Chemicals & Petrochemicals

Client Partnerships

We are very proud of the partnerships that we have formed with our clients. We build and maintain long lasting relationships across multiple searches and as a result we intimately know how to find the best people for a given role. Below is a summary of three of our most significant partnerships within the Chemicals and Petrochemicals sector.

Restructuring a European procurement function

In November 2018, we were approached by a leading European producer of olefins and polymers to help support them with the restructuring of their senior European procurement function. Over the last 18 months we have helped them recruit the following key individuals into the organisation:

Major Projects Procurement Manager Antwerp & Cologne | 2019
Procurement Specialist (Projects & DCS/E&I) Cologne | 2019
Site Procurement Manager Antwerp | 2019
Site Procurement Manager Cologne | 2020

We had been working with our client for several years, recruiting key senior personnel across various European sites and functions. The client tasked us with conducting a critical hire for a Major Projects Procurement Manager initially. They were looking for an individual with a unique set of skills, which included both an engineering and procurement background. The individual also needed to have the leadership skills to build and develop a team whilst still being hands-on and close to the action. Finally and critically, the individual required direct experience leading on extensive project-based procurement exercises in the chemicals sector.

We feel that we were selected to lead on this critical search for several reasons:

Our previous close and successful working relationship with the organisation;
Our extensive knowledge and experience working across the European chemicals sector. For instance, this particular role could have been based in either Antwerp or Cologne so we focussed our search across Belgium, The Netherland and Germany;
Finally, our track record recruiting across the supply chain, logistics and procurement functions.

We identified one individual early on in the search that we thought would be absolutely ideal. After speaking to them initially, it was clear that they were happy in their role and had been with their employer for a significant period. However, after several conversations discussing our client's vision, investment plans and opportunities, we moved forward to interviews. A shortlist of 4 candidates were interviewed, but after our assessments, we could clearly see that this particular individual had the perfect mix of technical skills, leadership experience and behaviours to be successful in the role and organisation.

After successfully completing this important search, we managed subsequent searches to find a Procurement Specialist to be based in Cologne and a Site Procurement Manager to manage procurement activities across their Antwerp site. Our client had been looking to fill the Site Procurement Manager role for a significant time without success. However, we were able to wrap-up the search successfully in 5 weeks.

Our client is now looking for a Procurement Manager to manage activities across their large and complex Cologne site and we are once again leading on this search.

Working with a European chemical manufacturing business across Belgium, Germany and the UK

In April 2020, we started working with a premier European chemical manufacturing business. We had been recommended by another company within their group and they initially asked us to support them with two senior commercial searches:

Global Business Development Manager - Germany & UK: This was a new role designed to help develop the business and marketing plan for a new lithium hydroxide business within their group;
Export Sales Manager - Belgium & UK: to lead on export sales for their general purposes vinyls business.

Since the successful completion of these two searches, we were then partnered to support their European IT function with a couple of tricky SAP searches.

In July of 2020, we successfully completed a SAP Authorisations & Master Data Analyst search. We are currently working on a SAP Consultant’s search.

Supporting a leading chemicals producer in Spain

In 2017, we were asked to support a leading producer of sulphuric acid and sulphur-based chemicals with their search for a new Site Manager and Engineering Manager to help lead their Spanish plant. We had previously helped their business in the UK with a number of management searches and they subsequently asked us to help in Spain as well.

Both the Site Manager and Engineering Manager have had a very positive impact on the organisation, implementing some significant changes and improvements. The business is performing well and growing. In the summer of 2020, we were asked to support with a new search in Spain to find a Commercial Manager to join the site senior leadership team. This search is currently under way.

"Our partnerships mean a lot to us, it is a clear sign that we are delivering exactly what the client needs. This is testament to the methods we use and our team's performance. Conducting multiple searches over a sustained period of time for the same client is a fantastic feeling "

David Wilson, Co-founder and Director | Hybrid Search

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