Regional Mining Program Manager

Nobian is a leading producer of salt, essential chemicals and energy. Their core business is salt mining while their mission is to actively contribute to energy transition by building energy storage caverns. Nobian operates in a high-potential, yet politically complex and sensitive industry. The Regional Mining Program Manager thrives on challenge and making an impact, and will lead Nobian’s mining project portfolio in the north or east Netherlands. 

About Nobian

Nobian is a European market leader in the production of salt, essential chemicals and energy for construction, cleaning,  pharmaceuticals and water treatment industries. They excel in supplying safe and reliable high-purity salt, chlor-alkali, chloromethane and hydrogen using their integrated value chain with modern production sites in The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

Nobian has a substantial history in salt production dating back more than a century and in-depth, underground energy storage expertise. With 1,600 employees, Nobian is committed to becoming safer, more efficient and sustainable. Their mission is to ensure that today’s essential products continue to improve peoples’ lives in the future through trusted chemistry.

Nobian is active in energy transition with decades of experience developing underground energy storage in former salt caverns, including natural gas, compressed air and hydrogen. Creating storage caverns is part of the hydrogen backbone in The Netherlands and an important priority for the Dutch government’s policy.

One of Nobian’s challenges is how to continue securing its salt production and daily operations, while creating energy storage in the midst of a complex society debate about mining in The Netherlands. The Regional Mining Program Manager will play a crucial role in addressing this hot topic.

Job description: Regional Mining Program Manager

The Regional Mining Program Manager leads the project portfolio for new and existing mining operations and sustainability solutions for Nobian’s mines in Hengelo or Delfzijl. They report to the Mining Director, with direct contacts to the Executive Team. And this roles works closely with the project organization – including project managers, engineers, and specialists – as well as site directors and community managers. Although free from HR responsibilities, the Program Manager will have the full mandate to staff their project teams.

In mining projects, there is always a degree of technical complexity. In addition, it involves stakeholder complexity among local residents, press, and politicians. The Regional Mining Program Manager designs and leads multiple projects to enable future mining and energy operations, with a strong focus on these technological, societal, and political complexities.

“We work with different stakeholders to ensure mutual understanding and knowledge sharing between ourselves, the public, and policy makers. With our partners involvement, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and also Gasunie, we design and build underground energy storage solutions. But stakeholder interactions are not always easy. Especially in the north of The Netherlands, mining and drilling is a complex operation. The Regional Mining Program Manager is an excellent and honest communicator with high EQ and IQ, who can effectively navigate this field.” – Ellis Deelen, Executive VP and Chief Operations Officer at Nobian

As the leading salt producer in western Europe, its availability is crucial to Nobian’s future. The Regional Mining Program Manager develops and executes a regional salt mining strategy to align with Nobian’s overall mining strategy. They will oversee the many risks and opportunities of salt mining, including developing an alternative salt supply strategy. This role ensures the right expertise is brought onboard for project planning and executing. They also set the roadmap and re-prioritize elements as needed, track and report on progress, and steer teams with close cooperation of the project managers.

The overall project portfolio is diverse and ever-changing. They vary from extremely Greenfield to straight forward execution. Examples include how to stabilize caverns; how to fill old caverns; where to source the filling material; or how to implement vibration measurements and response protocols.

The right candidate for this role has extensive project management expertise in complex environments. They have excellent communication and planning skills and are comfortable taking charge. They are also confident dealing with pushback from stakeholders or providing pushback themselves. They can build project teams based on the proper assessment of necessary strengths and skills. This role enjoys problem-solving, building trust with stakeholders and can make a tremendous impact, for both Nobian and the Dutch energy transition.

Interested?

Nobian is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Stephanie Buit at stephanie.stop@topofminds.com .