Technical Manager - Lubricants

Job description:

The position will offer an opportunity to play a key role in providing technology support to the company and its subsidiaries in MEA under the guidance of global technology functions.

This is a hands-on role, which will be responsible for assisting the CTO in a number of both strategic and tactical activities with a focus on product portfolio management, regional OEM approvals, business tie-ups, CVP development, technical services involving product evaluation, product training, customer complaint handling, providing solutions to customers on application, development of technical literature specific to region, quality management systems.

The person will support the group technology on projects run by the company, and the person may lead/assist on projects to completion.

This role will require a good mix of functional and leadership skills. The ability to quickly master new skills and activate these is very important.

This job involves occasional foreign travel.

Key Job Responsibilities:

Formulations: Lubricants formulation knowledge

Product Management

- Identification of current/future product requirements, Coordination with group technology function for filling gaps

- Product rationalization in the region

- Assistance to the Sales team with product queries

Market Intelligence

- OEM approvals/endorsements/business development

- Working with regional/national offices of global OEMs for product endorsements

- Support to Sales for Field Trials, for developing CVPs/ facilitating tie-ups with major businesses/customers

- Technical Services including solutions to customers on identifying the right products and applications.

- Technical Literature specific to the region

- Training of Sales Staff (company & Distributors) & Customer seminars

Customer complaint redressal

Local HSE requirements

- Assist with evaluations of opportunities to improve operational excellence and reduce costs.

- Implementation of cost-effective formulations as per global additive procurement contracts

- Quality Management System (QMS) 9001/17025 and new initiatives in the future.

Management of blending plant labs

- Preparing and attending all the audits by our customers

Essential Skills:

- Engineering/sciences degree

- Minimum experience of 10 years in oil/ automobile/ engineering/lubricant additive company

- Must have Solid technical background in lubricants for minimum 5 years.

- Very good familiarity with OEM and Industry Body (API, ACEA, JASO etc.) specifications of automotive, industrial lubricants and specialties

- Previous experience in dealing with OEMs is desirable.

- Demonstrated interest and ability to quickly come up to speed with subjects outside core area of expertise,

- Expert in root cause analysis, preparing CAPA.

- Very good communication skills in English

- Strong PowerPoint, Word & Excel, and technical report preparation skills

- Ability to identify, gather, and analyse multiple sources of information, and in a structured way draw conclusions from it, based on incomplete data if needed.

- Previous experience of quality processes/systems is highly desirable

Personal Qualities:

- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.

- A self-motivated, enthusiastic, high-energy individual with good self-awareness and self-management skills

- Expert negotiation and influencing skills.

- Innovative and flair for problem solving.

- Proven strategic aptitude and ability.

- Tenacious and result driven with sound business judgement.

- Commercially astute and customer focused.

- Ability to multitask efficiently and effectively.

- Ability to effectively work in, and (help to) lead, teams of people in a virtual environment.

- Comfortable to make decisions under uncertainty, or with incomplete data.

- Ability to work under tight deadlines.

- Able to work in, and effectively make use of, a multicultural environment.

- Ability to quickly develop a mastery of a new skill and operationalise these.