Data Visulalization Engineer - Advanced Engineering

Kaiser Aluminum•Heath, OH

14d•Hybrid

About The Position

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.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, or related discipline; or equivalent experience
Five years’ visualization development experience, preferably in manufacturing or industrial settings
Minimum three to five (3-5) years of experience working with process engineers/business analysts to translate functional requirements into technical requirements and making architectural decisions
Competent with T-SQL and database theory and structures
Basic knowledge in networking and client-server transactions
Broad contemporary understanding of information technologies and trends
Demonstrated experience with MBSE and documentation, sysML or like
Strong communications skills with ability to clearly articulate, collaborate and substantiate recommendations with team and illustrate and propose design concepts prior to software construction
Ability to produce high quality, well documented, thoroughly tested, and efficient applications and reports
Ability to work incrementally and comfortable with collaboration and peer review
Use Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) to incrementally evolve a system in phases
Proven ability to manage concurrent development tasks
Excellent problem solving, investigative, experimental, and statistical analysis skills

Nice To Haves

Manufacturing experience is a plus.
Exposure to Digital Twins a plus.

Responsibilities

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
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