The Requirements
To be a good fit for the Lab Manager opportunity, you will have:- Minimum Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry or related field including a strong focus on chemistry
- 5+ years of lab experience including 3+ years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry to gain deep knowledge of industry regulations and requirements Quick question for you - click here
- Significant lab leadership experience
- Strong computer skills including MS Office Suite applications, particularly Excel and Word
- Ability to read and interpret data and prepare written communications and reports
- A strong safety mindset and commitment to promoting and enforcing safety best practices
- Proven leadership skills including the ability to train, develop, delegate, set clear goals and expectations, etc.
- Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
- Outstanding organization, planning, prioritization and time management skills
- Attention to detail; accuracy; ability to effectively balance multiple, sometimes conflicting, priorities
- A commitment to meeting and exceeding deadlines
Physical requirements:
- Ability to walk, stand, bend, reach – fully use the laboratory
- Ability to lift up to 60 pounds and over 60 pounds on occasion
- 20/40 vision (with or without corrective lenses), hearing ability
- Willingness to wear safety equipment (e.g. safety glasses, earplugs, steel-toed boots, hard hat), as required
The Role
Role OverviewReporting to the Product Engineering Manager, as Lab Manager, you will be responsible for managing the operation and maintenance of the Newcastle Refining Laboratory and its lab staff. The lab runs 24/7/365 with a lab crew of six, including a degreed Chemist and Laboratory Technician, and four other technicians who worked their way up in the company and into the lab. We run two twelve hour shifts -- 6 to 6, which rotate, so eventually all team members will work with you directly in time. You will oversee all lab testing, including specialized testing such as government fuel, and the Quality Assurance Program.
Role Details
On a daily basis, you will run and attend a variety of meetings, including the morning, Operations, Tech Department, and leadership meetings. Typically, meetings demand approximately an hour a day.
When not required elsewhere, you will serve as a hands-on lab leader, organizing, managing and often performing daily and specialized testing, documentation and quality control. More specifically, you will:
- Schedule lab testing and work with other refinery departments to identify and plan their laboratory needs.
- Certify that all products produced by the refinery are within designated product specifications.
- Review lab test results for quality control, approve and verify findings, and generate Certificates of Quality for each product and distribute them.
- Ensure that testing procedures are adhered to. Troubleshoot and evaluate procedural problem areas. Work with refinery departments to meet product/customer needs.
- Ensure laboratory equipment is properly maintained. Develop and administer maintenance and calibration procedures.
- Develop, monitor, and maintain a quality assurance program in the laboratory.
- Ensure that calibration and maintenance programs are adhered to as required by military contracts. Update quality control procedures required by the military as necessary.
- Take care of lab personnel time sheets. Enter time into spreadsheet and uploads it to ExponentHR.
- Review analytical technology and makes recommendation for possible implementation in the refinery laboratory.
- Administer the lab capital and operating budgets. Create requisition/purchases for lab supplies. Maintain knock engine parts inventory.
- Administrator of the Laboratory Information System (LIMS) and Atlas (Chromatographic Software). Maintain and update Test Schedules, Templates, Menus, and User Access in the LIMS system.
- Maintain and update Product Specifications Sheets.
- Review gasoline volumes submitted by Yield Accounting. Enters volumes into LIMS, creates export files and imports/certifies them in PACE CTR. Takes care of the end of year EPA report generation.
- Compile end of year data for the EPA Fuel Manufacturer Annual Report.
- Represent the Laboratory at industry-sponsored meetings, seminars, etc.
- Compile data for Monthly Product Giveaway Reports.
- Chair Lab Safety Meetings. Prepare safety meeting schedules/presentation assignments.
- Administer employee performance appraisal.
More Good Reasons
Employee Value PropositionPar Pacific is a growing energy company that provides more opportunity and career growth potential because of our ambition, entrepreneurial mindset, our premier market position, and our integrated business systems.
Working at Par Pacific is different. Because Par is a smaller energy company, employees have the opportunity to make a great impact on the business and to influence decisions. People truly have amazing careers at Par because they are exposed to all areas of the company and are connected to many of the industry experts.
Unique culture
There is nothing ordinary about Par Pacific – an unorthodox niche player in the energy space that drives operations from production-to-delivery. And there’s certainly nothing ordinary about Par Pacific people. If you’re at Par, you’re a driven, creative-thinking, hardworking, entrepreneur-minded professional that loves to win. If that describes you, you'll fit right in!
Great place to live and work
Because Par Pacific is located in some of the most beautiful places throughout the country, our employees get to make these places their home and enrich their lives. You'll work in Newcastle, the county seat of Weston County, which offers the neighborly culture you'd expect in a small town. We're proud of our great schools, low cost of living, and even lower cost of housing. If you love the outdoor life, there aren't too many places to beat Newcastle.
Opportunistic growth strategy
At Par Pacific, we look for operations with strong fundamentals and great employees who can move a business forward. Our management team has deep experience in the energy industry, as well as in leading mergers, acquisitions and integrations of newly acquired companies.
Excellent compensation
In addition to a competitive compensation, we offer comprehensive benefits that include medical and dental insurance; life and AD&D insurance; retirement savings plans; employee assistance programs; and more. In addition, we provide safety glasses, Nomex flame resistant coveralls, earplugs, gloves, steel toe shoes, hard hats and respirators as needed.
Keys to Success
This is a busy and challenging role but with the right person at the helm, we know that the talent and tools are available to make a good thing even better. For example, though the team has a number of long-tenured members, they are still learning and have the capacity to continue to grow. Cross training will also be critical so that more than one person is responsible for areas such as jet fuel testing, and deadlinesYou'll need to be a strong leader and communicator, set clear goals and understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team and its members. You'll also be challenged to effectively manage deadlines and priorities. Ideally, you'll spend approximately 40% of your time doing hands-on work and 60% on management. It will, however, take strong leadership to be able to reduce your hands-on responsibility.
In addition, to be an outstanding Lab Manager, you will:
- Make good decisions based on a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience and judgment, without considering how much time a solution takes.
- Earn credibility through your skill and strong decision making so that others seek your advice.
- Clearly and comfortably delegate both routine and important tasks and decisions; broadly share both responsibility and accountability.
- Maintain high expectations and trust team members to perform.
- Effectively and efficiently manage your time concentrating on important priorities. Your expertise should allow you to get more done in a shorter amount of time than team members and cover a broader range of activities, as required.