Process Leader - Sugar & Ethanol (Global Asset Management)

Position Summary:

The Process Leader – Sugar & Ethanol is responsible for establishing and leading global technical governance, standards, and performance optimization for COFCO International’s sugar and ethanol industrial assets.

This role acts as the single point of technical accountability for process performance, standardization, benchmarking, and continuous improvement across sugar mills assets, enabling structured improvements in yield, energy efficiency, reliability, quality, and process safety, while ensuring alignment with CILs asset management framework. This professional will also collaborate with multidisciplinary teams worldwide, promoting technological innovations, continuous improvement, and compliance with international regulatory standards.

Qualifications/Competencies:

Education:

•  Degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Production, or Industrial Engineering.

Experience:

• Large experience in sugar mills and/or ethanol industrial operations.
• Strong background in process engineering and utilities.

Languages:

• Fluency in Portuguese and at least Upperintermediate level in English.

Technical Knowledge:

• Sugar extraction, evaporation, boiling, centrifuges.
• Boilers, cogeneration, steam systems.
• Familiarity with PSM standards and industrial safety.

Interpersonal Skills:

• Strong leadership and effective communication skills with multicultural teams and various organizational levels.
• Ability to influence and collaborate on global initiatives.
• Proactive profile, innovation-driven, and results-oriented. 

Key Responsibilities

Global Process Governance

• Develop and maintain global process standards and technical guidelines for sugar mills and ethanol operations.
• Ensure alignment with CIL policies, project governance, and asset integrity principles.
• Support Projects reviews.

Operational Performance & Yield

• Support local teams to drive improvements in: TRS yield and loss reduction; Juice extraction efficiency; Boiling, evaporation, centrifugation performance
• Support sites in identifying process losses in milling, diffusion, clarification, and molasses handling.

Energy & Utilities Optimization

• Support optimization of: Specific steam consumption (kg/tc); Boiler–evaporation integration; Cogeneration and energy balance; Bagasse and biomass utilization
• Interface closely with other Global Assets Management functions.

Reliability & Availability

• Support definition of critical equipment strategies (mills, diffusers, boilers, turbines).
• Promote A-class maintenance planning and integration with crop planning.

Quality & Compliance

• Support quality stability.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and food safety requirements.

Process Safety (PSM)

• Support PSM initiatives related to: Boilers and pressure systems; Combustible dust; Interlocks, MOC, and permit-to-work systems
• Participate in major process related incident investigations.

Benchmarking & Capability Building

• Define and monitor global KPIs for sugar and ethanol assets.
• Promote benchmarking across sites and regions.
• Develop training materials and technical playbooks.

KPIs & Success Indicators

• Improvement in TRS yield and loss reduction.
• Reduction in specific steam consumption.
• Improvement in mill availability.
• Stability in ICUMSA and quality indicators.
• Adoption of GAM standards and benchmarks across mills.