Plant Engineer

Insero Talent Solutions is recruiting a Plant Engineer for a fast growing manufacturing company in Batavia, NY.

Job Summary

The Plant Engineer is responsible for improving the safety, reliability, efficiency, and production performance of an ethanol manufacturing facility. This role provides technical support for plant operations, maintenance, process optimization, capital projects, and regulatory compliance.

The engineer works closely with operations, maintenance, laboratory, safety & environmental, and management teams to troubleshoot equipment and process issues, reduce operating costs, improve product yield, and maintain safe and reliable plant performance.

Duties and Responsibilities

· Provide day-to-day engineering support for fermentation, distillation, dehydration, evaporation, centrifugation, drying, utilities, water treatment, and product storage systems.

· Monitor plant data and identify opportunities to improve ethanol yield, energy efficiency, throughput, product quality, and equipment reliability.

· Troubleshoot process upsets, equipment failures, quality deviations, and recurring production constraints.

· Perform root-cause analyses and develop corrective and preventive actions.

· Prepare process calculations, mass and energy balances, equipment specifications, technical reports, and operating procedures.

· Develop, scope, justify, and execute capital and maintenance projects, including cost estimates, schedules, contractor coordination, commissioning, and startup.

· Support preventive and predictive maintenance programs for pumps, heat exchangers, boilers, cooling towers, dryers, centrifuges, conveyors, compressors, and related equipment.

· Participate in process hazard analyses, management-of-change reviews, pre-startup safety reviews, and incident investigations.

· Ensure engineering activities comply with applicable environmental, safety, food/feed-quality, and regulatory requirements.

· Maintain and update process flow diagrams, piping and instrumentation diagrams, equipment files, and other technical documentation.

· Assist with operator and maintenance training on process equipment, operating limits, troubleshooting, and new systems.

· Evaluate vendors, contractors, equipment proposals, and new technologies.

· Track project and performance metrics, communicate results, and recommend actions to plant leadership.

· Participate in plant shutdowns, startups, equipment inspections, and emergency troubleshooting as required.

Experience and Qualifications

Education

· Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Agricultural, Biochemical, or related engineering discipline.

Preferred Experience

· Two or more years of engineering experience in ethanol, biofuels, food processing, grain processing, chemical manufacturing, or another continuous-process facility.

· Experience with fermentation, distillation, molecular-sieve dehydration, evaporation, drying, boilers, or wastewater treatment.

· Familiarity with distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, process historians, and computerized maintenance-management systems.

· Experience with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, reliability engineering, or continuous-improvement programs.

· Familiarity with OSHA process-safety practices, environmental permitting, combustible-dust hazards, and management-of-change procedures.

· Engineer-in-Training or Professional Engineer credential.

Key Competencies

· Working knowledge of industrial process equipment, controls, utilities, and manufacturing operations.

· Ability to analyze operating data and solve complex technical problems.

· Understanding of engineering calculations, process safety, project management, and equipment specification.

· Strong written and verbal communication skills.

· Ability to work effectively with operators, tradespeople, contractors, vendors, and management.

· Proficiency with Microsoft Office and industrial data-analysis tools.

· Ability to work in a production environment and respond to urgent plant issues outside normal working hours when necessary.

· Safety leadership: Identifies hazards and consistently promotes safe work practices.

· Technical problem-solving: Uses plant data and sound engineering principles to resolve issues.

· Continuous improvement: Finds practical ways to improve yield, reliability, quality, and cost.

· Project execution: Manages scope, budget, schedule, risk, and commissioning effectively.

· Collaboration: Builds productive relationships across operational and technical teams.

· Accountability: Takes ownership of assignments and follows improvements through completion