Chemistry Specialist

Southern Company•Birmingham, AL

14h•Onsite

About The Position

Chemistry Specialist SCS TSS – Environmental Solutions This position will be located at Energy Center Birmingham, AL (preferred), with other locations under consideration. Summary of Position Duties: This role is expected to support our coal and gas generation fleet as a SME, as well as provide expert advice to leadership, plant chemists, engineers, and operations teams for minimizing corrosion and deposition problems of the steam/water cycle components, water treatment plant processes and to maximize unit availability in the most cost-effective manner. This is a Field Services position; therefore, majority of available work time will be at plant sites located in APC, GPC, MPC and SPC footprint. This position is on call 24/7 with occasional weekend and holiday duty required. Expected travel will be approximately 50%-day travel with occasional overnight stays.

Requirements

Hold a BS/BA Degree in Chemistry, Engineering or related science discipline with > 15 semester hours of chemistry.
Minimum 7 years devoted to the understanding of fossil and combined cycle plant water chemistry control processes; 10 years preferred.
Possess expert knowledge in the execution of fossil and/or combined cycle power plant chemistry programs.
Possess working knowledge of various power generating unit designs, i.e. subcritical drums (including HRSG’s), supercritical once-through, supercritical combined circulation; etc.
Must be a motivated self-starter requiring little day to day direction.
Possess excellent leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills.
Proficiency in using various Microsoft applications including Windows, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and virtual platforms (Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.)

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree a plus.

Responsibilities

Interface directly with Principal Chemist to ensure rapid and technically sound resolution of complex chemistry issues affecting unit reliability.
Provide advanced troubleshooting during chemistry upsets or excursions, including crisis-response support.
Develop and maintain fleet-wide chemistry standards, procedures, KPI’s and best practices.
Conduct fleet chemistry program audits such as Peer Reviews and FRB’s, delivering corrective action recommendations.
Evaluate new technologies, chemical treatment methods, analyzers, and materials of construction for use across the fleet.
Develop purchase specifications for chemicals, services, equipment and monitoring systems.
Perform site inspections on fossil and HRSG systems (drums, condensers, deaerators, feedwater systems, cooling systems).
Lead or support chemical cleaning planning and execution.
Develop concise, technically accurate reports, recommendations and presentations for plant and system leadership.
Represent the company with external stakeholders including vendors, consultants, and industry organizations.
Deliver training to site chemists, engineers, operators and new personnel on chemistry fundamentals, monitoring, and compliance programs.