Customer Operations Manager, Spain

You can find Arclin everywhere. Our technologies make homes and transportation safer, help crops flourish, keep water clean, protect first responders and members of the military, and preserve the purity of essential pharmaceuticals. These vital, everyday products can't fail, and we’re here to give the world an extra layer of performance and peace of mind.

With ~4,000 team members across more than 30 global manufacturing facilities, we operate with the scale to make a global impact and the agility to solve complex challenges at the molecular level. Rooted in scientific discovery and innovation, Arclin’s materials redefine performance across industries - from Firepoint®’s patented intumescent technology that helps stall flames and save lives to the iconic Kevlar® and Nomex® brands trusted to protect those who serve, strengthen aerospace and industrial systems, and perform where reliability and safety are top of mind.

As we expand our mission‑critical materials portfolio and shape the next era of performance technologies, we’re looking for people who want to grow, lead, and solve the challenges others can’t. Together, we’ll advance the innovations that keep the world moving. Because at Arclin, our people are truly Vital Beyond Measure.

The Customer Operations Manager, EMEA is responsible for leading customer operations activities across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This role ensures consistent execution of customer service, order management, supply chain collaboration, logistics coordination, and finance support processes across EMEA to support a cohesive regional customer operations model.

As a key member of the Customer Operations organization, this position partners closely with Sales, Supply Chain, Logistics, Finance, Regulatory, Quality, and other business functions to optimize the end-to-end order-to-cash process, improve service levels, and resolve customer and operational challenges across EMEA. The successful candidate will champion a customer-centric culture, drive continuous improvement initiatives, develop regional capability, and ensure alignment with global standards while addressing the diverse regulatory, trade, language, and market requirements of EMEA.

This opportunity is located in Spain

Key Responsibilities

Customer Operations Leadership

• Lead Customer Operations activities across the EMEA region, ensuring consistent execution of customer service, order management, and fulfillment processes across multiple countries, markets, and regional operating models.
• Manage and develop regional customer service and order management teams in EMEA to achieve aligned operational and customer service objectives.
• Drive talent development, succession planning, employee engagement, and organizational capability building across the EMEA Customer Operations organization.
• Establish governance, performance cadences, and escalation mechanisms across EMEA to ensure regional priorities are aligned with global customer operations strategy.
• Foster a customer-centric culture focused on responsiveness, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure alignment with global customer operations standards while addressing regional customer and business requirements.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for critical customer issues, supply disruptions, and service recovery within EMEA.

Order-to-Cash Excellence

• Oversee the regional order-to-cash process, including order entry, order management, fulfillment coordination, invoicing support, and customer issue resolution.
• Ensure accurate and timely order processing in compliance with company policies, regulatory requirements, and customer agreements.
• Drive improvements in order cycle times, first-pass accuracy, backlog management, and customer satisfaction.
• Partner with Finance to support credit management, collections activities, dispute resolution, and working capital objectives.

Customer Supply Chain Collaboration

• Build strong relationships with key customers to support supply continuity, proactive communication, and service excellence.
• Collaborate with customers on forecasting, inventory management, replenishment planning, and demand visibility initiatives.
• Participate in customer business reviews and support strategic customer discussions as required.
• Partner with commercial teams to develop customer-specific service models and supply chain solutions.

Service Performance Management

• Monitor service-level agreements (SLAs), KPIs, and customer performance metrics across the EMEA region.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and reporting tools to provide visibility into operational performance.
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions to address service failures and recurring operational issues.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance customer experience while improving efficiency and reducing operating costs.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Partner closely with Supply Chain, Procurement, Logistics, Sales, Regulatory, and Finance teams.
• Aligning customer demand priorities with production and distribution capabilities.
• Represent Customer Operations in Sales & Operations Planning and Integrated Business Planning (IBP) processes.
• Support new product introductions, product transitions, and customer onboarding activities.

Digital Transformation & Process Improvement

• Support the implementation and optimization of customer service technologies, CRM platforms, ERP systems, and customer portals within the region.
• Identify opportunities to automate customer-facing processes and streamline operational workflows.
• Leverage data and analytics to improve service performance, customer collaboration, and operational decision-making.
• Apply Lean and continuous improvement to drive operational excellence.

Compliance & Quality Management

• Ensure adherence to customer requirements, quality standards, and regulatory expectations.
• Maintain governance of customer master data and support compliance with commercial or legal agreements.
• Support internal & external audits, quality reviews, and compliance initiatives when required.
• Ensure compliance with export controls, customs procedures, trade regulations, VAT documentation, sanctions screening, and hazardous material documentation requirements across EMEA markets.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Supply Chain Management, Operations, Engineering, Chemistry, or related discipline.
• Advanced degree or professional certification in Supply Chain, Operations, or Business Management is preferred.

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in customer operations, customer service, supply chain, commercial operations, or order management across EMEA.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing customer operations functions, including direct or matrix leadership of multi-country teams within EMEA.
• Experience within chemical manufacturing, specialty materials, industrial manufacturing, or related industries preferred.
• Strong knowledge of ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Dynamics.
• Demonstrated success in improving customer experience, operational performance, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Experience working across multiple countries, cultures, regulatory frameworks, time zones, and business environments within EMEA, with demonstrated ability to lead through regional complexity and operational alignment.

Languages

• Fluent English required.
• Additional European language capability strongly preferred, such as Spanish or German.

Competencies

Leadership

• Customer-focused leadership
• Team development and coaching
• Change management
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Regional governance and indirect leadership across geographically dispersed EMEA teams
• Decision making and problem solving

Functional Expertise

• Excellent communication skills
• Customer Service Operations
• Order Management
• Order-to-Cash Processes
• Customer Supply Chain Collaboration
• Demand Fulfillment & Supply Planning Coordination
• Global Trade & Logistics Awareness
• Regional customer operations governance across EMEA
• Sales & Operations Meeting Participation
• Customer Experience Management
• Process Excellence & Continuous Improvement

Technical Skills

• SAP, Oracle, or other ERP platforms
• CRM systems (Salesforce preferred)
• Power BI, Tableau, or similar analytics tools
• Customer portals and digital service platforms
• Supply chain and operational reporting systems
• Microsoft Excel and data analysis tools