Process Controls Engineer
Meet Our Recruiter
About the Role
Process Controls Engineer
Industry: Industrial & Specialty Gases
Salary: $95,000 - $125,000+ (Dependent on experience)
Location: Houston, Texas
Position Type: Permanent / Full-Time
The Opportunity
Industrial Recruitment Group has partnered with an established industrial gases organization seeking an experienced Process Controls Engineer to support its production and processing operations in the Houston area.
The organization operates highly engineered industrial gas production facilities supporting customers across manufacturing, chemical processing, energy, refining, and other critical industrial markets.
As part of continued investment in plant reliability and controls infrastructure, they are looking to strengthen their engineering team with an experienced Process Controls Engineer.
This position will provide technical support across plant automation, process controls, and instrumentation, with responsibility for maintaining and improving the reliability and performance of critical production equipment.
Working closely with operations, maintenance, and engineering teams, the Process Controls Engineer will troubleshoot complex control system issues, optimize existing control strategies, support plant modifications, and participate in commissioning and start-up activities.
This is a hands-on plant engineering role suited to someone with experience in industrial gases, chemical processing, petrochemical, refining, LNG, or another continuous-process environment.
Engineer Benefits & Perks
Competitive Compensation: Base salary of $95,000 - $125,000+, depending on experience.
Comprehensive Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and additional employee benefits.
Technical Environment: Work with sophisticated process controls, instrumentation, compression equipment, and industrial gas production systems.
Plant Engineering Exposure: Support both day-to-day plant operations and longer-term controls and reliability improvement projects.
Career Development: Opportunities to continue developing technical expertise across process controls, instrumentation, industrial gas production, and plant reliability.
Project Involvement: Participate in equipment upgrades, controls modifications, commissioning, plant improvements, and capital projects.
Long-Term Opportunity: Join an established organization operating within an essential and highly specialized industrial market.
Key Responsibilities
Process Controls: Support and maintain control systems used throughout industrial gas production and processing operations.
DCS & PLC Systems: Troubleshoot, modify, and optimize DCS, PLC, HMI, and associated plant control systems.
Instrumentation: Support field instrumentation including pressure, temperature, flow, level, analytical instrumentation, transmitters, sensors, and control valves.
Plant Troubleshooting: Provide technical support for controls, instrumentation, and electrical issues affecting plant production and equipment availability.
Rotating Equipment: Support controls associated with compressors, pumps, electric motors, VFDs, and related auxiliary equipment.
Control Optimization: Review and improve control loops, alarms, interlocks, operating sequences, and process-control strategies.
Reliability Improvement: Investigate recurring equipment and controls failures, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions to improve plant reliability.
Plant Modifications: Support controls and instrumentation requirements associated with equipment upgrades, plant modifications, and improvement projects.
Commissioning & Start-Up: Participate in loop checks, functional testing, commissioning, and start-up activities for new or modified equipment.
Preventative Maintenance: Assist with the development and improvement of preventative maintenance strategies for controls and instrumentation systems.
Technical Documentation: Maintain control system documentation, program backups, I/O information, drawings, and records associated with system modifications.
Operations Support: Work closely with plant operators, maintenance technicians, and engineering personnel to resolve technical issues and improve operating performance.
Safety: Ensure controls and instrumentation work is completed in accordance with site safety procedures and applicable engineering standards.
Candidate Requirements
Education: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation, or a related engineering discipline.
Experience: 3-7+ years of process controls, automation, or instrumentation engineering experience within an industrial environment.
Process Industry Background: Experience within industrial gases, chemical processing, petrochemical, refining, LNG, power generation, or another continuous-process environment.
DCS / PLC: Hands-on experience troubleshooting and modifying DCS and/or PLC-based control systems.
Process Instrumentation: Good understanding of pressure, flow, temperature, level, analytical instrumentation, transmitters, and control valves.
Industrial Equipment: Experience supporting controls associated with compressors, pumps, motors, VFDs, or similar industrial equipment.
Engineering Drawings: Ability to interpret P&IDs, electrical schematics, loop drawings, and controls documentation.
Troubleshooting: Strong fault-finding and root-cause analysis skills with the ability to resolve controls and instrumentation problems in an operating plant environment.
Communication: Ability to work effectively with operations, maintenance, engineering, contractors, and other technical teams.
Safety: Strong safety awareness and experience working within a regulated industrial or process environment.
Schedule Flexibility: Ability to provide occasional after-hours support during plant outages, start-ups, or critical operational issues.
Travel: Willingness to travel periodically when required for projects, training, or support at other facilities.
Preferred Experience
Previous industrial gas production experience. Air Separation Unit (ASU) experience. Oxygen, nitrogen, or argon production processes. Experience with large industrial compressor systems. Honeywell, Emerson, Siemens, Allen-Bradley, ABB, or similar controls platforms. Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) and process interlocks. Control-loop tuning and process optimization. Plant commissioning and start-up experience. Controls system upgrades or modernization projects.
How to Apply
If you are an experienced Process Controls Engineer looking for a long-term opportunity within the industrial gases sector, we encourage you to reach out. All conversations are handled confidentially.
- Contact: Harry Pluck
- Email: Harry@industrialrecruitmentgroup.com
- Website: www.industrialrecruitmentgroup.com
- Phone: +1 (216) 777-1555