Vice President - Operations

Airgas, an Air Liquide company, is a leading U.S. supplier of industrial, medical and specialty gases, as well as hardgoods and related products; one of the largest U.S. suppliers of safety products. Air Liquide is present in 78 countries with approximately 64,500 associates globally.

Through the passion and diversity of its 18,000 associates, Airgas fosters a culture of safety, customer success, sustainability and innovation. Airgas associates are empowered to share ideas, take initiative and make decisions.

The VP of Operations is responsible for providing strategic leadership while ensuring that daily operational and distribution activities run efficiently and effectively. This role involves developing and executing the regional operations strategy for plant operations, distribution, safety, regulatory compliance, and policy and procedural updates. The VP of Operations oversees the distribution function within the region, ensuring optimal logistics, inventory management, and delivery performance.

Additionally, the VP manages and directs the capital expenditure process and budgeting, aligning financial planning with operational goals. They champion and promote a strong safety and compliance culture by implementing programs that prioritize associate safety and meet all regulatory requirements. This position plays a critical role in driving operational excellence across all areas within the region, with a focus on continuous improvement and operational integrity. List of responsibilities for this role include:

• Establishes and maintains quality and delivery standards to meet internal and external customer needs.

• Leads operational teams to foster safety, employee engagement, ownership, and collaboration, aligned with company policies.

• Leads distribution team that supervise drivers providing leadership regarding safe work habits, availability of drivers and equipment and maintenance to ensure that adequate resources are available to meet distribution/customer needs.

• Leads team to control distribution costs and maximizes service response through balancing of daily routes and overall system optimization.

• Drives continuous improvement in daily operations. Champions efficiency initiatives for the Region, including demand leveling. Responds to inquiries from sales, customer service and branches regarding operations status, capabilities and any other emergency requirements.

• Oversees hiring, training, motivation, work planning, performance management, and issue resolution to meet or exceed targets.

• Develops and manages capital expenditure budgets; coordinates approved capital projects.

• Collaborates with the Safety team to ensure compliance with OSHA, DOT, EPA, FDA, state regulations, and Airgas SOPs.

• Reviews production orders and schedules to plan efficient, cost-effective operations that fulfill customer requirements.

• Resolves operational, manufacturing, and maintenance issues to minimize costs and delays.

• Develops and updates standard operating procedures to optimize processes.

• Partners with HR to resolve employee relations issues effectively.

• Provides training and equipment to ensure safe, proper, and efficient job performance.

• Promotes a strong safety culture and manages employee health and safety compliance

• Other projects/initiatives as assigned.

• Undergraduate Business, Engineering, Operations or related degree required. In lieu of degree, high school diploma required and consideration for up to 4 years of additional relevant experience may be accepted.

• Minimum of 10 years of increasing leadership responsibility in production or operations with preferencefor prior bulk gas industry experience.

• Experience in developing operations strategies & developing/managing a budget.

• Experience driving a safety culture.

• Strategic thinker with the imagination & foresight to conceptualize new ideas and opportunities as well as the tactical skills to implement.

• Demonstrated knowledge of compliance regarding applicable federal/state regulations (i.e. OSHA, EPA, DOT, & FDA).

• Versatility to function effectively in a fast paced and changing business environment.

• Considerable independent judgment and initiative are required in resolving problems and making recommendations; demonstrating tact and diplomacy in dealing with internal and external customers; and handling proprietary information.

• Excellent leadership, motivational and project management skills.

• Financial acumen for developing and articulating metrics utilized by business professionals when developing budgets & plans, considering capital equipment purchases, and developing pricing guidelines. Strong understanding of contracts, contractual language and legal terminology.

• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to influence others, collaborate and to create cross-functional alignment.

• Must possess excellent oral and written communication skills.

• Must be proficient with Google suite applications and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel).

• Frequent regional travel to include overnight stays.

• Must have reliable, appropriate transportation.

• Job requires visitation of to various Airgas and customer sites, which have varying environments/conditions, layouts, and accessibility.

NOTE: The above stated duties are intended to outline those functions typically performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This description of duties is not intended to be all-inclusive or to limit the discretionary authority of supervisors to assign other tasks of similar nature or level of responsibility nor does it imply an employment agreement.

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We care about and support our Airgas Families. This is evident not only through our competitive compensation but also through a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision plans, vacation, sick time, floating holidays, and paid holidays for full-time employees.

We provide a progressive parental leave package for our eligible Airgas parents, offering generous paid time off for the birth or placement of children, including 14 weeks of paid child birth benefit for birth mothers on leave, as well as paid parental leave benefits for other associates.

Additionally, we offer our employees a 401k plan with company matching funds, tuition reimbursement, discounted college tuition for employees' dependents, and an Airgas Scholarship Program for dependent children.

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Your differences enhance our performance

At Airgas, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace that embraces the diversity of our employees, our customers, patients, community stakeholders and cultures across the world.

We welcome and consider applications from all qualified applicants, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability or any other protected characteristic. We strongly believe a diverse organization opens up opportunities for people to express their talent, both individually and collectively and it helps foster our ability to innovate by living our fundamentals, acting for our success and creating an engaging environment in a changing world.

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Equal Employment Opportunity Information

We are an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

Please click here to view the EEO Know Your Rights poster and here to view the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination poster. Airgas, an Air Liquide Company invites any applicant and/or employee to review the Company's written Affirmative Action Plan or Policy Statement. This plan or policy statement is available for inspection upon request.

Airgas, an Air Liquide Company and its group of companies does not discriminate against qualified applicants with disabilities and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to the known disabilities of such individuals so as to ensure equal access to benefits and privileges of employment. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation as part of the employment selection process, please contact us by email at us-accommodationrequest@airgas.com.

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