Senior Area Instrumentation Engineer

American Air Liquide - Houston, TX

Full-time - Mid Level

Houston, TX

Chemical Manufacturing

About the position

Messer North America, Inc. is seeking a Senior Area Instrumentation Engineer to join our team in Houston, Texas. This role is pivotal in supporting our large portfolio of industrial gas plants, which includes Air Separation Units (ASU), CO2, H2, and He plants, as well as on-site facilities. The Senior Area Instrumentation Engineer will report to the Area Maintenance and Reliability Hub Team and will provide essential technical engineering support and subject matter expert (SME) recommendations for all instrumentation, analytical, and controls equipment utilized within the facilities in the area. In this position, you will be responsible for providing technical, troubleshooting, and maintenance support to all instrumentation equipment across the plants. This includes working with PLC/DCS hardware, control wiring, transmitters, positioners, control valves, pneumatic systems, metering systems, and analytical equipment. You will also assist with day-to-day plant instrumentation and low voltage electrical support, as well as executing small improvement projects. Your expertise will be crucial in redlining, maintaining, and developing necessary electrical and instrumentation documentation, including wiring schematics and layout drawings. Additionally, you will support plant instrument technicians in troubleshooting and repairing failed instrumentation, guiding them through management of change (MOC) processes, and conducting root cause analysis. You will be tasked with identifying, defining, estimating, developing, and executing instrumentation turnaround maintenance activities, which include instrument replacements, upgrades, new installations, calibrations, and functional checks. This role also involves managing instrument contractors to ensure compliance with standards and codes, as well as supporting the certification process for area Instrumentation Technicians in accordance with ISA CCST levels. Messer values its employees and offers a stable, inclusive work environment with diverse opportunities for growth in a growing industry. We prioritize safety and operational excellence, and we are committed to providing dependable supply and innovative gas technology solutions that help our customers thrive.

Responsibilities

• Provides technical, troubleshooting and maintenance support to all ASU, CO2, H2, and He plants within the area for all instrumentation equipment including PLC/DCS hardware, control wiring, I/O, transmitters, positioners, control valves, pneumatic systems, metering systems, and analytical equipment.
• Provides day to day plant instrumentation and associated low voltage electrical support where qualified; to operations and assists with execution of small improvement projects.
• Experienced with redlining, maintaining, and developing necessary electrical and instrumentation documentation including wiring schematics, elementary drawings, layout drawings, I/O drawings, cable and conduit schedules, panel schedules, & loop drawings.
• Supports plant instrument technicians with troubleshooting and repair of failed instrumentation, including MOC guidance, plant/equipment outage decision making, repair plan, and root cause analysis.
• Identify, define, estimate, develop, and execute instrumentation turnaround maintenance activities including instrument replacement, upgrades, new installations, calibrations, and functional checks. Provide supervision and oversight for Instrument technicians and external contractors.
• Manage and provide technical support to instrument contractors to ensure accurate scope completion, proper documentation updates, standards compliance, and applicable code compliance (ISA, IEEE, NEC, NFPA, etc.).
• Complete area instrumentation technical reviews of MOCs and provide supplemental engineering data, drawings, analysis as necessary.
• Supports the certification process of all area Instrumentation Technicians in regard to ISA CCST (Certified Control Systems Technician) Level I, Level II & Level III.
• Provides guidance and supports required training for the ISA certification process of all area technicians, ensuring proper knowledge and practical training around utilization of instrumentation equipment within each Messer plant in the area.
• Travels as required.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in relevant Engineering discipline required.
• 10 years of experience with at least 5 years in an operational and engineering environment working with electrical and instrumentation equipment.
• Demonstrates exceptional operational safety leadership.
• Self-starter and self-directed with ability to manage multiple activities at once and achieve results with minimal supervision.
• Excellent technical and clear communication skills with solid interpersonal skills.
• Proven experience in the installation, maintenance and troubleshooting of PLC/DCS systems, I/O devices; including transmitters, positioners, control valves, and analytical equipment.
• Proven experience with plant process instrumentation including a wide variety of pressure, temperature, and flow devices; including control valves, actuators, limit switches, measurement devices, analog and digital indicators.
• Proven effectiveness at troubleshooting control loop issues, identify problem components and interfaces, and execute effective and efficient solutions to restore critical and needed plant control functions.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package
• Ongoing training and career progression opportunities
• Steady schedules
• Appreciable pay