Principal Process Engineer

Principal Process Engineer
Location: Houston, TX (Onsite) | Reports To: VP, Projects & Asset Management | Contract-to-Hire

Please do not apply unless you have demonstrated experience in both high-temperature (>750°C) corrosive processes and hydrometallurgy.

Position Summary

The Principal Process Engineer is the company's senior process-engineering authority responsible for translating proprietary technology into an integrated, commercially executable industrial process. The role owns the process design basis, process flowsheets, mass and energy balances, process simulations, PFDs, P&IDs, equipment process requirements, and process integration for the company's facilities, with particular emphasis on pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes.

The Principal Process Engineer works closely with the VP, Materials & Technology to industrialize developing technologies and with the VP, Projects & Asset Management to deliver FEED, engineering, construction, commissioning, and startup. The role is expected to be technically hands-on and to provide authoritative process-engineering direction to internal engineers, EPC/EPCM contractors, equipment suppliers, and technical consultants.

Core Responsibilities

Process Development & Design

• Own the integrated commercial process design from technology handoff through commissioning, including process design basis, flowsheets, mass and energy balances, process simulations, PFDs, P&IDs, process descriptions, operating envelopes, and performance requirements.
• Integrate pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical unit operations into a coherent, scalable commercial process.
• Translate laboratory and pilot results into industrial designs, evaluating scale-up factors including kinetics, thermodynamics, residence time, heat and mass transfer, solids behavior, separation performance, impurity accumulation, and recycle.
• Define operating conditions, critical process parameters, process constraints, and equipment process requirements.
• Develop and evaluate process concepts for thermal processing, solids handling, leaching, precipitation, purification, solvent extraction/separation, crystallization, solid-liquid separation, drying, roasting, and other relevant operations.
• Evaluate process alternatives, bottlenecks, tradeoffs, recycle systems, impurity behavior, and overall process integration.

Process Engineering Authority

• Serve as the company's primary technical authority for commercial process design and maintain the authoritative process model and design basis.
• Review and challenge EPC/EPCM and consultant process designs and ensure consistency among process models, PFDs, P&IDs, equipment specifications, controls requirements, and other engineering deliverables.
• Establish the technical basis for equipment sizing and specification in coordination with equipment and engineering specialists.
• Evaluate proposed process changes, identify impacts, and ensure changes are propagated through affected calculations and engineering documentation.
• Identify scale-up risks, technical uncertainties, data gaps, and process limitations and establish appropriate resolution plans.

FEED, EPC & Project Execution

• Lead the process-engineering scope of FEED and provide technical direction to EPC/EPCM organizations and engineering consultants.
• Define process-engineering deliverables, review contractor engineering, and approve process-engineering work within delegated authority.
• Participate in equipment selection, vendor technical reviews, design reviews, HAZOP/HAZID, operability and constructability reviews, and commissioning planning.
• Provide process-engineering support through detailed engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, startup, and performance testing.
• Ensure the constructed facility implements the approved process design and resolve process deviations, startup issues, and performance shortfalls.

Process Safety & Operability

• Ensure process designs address safety, operability, maintainability, environmental performance, and reliability.
• Lead or support HAZOP, LOPA, relief-system evaluations, and other process-risk assessments.
• Define process safeguards, operating limits, critical alarms, interlocks, and control requirements in coordination with the Principal Controls & Automation Engineer.
• Ensure hazards associated with high-temperature operations, reactive chemistry, pressure, corrosive materials, gases, solids, and hydrometallurgical systems are appropriately addressed.

Technology & Operations Interface

• Work closely with the company's scientists to identify and resolve scale-up issues and determine when additional laboratory, pilot, or modeling work is required.
• Work with Manufacturing & Supply Chain to ensure the process is designed for reliable operation, maintenance, product quality, and production efficiency.
• Support commissioning, startup, troubleshooting, debottlenecking, and process optimization.
• Use plant operating data and lessons learned to improve process models, operating practices, and future designs.
• Provide engineering feedback to Materials & Technology based on commercial process requirements and operating experience.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Minerals Processing, or a closely related discipline.
• 15+ years of relevant process-engineering experience, preferably in complex minerals, metallurgical, chemical, or advanced-materials facilities.

Pay rate: $90-110/hr. This is a contract-to-hire position (3 months to permanent), onsite in Houston, TX.