Company Overview
Company Overview:
GIS is a premier energy, industrial, and infrastructure services company providing multidisciplinary engineering, construction, and program delivery solutions across the Energy, Industrial, Infrastructure, and Power sectors. With more than 75 years of experience supporting offshore and onshore energy projects, GIS delivers integrated services spanning traditional and renewable energy, industrial engineering, state and local infrastructure, and utility-scale solar development. Our work is driven by a strong commitment to safety, innovation, and executional excellence.
Position Summary: A Turnaround Process Engineer job description blends standard refining operations with specialized engineering execution required for scheduled plant shutdowns, maintenance, and debottlenecking cycles.
Key Responsibilities: During a refinery turnaround, climbing through and inspecting tower interiors (like distillation columns or fractionators) is one of the most physically demanding and critical technical duties of a Process Engineer.
Visualizing the Tower Environment
- Confined Space Entry: Workers must crawl through small manways—circular entry ports often only 18 to 24 inches in diameter—to access the dark, enclosed interior of a tower.
- The "Tunneling" Process: Columns contain dozens of horizontal distillation trays spaced 18 to 36 inches apart. To move vertically, engineers must climb through narrow internal tray manways aligned like a continuous vertical tunnel.
- Harsh Conditions: The interior can be humid, dimly lit by temporary safety lamps, and requires wearing full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including a respirator or fresh-air mask, a harness, and a hard hat.
Engineering Inspection Tasks Inside the Tower
- Mechanical Integrity Check: Inspecting individual trays, bubble caps, valves, and downcomers to ensure they are securely bolted and have not suffered mechanical damage or displacement from high-pressure process upsets.
- Corrosion & Fouling Assessment: Documenting areas of localized metal thinning, pitting, chemical scaling, or heavy coke buildup that could restrict fluid flow or reduce separation efficiency.
- Hardware Quality Assurance: Verifying that maintenance crews installed new tray hardware or internal piping exactly according to engineering blueprints and strict manufacturer clearances.
- Clearing Debris: Ensuring that no tools, loose bolts, or construction debris are left behind on the trays, which could block downcomers or damage downstream pumps during unit start-up.
Pre-Turnaround Scoping & Planning
- Define Project Scope: Perform engineering calculations (mass balances, energy balances, conversion calculations) to justify process modifications and equipment replacement.
- Review Process Design: Collaborate with subject matter experts to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of proposed capital improvement projects slated for the turnaround window.
- Develop Blind Lists & Procedures: Create detailed unit decontamination, shutdown, and isolation procedures to guarantee chemical-free, safe conditions for mechanical crews.
Turnaround Execution Support
- Provide On-Site Technical Coverage: Support a 24-hour/day, 7-day/week operation during the active execution phase, providing immediate troubleshooting for unusual field developments.
- Equipment Inspections: Conduct internal inspections of confined spaces (columns, reactors, vessels, exchangers) to assess cleanliness, structural health, and catalytic performance.
- Monitor Critical Paths: Interface directly with the Turnaround Steering Committee and Asset Transformation teams to ensure technical tasks track on schedule.
Post-Turnaround & Commissioning
- Lead Unit Start-ups: Provide direct process engineering oversight during the safe heat-up and introduction of feedstocks to newly serviced refinery units.
- Post-TA Performance Reviews: Gather and interpret initial unit test data to evaluate the success of the turnaround and optimize product yields.
Qualifications:
- Education: Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.
- Experience: 3–5+ years of process engineering experience in a refining or petrochemical environment, with direct exposure to heavy maintenance turnarounds.
- Technical Skills: Proficiency in refinery simulation software (such as Aspen HYSYS) and the Microsoft Office Suite.
- Core Values: Strict alignment with environmental responsibility, teamwork, and operational excellence.
Physical Requirements:
- Work Environment: This job primarily operates During a refinery turnaround, climbing through and inspecting tower interiors (like distillation columns or fractionators) and is one of the most physically demanding and critical technical duties of a Process Engineer.
- Confined Space Entry: Workers must crawl through small manways—circular entry ports often only 18 to 24 inches in diameter—to access the dark, enclosed interior of a tower.
- The "Tunneling" Process: Columns contain dozens of horizontal distillation trays spaced 18 to 36 inches apart. To move vertically, engineers must climb through narrow internal tray manways aligned like a continuous vertical tunnel.
- Harsh Conditions: The interior can be humid, dimly lit by temporary safety lamps, and requires wearing full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including a respirator or fresh-air mask, a harness, and a hard hat.
- Physical Demands: This role requires the ability to sit for extended periods while working on a computer. Ability to occasionally lift and carry up to 20 pounds.
EEOC Statement:
GIS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
Pay: From $60.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
