Contractual Advanced Process Control Engineer Jobs in Houston, TX

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Job title: Advanced Process Control Engineer

Offer Range:$142,860 - $178,570 (commensurate with experience)

Location: Alvin, Texas

Organizational Context and Job Purpose

The Olefins & Polymers USA division of INEOS is one of the largest producers of olefins and polyolefins in North America. From its manufacturing locations at Chocolate Bayou and the Battleground Manufacturing Complex, it is a merchant marketer of butadiene, ethylene, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene with annual revenue of over $4B.

The Chocolate Bayou Site is located in Southeastern Texas about 40 miles South of Houston and consists of two Olefins units that produce approximately 4bn pounds/year of ethylene, 2 Polypropylene units that produce approximately 1B pounds/ year of polypropylene, and the Light Ends storage & transfer facilities at Stratton Ridge.

How the Role Fits In

This APC Engineer role is part of the Process Control and Operational Technology (OT) group reporting to the Technology Manager for the site. The Advanced Process Control Engineer is responsible for providing process control expertise and support to the olefins and polypropylene processes at the Chocolate Bayou site. The incumbent will be involved in the development, implementation and troubleshooting of (advanced) process control applications across the site. Key aspects of the role include:

• Troubleshooting and support of existing APC applications using DMC (AspenTech) and Process Perfecter (Pavilion/Rockwell)
• Develop and implement new APC applications
• Provide advanced process control documentation and training to operations and technical staff

The position will also participate in the evaluation and development phases of process control support projects such as alarm management, control loop monitoring and new control technologies.

Key Roles and Accountabilities

• Demonstrates Safety Leadership through the promotion of the INEOS 20 Safety Principles.
• Strive to improve the safety and environmental performance of the units.
• Maintain and continuously improve current DMC applications in both Olefins units and Pavilion application in both PP units (this includes activities such as control loop tuning, model identification through plant step tests, DMC tuning).
• Issue monthly report with Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of current DMC applications.
• Interface with Operations personnel to ensure their needs are being met.
• Ensure proper documentation and operator training.
• Coordinate with OT group the DMC/Pavilion server maintenance (backup, security patches, etc.) to ensure high reliability of the APC applications.
• Identify possible new APC applications to improve operations. Estimate cost and benefits of each of them in collaboration with operation personnel.
• Stays abreast of industry best practices in area of specialty.
• Being aware of developments in process control and APC capability and identifying new improvement opportunities for the site.
• Support alarm management and basic loop tuning in collaboration with operations and process control engineers.

Education and/or Experience

• Undergraduate degree in Chemical, Electrical, or Computer Engineering or related field
• Advanced degree in a related field preferred.
• The individual will have a minimum of 12 years' experience in chemical, refining or industrial manufacturing and/or capital projects with prior responsibility for and familiarity with DCS functions and applications and preferably with previous APC experience.

Technical skills

• Creating a culture that drives incident-free operations
• Experience and knowledge of chemical/maintenance operations and regulation.
• Experience and knowledge of process control methods and techniques.
• Experience and knowledge of APC methods and techniques and preferably with DMC (Aspentech) and/or Process Perfecter (Pavilion)
• Experience and knowledge of DCS infrastructure. Honeywell training and experience is preferred.
• Demonstrated cost saving initiatives and overall equipment life cycle cost management.
• Knowledge of safety and quality management systems
• Skills in data handling, computers and programming.
• Six sigma training and experience.
• Professional Certification such as P.E. preferred.

Behavioral skills

• Strong communications skills drive.
• Sense of urgency and problem-solving abilities will be critical for the success of this individual.
• The ability to work across all disciplines and throughout all levels of the organization in a persuasive and credible manner is necessary.
• Strong work ethic. Dedicated and willing to work the hours needed to accomplish a task.
• Strong communication skills - comfortable and effective communicating with ALL levels in the organization.
• Impact and influence, able to persuade others to a particular course of action
• Ability to prioritize work - assure the important items are done

Since the nature of unit support includes troubleshooting unexpected problems or upsets, the person for this job must be able to work long hours that can extend into nights and/or weekends if the need arises.

Our culture is one of honesty and integrity with an emphasis on safety, health and environmental performance. On our team, people are acknowledged for embracing new practices that help create real value for customers.