Company:

INEOS NITRILES USA LLC

Interested in joining a winning team? A team whose employees share in the ownership of the business and are empowered to make a difference?

Organizational Context and Job Purpose

INEOS is a rapidly growing manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty and intermediate chemicals and polymers. INEOS includes 67 manufacturing facilities in 16 countries throughout the world with approximately 17,000 employees. INEOS’s annual turnover is around $40bn making it one of the largest chemical companies in the world.

The INEOS Nitriles Plant located near Victoria, Texas, is a world scale, state of the art chemical complex. The primary product from this site is Acrylonitrile, a chemical intermediate used in the production of acrylic fibers, plastics, and nitrile rubber. Acetonitrile and Hydrogen Cyanide are co-products of the Acrylonitrile production process. Acetonitrile is purified through a proprietary process to produce a very high quality material with little waste generated.

Increasing demand for Acrylonitrile presents many challenges and the need for innovative ideas to increase capacity and reduce down time, while maintaining or improving the operating cost. The processes are an excellent learning ground for an array of engineering skills: fluidized bed reaction, extraction, distillation, stripping, pumps, heat exchangers, advanced process control, integrated operations, and much more.

There is need for an Operations Engineer at our chemical plant in Port Lavaca, Texas located approximately 25 miles south of Victoria. The person in this position will work closely with operators and maintenance to assure the plant is operating at the desired designed conditions, production envelopes and troubleshoot any problems that prevent us from reaching those conditions. The Operations Engineer will also continually develop and implement ideas to increase capacity, lower cost and improve safety and environmental performance. The area of responsibility includes unit operations throughout the Acrylonitrile Plant and the Port of Point Comfort. The successful candidate will also interface with the commercial group.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

All job activities should be executed in a safe and efficient manner consistent with the INEOS 20 Principles and the Culture of Prevention.
Embrace INEOS Life Saving Rules in all aspects of the job.
Responsible for the integrity management of assigned equipment.
Define and periodically review Operating Envelopes of assigned equipment.
Primary responsibility for daily plant operation.
Establish communications with appropriate operations personnel.
Report investigation results with appropriate conclusions and recommendations.

Main liaison between Site and water treatment services provider (currently Nalco)
Track yields, production, and feed stock information into month end closing.

Issue daily shift Instructions.
Develop process flow diagrams.
Drive alarm management to completion and provide support for continuing success.
Solicit input from all appropriate resources (engineering, operations, and maintenance) and balance conflicting requirements.
Direct, coordinate, or participate in Process Safety Review or Management of Change process.
Initiate communications with affected areas and produce progress reports.
Provide engineering assistance and expertise to Operations and Maintenance as needed.
Supervise and mentor Coop Students.
Continuously initiate ways to improve plant operations, safety and environmental performance through day-to-day activities and recommendations for optimized unit conditions.
Drive continuous variable cost improvement.
Work with Ineos Nitriles Technologies group to optimize plant operating conditions to maximize profitability.
Provide engineering assistance for environmental permitting requirements.
Review and make recommendations to keep the plants operating envelope current.
Manage capital and expense projects utilizing the Capital Value Process.
Coordinate field construction and establish a schedule of activities.
Coordinate activities with the other operations engineers to assure full value across the entire unit is realized.
Spend time in the control room and listen to the ideas of technicians and shift managers to gather ideas for safety and cost improvement.
Obtain process and operating data to perform calculations for feasibility studies, process studies, and evaluations. Investigate assignments and establish plans with objectives and a schedule.
Around the clock support during plant outages including confined space work.

Skills & Knowledge Required

Strong written and oral communication skills
Strong computational and data analysis skills
Strong IT skills with process modeling and process simulation software
Strong problem solving skills
Good negotiator and influencer
Good team leader and motivator
Solid understanding of financial calculations and their impact on the bottom line
Willingly takes the lead when challenges occur
Builds networks to enhance effectiveness and share knowledge
Change agent, looks for ways to do things better, faster, more efficiently.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Minimum of 2 – 5+ years plant experience is preferred
Nitriles manufacturing experience is beneficial

REQUIRED EDUCATION

Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Chemical Engineering

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Covid-19 vaccine
Ability to climb fixed ladder cages at heights of 30 ft. at a time. Total of 200 ft. (employee may need ladders as means of egress during emergency).
Ability to climb 6 flights of stairs.
Ability to enter enclosed spaces through 18” man-way for cleaning and inspection purposes.
Ability to lift 50 lb.
Ability to wear required PPE: Hardhat, safety glasses, chemical goggles, face shield, rigid safety shoes/boots, full/half face cartridge masks.
Ability to work length of time outdoors/ inclement weather.
Job specific: Climbing, balance, bend/stoop, kneeling, reaching, lifting, carrying.
Need to evaluate understanding of proper lifting techniques and body mechanics.

Our culture is one of honesty and integrity with an emphasis on safety, health and environmental performance.On our team, people are acknowledged for embracing new practices that help create real value for customers.