Entry Level Data Visualization Engineer Jobs in Columbus, OH

Kaiser Aluminum is known around the world for its superior quality. Our secret is what we put into it-innovative thinking, industry-leading reliability, and a world-class commitment to customer service. In short, the same qualities we look for in our people.We are looking for aManufacturing Data Visualization Engineer to join our Advanced Engineering team inNewark Ohio or Kalamazoo Michigan!

"Engineers and scientists who develop software to solve real world manufacturing problems."

Kaiser Aluminum is seeking a Manufacturing Data Visualization Engineer to improve operational performance by turning manufacturing and production data into clear, practical visualizations for operators, supervisors, and engineers. As a member of the Intelligent Factory Team, this role develops and maintains near real-time dashboards, performance boards, and decision-support tools that support safe, consistent, and data-driven execution across the value stream.

The successful candidate will combine strong software and visualization skills with a practical understanding of industrial operations to deliver user-centered tools that improve situational awareness, adherence to standard work, escalation response, and continuous improvement outcomes.

Visualizations are built reusing Kaiser's Intelligent Factory Solution (IFS) architecture. The software stack includes Microsoft SQL, MongoDB and Inductive Logic Historian for data storage; deviceWISE as the configurable middleware transport layer, Inductive Automation Ignition (Python and Java) as UI along with programmable logic controllers. Candidates will understand and support the architecture, software, and continued product evolution at Kaiser Aluminum's North American facilities.

What you will work on:

• Design, develop, and maintain standard dashboards that clearly communicate equipment status, process conditions, production progress, quality indicators, and constraints in a near real-time format
• Translate plant operating needs into intuitive visual elements (e.g., status states, trends, thresholds, alerts, control limits, and "at-a-glance" health indicators)
• Partners with operations leaders and subject matter experts to define standard visualization patterns (e.g., common layouts, naming, color conventions, alarm prioritization, and KPI definitions) to drive consistent interpretation across manufacturing lines and shifts
• Implement visual management tools for daily management routines (shift handoff, tier meetings, performance boards, escalation cues, action tracking)
• Build and support standardized reporting and visualization for KPIs such as OEE components, throughput, downtime categorization, yield/scrap, rework, cycle time, schedule attainment, and other plant-defined metrics
  • Operators (simple, actionable, immediate)
  • Supervisors/engineers (trends, comparisons, Pareto views, drill-down)
• Collaborate on visualization design such that existing best practices are reused
• Develop reusable visualization components and templates so new areas/lines can be enabled quickly with minimal custom development
• Develop and maintain data access utilities and curated interfaces (e.g., standardized queries, semantic layers, pre-defined extracts, governed KPI definitions) that allow users to retrieve the right information without needing deep technical skills
• Collaborate with data engineering / OT / IT resources to ensure visualization tools are built on trusted, governed data sources while minimizing duplication or manual workarounds
• Provide documentation, training, and user guidance to support adoption and sustained use of visualization tools
• Ensure dashboards and visualization tools are reliable, performant, and maintainable (version control, change management, release notes)
• Maintain alignment with cybersecurity, access control, and data governance requirements
• Strong working knowledge of data structures and querying (e.g., SQL, time-series concepts), with the ability to work effectively with historians and operational datasets
• Ability to translate ambiguous user needs into clear visualization requirements, then deliver usable tools in iterative releases