Running a biodiesel business unit at a fuel producer, refiner, or specialty chemical company, you own the P&L, operations, and strategy for the company's biodiesel line — feedstock procurement, production, blending economics, and downstream sales channels.
Daily attention tends to split between feedstock margins, production-plant performance, and the regulatory-credit market (RINs under the RFS) — three levers that move the line's profitability in different directions at the same time. You'll often be reviewing plant uptime reports in the morning, sitting with traders on RIN positioning by midday, and on the phone with feedstock suppliers when prices move. Volumes produced, blend economics, and EBITDA performance drive the scorecard.
The hardest part is often the policy dependency — biodiesel economics rest heavily on the federal blender's tax credit and RFS program design, both of which shift with administrations and Congress. Variance across employers is sharp: integrated refiners run biodiesel as one part of a broader fuels portfolio; pure-play biodiesel producers live or die on a single business.
The job tends to suit folks who bring P&L instincts, policy fluency, and operational leadership. ASTM standards knowledge, RFS regulatory experience, and energy-markets backgrounds anchor the path. The compromise is the regulatory volatility that defines the industry — strategic plans built on current policy can require rewriting after a single program change.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Engineering roles →Running a biodiesel business unit at a fuel producer, refiner, or specialty chemical company, you own the P&L, operations, and strategy for the company's biodiesel line — feedstock procurement, production, blending economics, and downstream sales channels.
Median pay for a Biodiesel Division Manager is about $168K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $111K to $208K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Judgment and Decision Making, Writing, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, and Speaking.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 3.8% through 2034, with roughly 210,340 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Division Director, Ethanol Operations Manager, and Biodiesel Operations Manager.
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