and efficient day-to-day operations of all parts of the organization.
• Manage the manufacturing organization, including operations, facilities & maintenance, quality systems, QA/QC, process engineering, and scheduling & planning.
• Manage the capital projects organization, including project management, commissioning, project controls, and engineering.
• Own supplier-management relationships with customers, ensuring customer needs are understood and strategically executed throughout the organization.
• Design and maintain dashboards to track schedule, milestones, and other key performance indicators (KPIs) for the manufacturing operation, capital projects, and the overall business unit.
• Collaborate with the business unit, corporate accounting, and operations teams to implement manufacturing systems into SAP, including workflows, WIP management, procurement, KPIs, and other performance tracking, etc.
• Coordinate strategic planning activities with the broader business unit leadership team, build strategic plan documentation, and work with Finance to create related budgets, forecasts, and operating models.
• Drive organizational alignment around key planning goals, and manage costs to plan.
• Work closely with EHS to ensure regulatory compliance and a safe and healthy work environment.
• Act as a mentor across all levels of the management team, helping department leaders build our team into a world-class, low-turnover workforce that effectively communicates and collaborates.
• Be an active leader in building a respectful, collaborative, mission-driven, unwavering culture.
• Support coordination of key initiatives among departments, business unit leadership, and corporate support function and executive leadership.
• Operate as the primary day-to-day support for the EVP Magnetics in ensuring organizational and business execution, including acting as a proxy when needed in the EVP Magnetics absence.

Requirements

• BA/BS degree or higher.
• Technical background and hands-on experience with mechanical, electrical, chemical, and materials technologies and systems in a manufacturing environment.
• 5+ years of experience in a high-level operations role with direct executive-level reporting and customer-management responsibilities.
• 10+ years of experience in materials, chemical, or other high-tech manufacturing environments.
• Deep understanding of the systems and tools required in a manufacturing environment, including ERP, quality management systems, LIMS, etc.
• Demonstrated capability to design, build and execute systems in a manufacturing environment.
• Skilled in creating and delivering clear, concise executive-level briefings, presentations, and communications for internal and external communications.
• Analytical, strategic, and structured thinker with entrepreneurial drive.
• Proactive, resourceful, self-motivated, and possessing exemplary interpersonal skills to 'meet people where they are' across all levels of a diverse organization.
• Ability to drive action and results within a complex matrixed organization and across multiple sites.
• A tireless work ethic, willing to do what it takes whenever it is needed to ensure success.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with serving automotive customers as a Tier 1 supplier, including compliance with ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 standards.
• Proven capability to establish new manufacturing facilities, including defining, implementing, and running the supporting business systems and processes.
• Knowledge of project management methodologies, and expertise in implementing and executing a portfolio of complex projects in parallel.
• Familiarity with lean manufacturing principles, and success using them to deliver quantifiable operational value.