SCM Senior Specialist - Operations Lead & Manager

About the role

Air Liquide is hiring an SCM senior specialist (Operations Lead & Manager) for its Tsukuba site. The role is accountable for supply chain and product delivery to customers within a defined scope (site, region or country) and manages teams covering activities such as sourcing, dispatch and fleet maintenance. It acts as deputy to the SCM Manager and leads planning, logistics governance, inventory control and continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities

• Operational escalations: act as deputy to the SCM Manager, owning operational escalations, bottlenecks and critical incident resolution at the Tsukuba site.
• Functional leadership: guide and review SCM Specialists and Finite Planners, drive SOP standardization and remove single points of failure.
• Cross-functional coordination with Customer Service, Commercial/Sales and Operations for high-priority shipments, emergency deliveries and supply disruptions.
• Planning and S&OP: partner with the Finite Planner and Scheduler on short-term production schedules and rolling supply plans up to 12 months, and lead site preparation for monthly S&OP/IBP reviews.
• Logistics governance: manage 3PL vendors, freight forwarders and carriers (performance, SLAs, contracts); enforce DG and high-pressure gas safety compliance; oversee import/export compliance, customs clearance and RCA/CAPA.
• Inventory control: run the site-wide cycle count, monitor raw material consumption, BOM variances and SLOB inventory to improve Days On Hand.
• Safety and improvement: champion a zero-accident culture, PPE and 5S compliance, and lead Lean Six Sigma / continuous improvement projects.

Required profile

• 1-3 years of experience.
• Experience developing product marketing plans and strong management experience with a team; previous sales and marketing experience desirable.
• In-depth understanding of a relevant marketplace and the ability to analyse and predict market trends.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional meetings such as weekly scheduling and monthly S&OP/IBP reviews.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, prioritization in fast-paced environments, and customer relationship skills.

Required skills

• ERP systems (SAP strongly preferred).
• MS Office (Word, Excel) or Google applications, with advanced Google Sheets skills required.