Senior Process Engineer

GEA Group•Columbia, SC

17d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Process Engineer supports the sales and execution of GEA process systems, particularly evaporation and crystallization technologies for the chemical industry. The role is part of the North American Technical Offer Management team and focuses on offerings for the chemical, food, and pharmaceutical markets. The engineer works closely with customers and regional sales managers to understand technical needs and serves as a primary technical contact. They prepare technical aspects of proposals and sales documents and perform final technical reviews of orders. The position generates engineering documents and technical proposal content for GEA equipment, services, and systems, working with Procurement, Contract Management, Sales, Project Management, and Engineering. The expected time allocation is 30–40% oversight and 60–70% individual sales and project execution assignments. The role is based in Columbia, Maryland, with a current hybrid policy of two days in the office and three days at home. Travel is normally 10–20% of the time.

Requirements

BS, MS, or PhD in Chemical Engineering.
At least 15 years of experience.
Proficiency in fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics.
Experience with process design, equipment sizing, and component selection.
Ability to read and interpret technical specifications and drawings.
Willingness and ability to travel, normally 10–20% of the time.
Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.
Effective interpersonal skills and ability to work both in a team and independently.
Self-motivated and able to work from home periodically; current policy is two office days and three home days per week.
Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
Must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

At least 2–3 years of hands-on chemical industry process engineering experience.
At least 5 years of process equipment industry engineering or sales experience.
Strong knowledge of ASME Section VIII, Division 1, and B31.3.
Knowledge of shop and/or field fabrication practices, including fit-up techniques and welding types and quality.
Experience selecting materials of construction, including corrosion testing techniques.
Ability to interpret CFD modeling results.

Responsibilities

Participate in project phases from initial customer meetings and pre-award sales support through cost estimation, proposal generation, engineering, commissioning, and optimization.
Own specific technical areas of projects, ensuring compliance with design standards and optimizing designs to meet customer specifications, 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 life cycle.
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 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 concerns and provide technical support to customers.
Complete plant audits.
Ensure compliance with government regulations, safety and environmental regulations, 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 key 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.
Lead or support on-site commissioning activities and train customer personnel on GEA process systems during commissioning.
Provide ongoing troubleshooting support, train customer personnel, and report process improvement initiatives.