Operational Assistant Manager – Glass Furnace (Contract)
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Start Date: 1st August
Working Hours: 36 hours per week
Role Overview
We are seeking an experienced Operational Assistant Manager with strong expertise in glass furnace operations and maintenance support. The successful candidate will play a key role in supporting furnace performance, ensuring operational continuity, and contributing to maintenance planning and execution in a high-temperature industrial environment.
This role requires hands-on experience within glass manufacturing operations, with a particular focus on furnace reliability, troubleshooting, and defrosting processes.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide day-to-day operational support for glass furnace activities
- Support maintenance planning, execution, and shutdown coordination
- Monitor furnace performance and contribute to optimisation initiatives
- Troubleshoot operational issues and support rapid fault resolution
- Oversee or assist with defrosting / furnace cleaning procedures
- Ensure safe and efficient operation in line with site standards and procedures
- Work closely with engineering, production, and maintenance teams
- Support continuous improvement initiatives around energy efficiency and uptime
- Assist in managing operational risks and ensuring compliance with safety standards
Key Requirements
- Proven experience in glass furnace operations and/or maintenance support
- Strong understanding of high-temperature industrial processes
- Hands-on experience with furnace defrosting / cleaning procedures
- Background in glass manufacturing, refractory systems, or similar process industry
- Experience working in operational or assistant management capacity
- Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting ability in live plant environments
- Good understanding of maintenance coordination and shutdown planning
- Strong focus on safety, reliability, and operational efficiency
Desirable Experience
- Exposure to furnace optimisation or energy efficiency projects
- Experience in continuous or batch glass production environments
- Understanding of refractory materials and furnace integrity issues
- Experience working in multinational or EPC/industrial environments
Summary
This is a critical operational role supporting a high-performance glass furnace environment. The ideal candidate will bring hands-on technical expertise, strong operational awareness, and proven experience in maintaining and supporting furnace systems, including defrosting and maintenance activities.