Senior Chemical Process Engineer

Unclassified - Hopkinsville, KY

Full-time - Mid Level

Hopkinsville, KY

About the position

Ascend Elements (AE) is revolutionizing the production of lithium-ion battery materials by establishing a clean and sustainable supply chain using recycled feedstock. Its patented Hydro-to-Cathode technology directly synthesizes new cathode materials from spent lithium-ion cells more efficiently than traditional methods, resulting in reduced cost, improved performance, and lowered GHG emissions. The results are lower cost, better performance batteries with fewer discarded in landfill, a cleaner manufacturing process, and a truly sustainable closed-loop circular battery economy. Ascend Elements (AE) is taking the lithium-ion battery industry to a higher level. We're hiring Senior Chemical Process Engineers to join our team in Hopkinsville, KY! In this role you will provide technical expertise and day-to-day engineering support to the manufacturing facility. This will include interaction with the operations, warehouse, and maintenance employees, design, and modification of existing and new facilities, gathering and analyzing data, troubleshoot problems, identify root cause(s), present conceptual solutions, detailed engineering, equipment sizing, feasibility studies, recommend and implement process improvements. This individual will be part of the commissioning of new equipment and managing production trials. They will be focused on benchmarking and improving performance against plant metrics and implementing robust systems to sustain improvements. They must lead the effort to achieve superior Health, Safety and Environmental performance, especially in the areas of process safety (PSM, RMP, PHMP etc), procedure writing and training of plant employees.

Responsibilities

• Performs feasibility studies for technology transfers and new product introduction, including assessment of current equipment capabilities, HSE issues, and capital requirements.
• Analyzes quality for multiple product lines utilizing statistical control charts and works toward establishing in-control processes.
• Identifies areas of variation (raw materials, process, or quality analysis), implements measures to reduce variation, and tracks effectiveness of reduction measures.
• Analyzes process data and quality critical parameters for control of manufacturing processes.
• Troubleshoots problem areas and identifies measures for improvement.
• Uses heat and material balances, fluid flow/hydraulic principles to troubleshoot process problems and design new equipment.
• Analyzes batch cycle times and identifies and implements process optimization improvements to establish consistent cycle times and reduce overall cycle times.
• Reports cycle time, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and other key metrics for key equipment and key product lines.
• Investigates off-grade or abnormal batches, identifies root cause, reports findings, and implements corrective actions.
• Manages small capital projects associated with unit, responsible for determining justification, scope definition, safety reviews, coordination of implementation with production schedule, startup, chemical commissioning and performance report on agreed deliverables.
• Prepares flow diagrams, P&ID's, and equipment and control specifications.
• Utilizes management of change for applicable situations.
• Trains production operators, warehouse staff, and laboratory technicians on unit operations, chemistries, and batch recipe or DCS changes/enhancements in regard to product line.
• Responsible for day-to-day troubleshooting associated with product line.
• Utilizes and works within the ISO 9001 standard framework/system.
• Influences people's opinions, attitudes, and judgments and demonstrates the ability to compromise opinion to develop the best solution for the issue.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering preferred, others considered.
• 7-10 years of process engineering experience with experience in process engineering at the plant level.
• Experience in CAPEX projects, plant design, build out, and optimization of chemical or advanced materials technologies desired.
• Knowledge of and hands on experience using APQP tools including FMEA, SPC, and design and process validation as well as Lean and 6 Sigma tools.
• Experienced in liquid/solid separations such as precipitation, filtering, drying.
• Supplier identification and assessment, equipment build tracking, factory and site acceptance testing, installation, commissioning, and ramping to metrics.
• Experience leading, mentoring or supervising junior engineers is preferred.
• Experience, judgement, and technical knowledge to drive data-based decisions.
• Knowledge and experience in continuous liquid process and batch reactions in a series of reaction vessels.
• Skilled user of MS office tools including Word, EXCEL, Outlook, Project.
• Written and verbal fluency in English.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in chemical manufacturing environments.
• Familiarity with ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 standards.
• Experience with environmental health and safety protocols.