Refractory Supervisor

Job Description

Job Description

Position Summary  

The Refractory Supervisor provides overall leadership, safety oversight, planning, execution, employee development, cost control, and performance management for refractory operations throughout the Melt Shop. The position supervises Refractory Leads, Senior Refractory Masons, Refractory Masons, Refractory Utilities, and other assigned personnel and is accountable for maintaining safe, reliable, and production-ready furnaces, ladles, tundishes, and other refractory-lined equipment. The Refractory Supervisor develops and maintains a disciplined refractory program focused on employee safety, molten-metal containment, refractory integrity, equipment availability, quality workmanship, employee development, inventory control, refractory life, cost management, and continuous improvement. The position is expected to perform other duties and assignments as directed to support changing production, operational, and business needs, consistent with the employee’s training, qualifications, and applicable safety requirements. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities  

Department Leadership  

• Provide overall leadership and supervision for Refractory Department personnel and maintain an active presence in operating and refractory work areas.
• Establish clear expectations for safety, quality, productivity, attendance, housekeeping, accountability, and professional conduct.
• Direct Refractory Leads and ensure work priorities and expectations are consistently communicated across shifts.
• Maintain adequate staffing and qualified skill coverage and adjust manpower based on operating, maintenance, outage, and emergency needs.
• Coach employees, provide performance feedback, address performance or attendance concerns according to company policy, and participate in hiring and selection activities.
• Develop employees for advancement and build consistent practices and expectations across refractory crews.

Refractory Operations  

• Establish and oversee effective refractory inspection, repair, gunning, patching, relining, demolition, preparation, preheating, rebuild, and maintenance practices for Electric Arc Furnaces, steel ladles, tundishes, and other refractory-lined equipment.
• Ensure refractory work is performed using approved materials, procedures, equipment, and workmanship standards.
• Monitor equipment condition and refractory readiness and ensure significant concerns are documented, communicated, and addressed.
• Balance refractory life, equipment reliability, maintenance cost, quality, and operational safety when establishing repair practices.

Refractory Inspection & Reliability  

• Establish consistent inspection standards for furnaces, ladles, tundishes, preheaters, refractory equipment, and critical refractory components.
• Ensure appropriate inspection for erosion, cracking, spalling, metal penetration, slag attack, hot spots, excessive lining wear, safety-lining exposure, loose or shifted brick, premature failures, and abnormal wear patterns.
• Track recurring conditions and ensure questionable or safety-critical refractory conditions receive appropriate evaluation before equipment is returned to use.
• Develop and monitor performance indicators for refractory life, repairs, availability, consumption, downtime, and reliability. 

Ladle, Furnace & Tundish Management  

Maintain sufficient safe and production-ready ladles through inspection requirements, campaign monitoring, patching and reline planning, slag-line and safety-lining review, hot-spot evaluation, and appropriate preheating practices.

• Monitor EAF refractory condition, establish gunning and repair practices, coordinate planned refractory outages, review campaign performance, and support furnace-life improvement initiatives.
• Establish tundish inspection and preparation standards, monitor turnaround and performance, and maintain adequate production-ready and spare tundish capacity.

Work Planning, Scheduling & Outages  

• Direct daily, weekly, and long-term refractory planning based on vessel availability, repair priorities, staffing, material and equipment availability, campaigns, major outages, trials, upgrades, and workforce-development needs.
• Develop refractory outage work scopes, staffing requirements, schedules, material plans, contingency plans, and inspection requirements.
• Coordinate contractors and simultaneous work activities when required and monitor outage progress, changing conditions, workmanship, and equipment return-to-service readiness.

Inventory & Material Management  

• Establish appropriate minimum, maximum, and critical-spare inventory levels for refractory brick, castables, gunning materials, mortars, plastics, ladle components, tundish materials, and specialty products.
• Monitor consumption, shelf life, storage conditions, material quality, deliveries, shortages, and usage practices.
• Coordinate purchasing requirements and supplier performance while minimizing production shortages, excessive inventory, contamination, and avoidable material waste.

Cost & Performance Management  

• Track and analyze refractory cost per ton, vessel refractory costs, material consumption, labor, contractor costs, emergency-repair costs, waste, repair frequency, availability, and campaign performance.
• Use performance data and field observations to identify opportunities that lower sustainable total refractory cost without compromising safety, reliability, quality, or operational readiness.
• Establish and review practical department KPIs for safety, reliability, refractory performance, equipment readiness, outages, costs, workforce qualification, and employee development.

Supplier & Contractor Management  

• Evaluate refractory products, supplier recommendations, technical support, material performance, contractor workmanship, staffing, and productivity as assigned.
• Coordinate refractory trials and supplier technical support and ensure contractors comply with PSG safety and work requirements.
• Provide technical and performance input for supplier or contractor evaluations.

