Director of Operations - Oligo Synthesis (Louisville)

Key Responsibilities: Operational Leadership: Take overall responsibility for day-to-day manufacturing operations, ensuring production activities are delivered safely, efficiently and in line with customer requirements, quality standards and business objectives. P&L Ownership: Manage the financial performance of the operation, including revenue, operating costs, budgets, forecasting, margins and profitability. Identify opportunities to improve financial performance and operational efficiency. KPI & Performance Management: Establish and drive a robust KPI framework covering production output, productivity, yield, quality, waste, capacity utilisation, delivery performance and cost efficiency. Continuous Improvement: Identify and implement initiatives to improve manufacturing processes, increase throughput, reduce operational costs and maximise production capacity. People Leadership: Provide visible, hands-on leadership across the manufacturing operation. Develop and hold managers and supervisors accountable for performance, while building a culture of ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement. Production Planning: Oversee manufacturing schedules, resource allocation, capacity planning and operational priorities to ensure customer demand is met consistently. Quality & Compliance: Work closely with quality and technical teams to maintain high standards across regulated manufacturing processes, ensuring adherence to applicable quality, safety and regulatory requirements. Strategic Development: Partner with senior leadership to establish and execute the longer-term operational strategy, supporting business growth, investment decisions and expansion opportunities. Customer & Commercial Support: Work alongside commercial and technical teams to ensure operational capabilities support customer requirements, service delivery and the wider growth strategy.

Candidate Requirements: Significant leadership experience within a manufacturing, production or industrial operations environment. Proven experience managing a substantial manufacturing operation, business unit or site, with responsibility for overall operational performance. Demonstrable P&L ownership at managerial or business unit level, including budgeting, forecasting, cost management and profitability. Strong understanding of manufacturing KPIs, with a track record of using operational data to improve productivity, quality, efficiency and financial performance. Experience leading managers, supervisors and multidisciplinary operational teams within a hands-on manufacturing environment. A track record of delivering continuous improvement initiatives and measurable operational results. Experience within a regulated or technically complex manufacturing environment, ideally pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, life sciences, chemicals or API manufacturing. Strong commercial judgement, financial acumen and the ability to translate business objectives into operational execution. Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.

Desirable Experience: Direct experience within oligonucleotide, DNA/RNA synthesis, nucleic acid or other specialist biomanufacturing environments. Exposure to GMP/cGMP manufacturing and relevant quality and regulatory frameworks. Experience scaling manufacturing operations, improving production capacity or introducing new manufacturing processes. Experience working within a contract manufacturing or customer-driven production environment.

What Success Looks Like: The successful Director of Operations will establish strong operational control, introduce a disciplined KPI-led management approach and take clear accountability for the financial performance of the business. They will build an engaged and accountable leadership team, improve manufacturing efficiency and ensure the operation is positioned to support sustainable commercial growth.