Principal Instrumentation & Controls (I&C) Engineer

About the role

Reports to: VP Engineering

Role Summary

Alta is seeking a talented Instrumentation & Controls Engineer to join our growing Engineering and Operations team. This role will lead operational support, maintenance efforts and design efforts across all scales and projects, which include R&D activities, pilot plant operation, demonstration plant operation, and design of upcoming commercial plants. This role will help form the technical know-how and systems to Engineer Commercial Scale Plants and Licensing Packages. This role will be a key contributor to our innovation pipeline.

A successful candidate should have experience with equipment and process design in the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, Biotech, and/or Mining Process Industries; having worked for operating companies, EPCs and/or licensors. A successful candidate is one who can both jump in and troubleshoot problems on their own and also elevate to provide technical leadership and oversight over the discipline. There should be a strong desire to collaborate across disciplines including chemistry, biology, operations and engineering.

Key Responsibilities

Operational & Maintenance support of R&D Assets

• This role will own operational support, maintenance, reliability, continuous improvement and design of all EIC (Electrical, Instrumentation, Controls) and Operations Technology (OT) equipment and systems at R&D scale (pilot and demonstration scale plants)
• Provide hands on technical support and troubleshooting for instrumentation, analyzers, controls, PLC/SCADA, electrical systems and other Operations Technology (OT) equipment and systems
• Set up and manage all aspects of PLC/SCADA, instrumented safety systems, alarm management and data historian
• Create and manage maintenance strategies for all Instrumentation, Electrical, Controls and OT equipment including reactive and preventive maintenance strategies, sparing strategies, redundancy, availability and maintainability
• Commission instrumentation and control systems on the demonstration plant, including loop checks, calibration verification, improving instrumentation and troubleshooting EIC problems that are found during commissioning
• Liaise with and manage equipment vendors for EIC commissioning activities
• Drive reliability initiatives and continuous improvement through performance analysis and root cause investigations
• Configure and troubleshoot VFDs, control valves, actuators, and motor controls
• Support operations with loop tuning

Design & Engineering

• Liaison with EPC/EPCM to manage all EIC and OT related activities
• Lead vendor evaluation and engagement from EIC and OT perspectives
• Specify and size field instrumentation/analyzers (e.g. flow, level, pressure, temperature, density, pH, ORP, CEMS, BMS, conductivity etc.)
• Specify PLC/DCS/SIS requirements and the network architecture
• Develop design information such as control narratives, cause-and-effect matrices, instrument index, I/O lists, I&E schedules, loop diagrams, single-line diagrams and etc
• Develop company control systems strategies such as control system architecture selection, SIS requirements, level of automation, control room requirements, etc
• Develop company and Engineering standards for EIC and OT to support all commercial scale projects
• Lead FAT/SAT and loop checks during commercial plant construction and commissioning
• Coordinate electrical engineering activities on electrical equipment selection, sizing and development of specifications. Review grounding and hazardous area classification for field devices

Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Instrumentation, Electrical, Controls, or Chemical Engineering
• 7+ years I&C experience in industrial/chemical processing; chemicals, petrochemicals, oil & gas, hydrometallurgical, mining, and/or biotechnology
• Working knowledge of DCS/PLC platforms, field instrumentation selection and troubleshooting
• Working knowledge of ladder logic, structured text and function blocks
• Working knowledge of control loop tuning
• Working knowledge of various industrial protocols including OPC UA, Modbus RTU/TCP, Serial, Ethernet/IP
• Have demonstrated both hands-on experience and technical leadership

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of Rockwell Studio 5000, Logix family of controllers, and Ignition
• Working knowledge of DeviceNet, ControlNet, Profibus, Fieldbus etc.
• Chemical process control (Batch and ISA88)
• Industrial Cybersecurity (ISA99, IEC62443)
• Working knowledge of IEC-61511 (ISA-84)
• Experience supporting scale-up from lab/pilot to demonstration to commercial plant
• PE license a plus, not required
• Project Management capabilities

Working Environment

• Early-stage capital project in front-end engineering; role requires flexibility across design, testwork support, and eventual commissioning as the project progresses through FID toward construction and startup.
• Travel is required for partner meetings (EPCMs, vendors, others) and manufacturing site visits.

Compensation and Benefits

The starting pay range for this position is $145,000 - $175,000, commensurate with educational background and work experience.

Benefits include

• 401(K)
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans (or equivalent)
• Flexible Time Off
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Sick Leave
• Company Holidays

EOE

• If you require accommodations at any point in the hiring process, please let your recruiter know.
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