Job Description
Responsibilities
• The successful candidate will act as a trusted technical and strategic advisor to senior commercial leadership, providing independent expertise and challenge across refinery economics, planning, scheduling, optimization and commercial performance.
• This opportunity is particularly suited to a highly experienced refining and commercial professional seeking a high-impact advisory position where decades of industry expertise can directly influence strategic and commercial decisions.
Strategic & Executive Advisory:
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to senior commercial leadership on refinery economics, planning, scheduling and optimization.
• Provide an independent technical perspective on major commercial and operational decisions.
• Review and challenge key assumptions, analyses and recommendations produced by the existing EPS organization.
• Translate refinery operating constraints and opportunities into actionable commercial recommendations.
• Support executive decision-making through robust economic and commercial analysis.
• Provide independent challenge while preserving the accountability and responsibilities of the existing EPS management structure.
Refinery Economics & Optimization:
• Review refinery economics and validate the assumptions underpinning commercial decisions.
• Review Linear Programming LP optimization outputs and challenge recommendations where appropriate.
• Assess refinery margins, profitability and margin-enhancement opportunities.
• Review crude selection economics and crude assay evaluations.
• Identify opportunities to optimize product yields and refinery operating modes.
• Evaluate trade-offs between crude supply, refinery configuration, production yields, inventory and market opportunities.
• Recommend initiatives aimed at maximizing refinery and commercial performance.
Planning & Scheduling Oversight:
• Provide senior-level review of short-, medium- and longer-term refinery production plans.
• Assess the operational and economic feasibility of planning assumptions.
• Ensure alignment between refinery planning and broader commercial strategy.
• Review scheduling constraints and identify potential bottlenecks affecting commercial performance.
• Assess the commercial impact of shutdowns, turnarounds and changes in refinery operating conditions.
• Strengthen planning governance and decision-support frameworks.
Commercial Performance & Decision Support:
• Provide technical and commercial advice on crude supply and refinery operating risks.
• Support inventory optimization and working-capital efficiency.
• Identify opportunities for margin protection and enhancement.
• Assess potential impacts of market disruptions on refinery economics and operating decisions.
• Support supply and commercial optimization initiatives.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of commercial performance across the organization.
Capability Development:
• Act as a senior technical mentor to the existing EPS leadership and specialist teams.
• Strengthen internal capabilities in refinery economics, planning, scheduling and optimization.
• Introduce relevant international best practices and world-class planning methodologies.
• Improve analytical capabilities and economic decision-making frameworks.
• Support the development of a strong internal pipeline of EPS expertise.
• Encourage knowledge transfer across the broader commercial organization.
Desired Skills and Experience
The successful candidate should demonstrate deep expertise across several of the following areas:
• Minimum of 20 years of senior-level experience within downstream refining, with ideally 20–30 years of overall industry experience.
• Extensive experience within integrated refining and commercial organizations.
• At least 10 years of significant leadership or senior technical responsibility across one or several of the following areas:
• Refinery Economics
• Refinery Planning
• Scheduling
• Linear Programming LP Optimization
• Supply Optimization
Commercial Optimization:
• Significant exposure to large, complex and internationally operated refineries.
• Experience within major international oil & gas, integrated energy, refining or trading organizations would be highly desirable.
• Strong combination of refining, commercial and ideally trading exposure.
• Demonstrated ability to connect refinery operational realities with commercial and market opportunities.
• Deep understanding of refinery margin drivers and value optimization.
• Strong experience advising senior executives and influencing major commercial and operational decisions.
• International experience and exposure to complex operating environments would be a significant advantage.
• Refinery economics
• Linear Programming LP
• Crude assay evaluation and crude selection economics
• Refinery planning and scheduling
• Margin optimization
• Refinery yield optimization
• Supply optimization
• Production planning
• Inventory optimization
• Commercial optimization
• Market economics
• Refinery operating-mode optimization
• Integrated refining and commercial decision-making.
