[Hiring] AI Project & Operations Manager @Hexion

Role Description

The AI Project & Operations Manager is a hands-on senior individual contributor responsible for driving current-quarter delivery while building the operating systems that improve future execution. The role combines end-to-end technology program management with business and delivery operations across Smartech AI.

Smartech AI develops AI software for wood panel mills, including oriented strand board (OSB), particleboard and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) operations. Its Board Health platform gives mills real-time visibility into sources of value loss across flow, moisture, furnish, adhesive, cure and board quality. With the platform live at its first mill, this role will help move the business from pilot deployment to a repeatable, scalable launch model.

This individual will align Platform and IT, R&D, and Customer Delivery through clear priorities, disciplined planning, operating cadence and consistent follow-through. The role leads through influence and execution rather than formal headcount authority.

Job Responsibilities

• Own quarterly commitments across engineering, R&D and customer delivery, including scope, schedules, dependencies, risks, decisions and stakeholder reporting.
• Lead coordinated planning across multiple technical and delivery teams, translating shared priorities into executable plans with clear owners and milestones.
• Identify at-risk initiatives early and develop recovery plans that align stakeholders, resolve dependencies and restore delivery confidence.
• Establish and run the operating cadence for the business, including planning cycles, business reviews, decision tracking and action follow-through.
• Build and maintain executive-ready KPIs and dashboards that provide visibility into delivery progress, operational health, risks and business outcomes.
• Design practical processes, handoffs and playbooks that support repeatable customer launches and scale as the organization grows.
• Connect the Platform and IT team responsible for cloud data architecture, plant connectivity and deployment with the R&D and Customer Delivery teams, coordinating the integration and deployment of manufacturing software - including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM/MOS) platforms - and supporting operational adoption in plant environments.
• Coordinate a globally distributed data science and modeling organization, including team members in Israel, across time zones and functional boundaries.
• Partner with customer success managers and forward-deployed engineers to support mill connectivity, training, adoption and value realization.
• Use tools such as Azure DevOps or Jira to create transparency, manage execution and maintain accountability across workstreams.
• Communicate complex delivery issues, trade-offs, risks and decisions clearly to engineers, field teams, customers and senior leaders.
• Continuously improve the operating model by applying lessons learned from current deployments to future planning and launch execution.

Competencies

• On-time delivery of quarterly commitments across engineering, R&D and customer delivery.
• Improved visibility and predictability of milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions and actions.
• Recovery and stabilization of at-risk workstreams.
• Adoption and effectiveness of operating cadences, dashboards, handoffs and playbooks.
• Reduction in avoidable delivery friction between platform, modeling and customer-facing teams.
• Increasing repeatability and scalability of customer launch and mill deployment processes.
• Clear executive understanding of delivery status, operating health and priority trade-offs.

Leadership Competencies

• Execution Discipline: Translates priorities into clear plans, maintains momentum and follows through on commitments.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Aligns technical, R&D and customer-facing stakeholders without relying on formal authority.
• Operational Excellence: Builds practical rhythms, tools and processes that improve consistency, transparency and scale.
• Risk and Dependency Management: Surfaces issues early, clarifies trade-offs and drives timely decisions.
• Customer Orientation: Connects internal delivery work to successful implementation, adoption and customer value.
• Clear Communication: Communicates concisely and credibly with engineers, field teams, customers and senior leaders.
• Continuous Improvement: Turns lessons from current-quarter execution into a stronger operating model for future quarters.
• Learning Agility: Builds fluency in industrial manufacturing, plant connectivity and AI-enabled software delivery.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience managing complex technology projects from initiation through delivery, including scope, schedule, dependencies, risks and stakeholder reporting.
• Demonstrated success leading coordinated planning across multiple engineering or technical teams, such as quarterly planning or release-train planning, with measurable delivery results.
• Proven experience recovering at-risk projects through clear plans, stakeholder alignment and disciplined execution.
• Hands-on experience with project management and delivery tools such as Azure DevOps or Jira.
• Experience delivering, integrating or deploying manufacturing software in plant environments, particularly Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM/MOS) platforms, with demonstrated ability to support operational adoption.
• Experience designing and operating business rhythms, including business reviews, planning cycles, decision logs and action tracking.
• Demonstrated experience building KPIs and dashboards used by executives to support decisions.
• Experience creating scalable processes, handoffs and playbooks that were adopted by others and evolved as a team or business grew.
• Experience leading or coordinating large, globally distributed engineering and quality assurance teams across time zones without relying on formal authority.
• Clear, concise written and verbal communication skills across technical teams, field organizations, customers and senior leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering digital or software products in an industrial, chemical or manufacturing company, ideally with commercial-facing products used by external customers.
• Prior software development leadership experience, such as developer, lead developer or engineering manager.
• Startup or early-stage experience, including moving an alpha, prototype or pilot into production and repeatable deployment.
• Experience coordinating customer-facing delivery teams such as customer success, implementation or field engineering.
• PMP, Agile or equivalent recognized project management certification, combined with the judgment to scale process to fit the team and situation.
• Familiarity with industrial data and plant-connectivity technologies, including MES, MOM/MOS, historians, OPC and IoT platforms, or demonstrated ability and strong motivation to build fluency in these areas quickly.

Other

We are an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, pregnancy, race, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or military status, status as a qualified individual with a disability or any other characteristic protected by law.

To be considered for this position candidates are required to submit an application for employment through our career site and, be at least 18 years of age. Any offer of employment will be conditioned upon successful completion of a drug test and background investigation, as well as authorization for the Company to conduct additional periodic background checks as required by the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) or regulations adopted by the department of Homeland Security or other regulatory agencies. A prior criminal record is not an automatic bar to employment, and the Company will conduct an individualized assessment and reassessment, consistent with applicable law, prior to making any final employment decision.