Training & Workforce Development  

• Own the department training and qualification system for Refractory Utilities, Masons, Senior Masons, and Leads.
• Develop employees in job-appropriate safety, refractory fundamentals, installation, gunning, patching, inspection, troubleshooting, craftsmanship, leadership, planning, accountability, and employee-development skills.
• Maintain a practical skills and qualification matrix to identify skill gaps, training needs, qualified shift coverage, trainers, advancement readiness, and succession-planning needs.
• Build multiple qualified employees for critical functions rather than relying on a single highly experienced employee.

Employee Performance Management  

• Support employee evaluations, coaching, attendance management, training and development plans, advancement recommendations, corrective action, recognition, interviewing, hiring, and succession planning according to company practices.
• Set expectations for Refractory Leads to provide consistent direction, feedback, accountability, and employee development across shifts.

Troubleshooting & Continuous Improvement  

• Lead or participate in refractory failure investigations involving premature wear, hot spots, metal penetration, furnace or tundish failures, abnormal slag-line wear, material or installation failures, repeated repair locations, and excessive refractory consumption.
• Use inspection data, campaign history, operating conditions, material performance, and employee observations to identify potential causes and corrective actions.
• Lead continuous-improvement efforts involving refractory life, reliability, installation practices, cost per ton, material consumption, repair turnaround, outage performance, employee capability, and emergency-repair frequency.

• • • Support appropriate technical collaboration with Operations, Maintenance, Process Engineering, Metallurgy, Quality, and refractory suppliers when additional expertise is required.

Safety Responsibilities  

• Provide visible safety leadership and ensure PSG safety policies, procedures, safe-work practices, and required PPE requirements are consistently followed.
• Ensure appropriate lockout/tagout, confined-space, respiratory-protection, fall-protection, heat-exposure, barricade, exclusion-zone, and other applicable controls are implemented.
• Monitor silica and refractory dust hazards, molten-metal exposures, hot surfaces, stored energy, moving equipment, and other heavy-industrial hazards.
• Participate in and ensure appropriate pre-job planning for higher-risk refractory work.
• Conduct safety observations and inspections, investigate incidents and near misses as assigned, and ensure corrective actions are developed and followed through.
• Stop unsafe work and reinforce employee responsibility to report hazards and work only within established training and authorization.
• No production requirement, refractory repair, cost objective, or schedule requirement takes priority over employee safety.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities  

• Advanced understanding of industrial refractory systems, EAF, ladle and tundish refractory, brick installation, castables, gunning, refractory wear, inspections, failure analysis, molten-metal safety, industrial maintenance, and lockout/tagout.
• Strong leadership, employee supervision, work planning, scheduling, cost management, inventory management, contractor and supplier management, root-cause analysis, continuous improvement, performance management, and employee-development capability.
• Ability to analyze refractory, cost, reliability, inventory, and workforce data and convert findings into practical operating and improvement actions.
• Strong written and verbal communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, organization, coaching, and accountability skills.
• Computer proficiency sufficient to use production, inventory, performance, training, and employee-management systems.

Qualifications  

• High school diploma or GED preferred.
• Approximately ten or more years of refractory, steelmaking, maintenance, heavy-industrial, or related operating experience is preferred.
• Approximately three or more years of demonstrated leadership or supervisory experience is preferred.
• Strong understanding of refractory systems, industrial safety, maintenance practices, and steelmaking operations.
• Previous refractory leadership, EAF, ladle, tundish, Refractory Lead, Senior Refractory Mason, contractor or supplier management, root-cause analysis, or continuous-improvement experience is preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving industrial environment, work flexible schedules, and respond to outages or emergencies as required.

Physical & Work Environment  

• Frequent standing and walking in office, shop, and heavy-industrial operating areas, with periodic bending, kneeling, reaching, and climbing as required for inspections and field oversight.
• Ability to safely access furnaces, ladles, tundishes, refractory work locations, elevated areas, and other industrial equipment areas as required by assigned duties.
• Work may involve high temperatures, dust, noise, heavy equipment, hot surfaces, molten-metal operations, and other heavy-industrial conditions.
• Ability to wear required PPE, respiratory protection, and other specialized protective equipment when necessary.

Compensation  

Actual compensation will be determined based on factors such as the candidate’s knowledge, skills, relevant work experience, education, certifications, and other job-related qualifications. In addition to base pay, this position may be eligible for an annual performance bonus. 

Pre-Employment Requirements  

Final candidates will be required to successfully complete a background check and pre-employment drug screening, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. 

Disclaimer  

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, or working conditions associated with the position. Duties and responsibilities may be modified as business needs require. 

Equal Employment Opportunity  

Pacific Steel Group is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Pacific Steel Group is also committed to providing reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities.