Process Engineer

GEA Group•Oakdale, CA

3d•$85,000 - $120,000•Onsite

About The Position

GEA Group is seeking a mid-senior level Process Engineer for its Liquid, Fermentation, and Filling engineering team in Oakdale, Minnesota. The role supports sales, engineering, commissioning, and optimization of liquid and fluid processing systems for beverage, food, and dairy industries. The engineer designs and improves equipment configurations, process flows, and systems to meet GEA standards and customer objectives, while complying with company and client quality, safety, and environmental requirements. The position participates throughout project lifecycles, from initial customer meetings and pre-award sales support through cost estimation, proposals, engineering, commissioning, and optimization. The engineer owns technical project areas, coordinates with customers and multidisciplinary teams, and provides technical support before and after a sale, including site evaluations, pilot trials, presentations, training, commissioning, audits, and troubleshooting. The role requires travel of approximately up to 50%, including international travel.

Requirements

At least 2 years of related industry experience; the posting states a range of 2–10+ years.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively both in a team and independently.
Excellent time-management skills, with the ability to meet deadlines and prioritize tasks.
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
Willingness to travel approximately up to 50%, including internationally.
Must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future visa or work sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Food Technology, or a similar related field is preferred.
Processing experience in the food, dairy, or beverage industry is preferred.
Liquid processing experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

Participate in project phases from initial customer meetings through pre-award sales support, cost estimation, proposal generation, engineering, commissioning, and optimization.
Manage assigned technical areas of projects, adhering to design standards and optimizing designs to meet customer specifications within schedule, budget, and contract constraints.
Collaborate with project teams to achieve milestones and goals.
Identify and justify scope changes affecting process design throughout the project lifecycle.
Provide technical solutions that meet customer expectations and requirements.
Maintain accurate records of meetings, discussions, correspondence, and technical documents.
Develop Block Flow Diagrams (BFDs), Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), and heat and mass balances.
Develop process equipment specifications and specify and/or design utility consumption.
Contribute to general arrangement, plot plan, and elevation view drawings.
Evaluate and approve design changes, specifications, and drawing releases.
Develop process and functional descriptions of operation.
Lead and facilitate software factory acceptance testing (FAT), confirming operation against process and functional descriptions (FDS).
Plan and implement test procedures and commissioning plans.
Troubleshoot equipment and system performance issues to resolve customer concerns.
Complete plant audits.
Ensure compliance with government regulations, safety and environmental requirements, industry standards, and sanitary requirements.
Support safety evaluations, including HAZOP meetings.
Collaborate with team members, technology centers, and GEA European Centers of Competence on technology improvements and project execution.
Coordinate with other disciplines to minimize deficiencies, errors, and omissions in technical documents and specifications.
Develop relationships with technical stakeholders regarding process design and operation.
Provide pre-sale and post-sale support, including site evaluations, pilot trials, presentations, and training.
Technically evaluate third-party supplier proposals and equipment selections.
Work with customers in support of sales managers and build and maintain customer relationships.
Support on-site commissioning and train customer personnel on GEA process systems.
Provide ongoing troubleshooting support, train customer personnel, and report process improvement initiatives.