Director - Operations - Steel Plant

Role Overview:

We are seeking a high-caliber Director - Operations to provide strategic governance and end-to-end operational leadership for a large-scale Integrated Steel Plant in Raigarh.

This role holds full operational and P&L accountability across the entire value chain including Pellet Plant, Direct Reduced Iron (DRI / Sponge Iron), Steel Melting Shop (SMS / EAF / IF / LRF / CCM), Rolling Mills, Captive Power Plant (CPP), Pipe Mill, Final Assembly/Finishing (FAD), and Inbound/Outbound Logistics.

The leader will drive safe, compliant, cost-competitive, and quality-driven manufacturing while spearheading Industry 4.0 digital adoption, operational excellence, and large-scale plant capability building.

Key Responsibilities:

- Integrated Operations & Production Planning: Lead integrated production scheduling, harmonizing throughput from raw material handling, DRI/Pelletizing, to liquid steel production, rolling, and downstream pipe/finishing operations.

- Operational Excellence & Asset Efficiency: Maximize Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), metallic yield, and throughput while systematically eliminating operational bottlenecks and process variability.

- Cost, Energy & Specific Consumption Optimization: Drive aggressive cost-control initiatives, minimizing specific energy consumption (heat rate, power, fuel), reducing refractory/electrode/flux consumption, and improving overall conversion costs.

- Plant Maintenance & Shutdown Governance: Oversee preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance programs. Architect and execute major capital shutdowns and turnaround plans to maximize asset reliability and uptime.

- Quality Assurance & Metallurgical Discipline: Institutionalize strict SOP compliance, ISO standards, 5S discipline, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), and metallurgical quality parameters to ensure zero-defect customer deliverables.

- EHS, ESG & Statutory Compliance: Champion a zero-harm safety culture, robust hazard identification/risk assessment (HIRA), pollution control norms (CPCB/SPCB), environmental clearances, and sustainability/carbon-reduction initiatives.

- Logistics & Supply Chain Synchronization: Optimize plant logistics, raw material yards, railway siding operations, internal fleet movement, and finished goods dispatch to minimize turnaround and detention times.

- Digital Transformation & Industry 4.0: Accelerate the adoption of automation, Level 2/Level 3 automation systems, IoT, real-time SCADA tracking, and predictive analytics for smart manufacturing.

- People Leadership & Industrial Relations: Build operational leadership bench strength, lead cross-functional plant heads, and maintain harmonious workforce relations and local community engagement.

Desired Profile:

- Experience: 20-25 years of extensive leadership experience in large-scale integrated steel plants, with proven exposure across both upstream (Pellet/DRI/SMS) and downstream (Rolling/Pipe/Finishing/Power) units.

- Education: B.E. / B.Tech (Metallurgy, Mechanical, Chemical, or Electrical) paired with an MBA in Operations Management from a recognized tier-1/tier-2 business school.

- Technical Mastery: Deep operational knowledge of pyrometallurgy, electric arc/induction furnace steelmaking, continuous casting, hot rolling, energy balance, and waste heat recovery systems.

- Competencies: Strong executive presence, high operational rigor, P&L orientation, crisis management capability, and union/workforce leadership skills.