Principal Process Engineer

About the role

Principal Process Engineer – Houston, TX (Onsite). Reports to the VP, Projects & Asset Management. Contract-to-hire (3 months to permanent). Must have demonstrated experience in high‑temperature (>750 °C) corrosive processes and hydrometallurgy. Candidates must be US Citizens or Green Card holders.

Responsibilities

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience in high‑temperature (>750 °C) corrosive processes.
• Demonstrated experience in hydrometallurgy.
• US Citizenship or Green Card holder.

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

Pay rate: $90‑110 per hour.