Rail Maintenance Manager

Come Join an Inclusive Team

Supply Chain is a customer-focused Center of Excellence providing industry-leading service while delivering differential value to the business, today and into the future.  We separate our Supply Chain functions into several areas; these include logistics, customer fulfillment, services, trade compliance, and support for business processes and systems.​

As a member of our dynamic Supply Chain team, you will play a critical role in supporting our North America rail logistics operations. In this contributing through others role, you will be responsible for supporting the implementation and strategy development for contracts related to the maintenance of LyondellBasell’s 20,000 railcar fleet which consists of both owned and leased assets. During a typical day, you will manage the maintenance and regulatory compliance programs associated with the leased and owned assets.  

This position reports to the Director Land Logistics and is located at our North American Headquarters in Houston. The position offers a competitive base salary, bonus, 401K matching, generous benefits package, pension plan, parking subsidy and employee discounts.

A Day in the Life

• Manage the rail maintenance specialists and rail reliability engineer while maintaining an accurate understanding of the mechanical aspects of the rail equipment to support business objectives and goals.
• Accountable for North America logistics costs as well as to develop solutions for deviations from business plan to ensure performance metrics are met.  
• Act as a liaison with customer fulfillment, the business, manufacturing and external vendors.
• Recruit, train, and develop personnel to enhance skills to achieve best in class performance.
• Communicate clear goals to team members to foster growth and career development.
• Encourage a positive organizational culture that respects people, values professional development, and strives for continuous improvement.
• Lead by example to create a platform with high employee loyalty.
• Support technology improvement efforts to enhance analytics to drive improvement for rail maintenance and reliability.
• Ensure LYB owned and leased assets and transportation activities are compliant with regulatory requirements and LYB standards and propose enhancements to optimize business objectives and goals.

• The ideal candidate will have working knowledge of the North American rail industry from a commercial, operational, and compliance perspective.

• Develop commodity strategies and sourcing plans for each of the services procured, implement those plans, and measure vendor performance ensuring alignment with procurement standards and LYB control guidelines. 
• Maintain relationships with vendors to ensure strong, productive, and honest interaction throughout the relationship/contract/agreement. Maintain strong business relationships both internally and externally. 
• Support “Supply Chain of the Future” digital roadmap to automate work processes and enhance the customer experience.  
• Develop and execute a P&L program and manage inspections and performance from contracted logistics service providers.
• Monitor key metrics to support organizational goals and drive metrics to meet or exceed designated targets.
• Provide tactical, analytical and strategic support to the appropriate internal and external stakeholders.
• Support efforts on problem resolution, customer complaints, and root cause analysis of quality/service incidents.

• Ensure accurate definition of requirements and maintain a good understanding of the market environment for shop turn times and maintenance of rail equipment.
• Develop comprehensive programs for the supplier selection, approval, and on-going performance management of the shops. 
• Negotiate and manage maintenance contracts for LYB rail equipment needs.
• Lead the development of the maintenance budget for LYB’s railcar fleet.
• Develop and execute preventative maintenance and regulatory compliance programs for the rail fleet.
• Manage the on-going performance of the contracted logistics service providers.
• Manage third party plant switching and loading contracts and responsible for strategy development of switching providers for manufacturing sites.

• Lead change implementation for extended system improvements or other logistics projects.
• Model LyondellBasell core competencies with internal and external stakeholders beginning to develop the skills necessary to contribute strategically.

You Bring This Value

• The ideal candidate will have at least 8 years’ experience in Supply Chain, manufacturing or other related experience with prior knowledge and understanding of the rail industry.
• A Bachelor’s degree is required. MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Must demonstrate excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills, both oral and written, particularly in business writing with a focus on concise and accurate documentation.
• Demonstratable ability to perform in a fast-paced environment that requires rapid decision-making and task delegation with immediate impact on business results.

• The ideal candidate will have managerial courage as well as the desire to grow and develop people.

• This role is expected to travel and/or attend external events up to 10%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to effectively analyze large amounts of data, formulate a position, and concisely convey a message.

• Experience and understanding of railcar maintenance is desirable.
• Experience in positions requiring knowledge of materials management, with demonstrated experience in contract development and or contract administration.

• Anticipates potential objections and persuades others to adopt a different point of view.
• Ability to work independently with guidance only in the most complex situations.
• Ability to anticipate internal and or external business challenges and/or regulatory issues; recommends process improvements.
• Composed in time-sensitive situations, comfortable delivering difficult news.
• Strong skills in Microsoft Office Suite, BI, and other logistics tools.
• Experience with ERP software such as SAP is desired.

What We Offer

Competencies