At Air Products, we reimagine what’s possible. By tapping into the motivation of our people and our collective experience, we create the ideas and innovations that drive us forward. When we come together – where every voice is heard and everyone knows they belong and matter – we create solutions that launch people into space, support lifesaving care in hospitals, and enable the construction of groundbreaking, world scale production facilities.
Reimagine What’s Possible
The Commissioning & Startup Engineer provides technical support for new plants, retrofit projects, and turnarounds across all Global HYCO projects—from early development through startup. This role ensures safe, reliable, and efficient construction, commissioning, and startup activities by coordinating efforts between engineering and operations teams at project sites.
Working with the Global HYCO Commissioning & Startup Director, the engineer supports facilities that span multiple technologies, including Hydrogen (SMR/POx), HYCO, Gasification, CO₂ Sequestration, Utilities, and Ammonia.
This hybrid position supports project development from the office prior to mobilizing to the field for pre‑commissioning, commissioning, and startup leadership responsibilities. The role requires frequent collaboration with global, regional, and local engineering teams; operations; project and design engineering; safety; vendors; and technical support groups. The engineer provides commissioning guidance from bid development through detailed design, helping to shape commissioning strategies and resource planning.
The position supports implementation of systems, standards, quality processes, and maintenance practices required for Global Product Delivery. As part of the distributed team, the Commissioning & Startup Engineer provides field‑engineering support, solving guidance, and technical leadership to ensure plant designs meet operational and partner expectations while identifying and resolving operational excellence gaps.
The role also plays a key part in developing operators during commissioning and startup. Responsibilities include training operations teams on DCS and field operations, safety work permits, LOTO procedures, preventive maintenance, and supporting corrective maintenance activities for both new and retrofit facilities.
Success in this position requires strong teamwork, communication, organization, planning, work‑process optimization, leadership, change‑management capability, and hands‑on technical skills.
The engineer will help coordinate regional and global technical resources to support new and existing operations, as well as new installations or modifications led by the Project Delivery Organization. This role also contributes to capturing and sharing lessons learned with global leadership to drive consistency in commissioning and startup practices across all Air Products locations worldwide.
At Air Products we foster a culture of inclusion where every voice is heard, and everyone feels they belong and matter. Additionally, we offer competitive pay and great benefits for our employees. Check out some of our benefits below!
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Affordable Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance (day 1 of employment)
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401k with 100% vested company core and match
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Paid Vacation, holidays + sick time
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Paid Parental leave (Up to 8 weeks for both parents)
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Backup Child and Adult Care benefit
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Adoption assistance
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Flexible spending accounts (medical, dependent daycare)
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Life Insurance (AD&D- Paid for by Air Products), Supplemental AD&D
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Legal Plan & Identity theft coverage
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EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
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Many more supplemental benefits available
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Support commissioning and startup activities across multiple technologies, primarily Hydrogen processes (SMR and Gasification), Hydrogen Liquefaction, Utilities, and Ammonia.
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Chip in to commissioning and startup planning, including developing work instructions, conducting P&ID and model reviews, creating commissioning schedules, performing walk downs, preparing equipment checklists, and planning cleaning, flushing, and equipment run in activities.
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Lead preparation and development of commissioning procedures to ensure a safe, reliable, and efficient startup of plant units.
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Serve as a safety leader during construction, commissioning, startup, and stabilization phases, setting the example for safe work practices.
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Lead site teams in planning, managing, and preparing systems and equipment for initial startup.
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Develop strategies and work processes for field construction and commissioning of rotating equipment.
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Support the transfer of projects from Engineering to Operations, including completion of project documentation, P&ID updates, lessons learned, and project close out reports.
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Apply working knowledge of PLC and DCS controls, logic, PID tuning, and sophisticated control systems.
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Establish strategies and provide guidance to ensure contractors and field personnel properly install and start up equipment.
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Provide operational evaluations, solving support, guidance, and quality assurance oversight across commissioning, startup, maintenance, repair, and testing activities.
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Support construction and commissioning activities to ensure documentation is completed and submitted in the completion's database; ensure equipment installation meets quality standards for alignment, cleanliness, integrity, and performance.
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Provide commissioning support for new installations, plant modifications, ongoing operations, and continuous improvement initiatives in the region, ensuring alignment with legal requirements and Air Products safety and operational standards.
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Offer operational guidance to ensure safety, reliability, and maintainability of equipment, utilities, controls, and processes.
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Participate in plant solving, turnaround activities, and performance optimization for existing facilities.
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Mentor operations and engineering teams to improve plant operation efficiency, safety, and reliability, using input from Plant Management and Process Engineering, and using the PIC center when needed.
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Support safe execution of MOCs, OPHRs, and other process safety initiatives; collaborate with process safety specialists as vital.
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Lead or support investigations and Root Cause Analyses (RCAs), ensuring sustainable corrective actions are implemented.
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Use and maintain proficiency in key software tools, including:
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MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint
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Bluebeam
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MS Project
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Navisworks or SmartPlant Review (SP3D) — preferred but not required
- Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering preferred; Mechanical Engineering considered with relevant operations experience.
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Equivalent industry experience may be accepted in lieu of formal education.
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Minimum 15 years of experience in engineering or operations roles, with at least 5 years in commissioning support strongly preferred.
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Demonstrated experience operating, commissioning, starting up, troubleshooting, and resolving issues in industrial facilities—preferably within Industrial Gas plants.
- Strong understanding of the design and operation of:
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Hydrogen (SMR/POx)
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HYCO and CO production systems
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Gasification
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Utilities
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Ammonia
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Broad expertise in facility operations, including:
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Machinery and rotating equipment
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Instrumentation & controls
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Electrical and mechanical systems
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Advanced control systems
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Ability to read and interpret P&IDs, isometrics, design curves, and perform field equipment function testing and validation.
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Knowledge of process safety, health requirements, and environmental regulations.
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Formal training in RCA, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement tools is a plus.
- Position requires global travel exceeding 60% annually, including extended on‑site assignments.
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Office‑based during bid development and detailed engineering phases; field‑based during pre‑commissioning, commissioning, and startup.
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Candidate must be based out of the Allentown, PA or Houston, TX office.
- Proven leadership ability to drive internal and external teams toward high performance.
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Capable of representing the Americas Commissioning & Startup Engineering organization with stakeholders, customers, project teams, construction, and operations.
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Strong commitment to collaboration, employee inclusion, and diversity.
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Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively across management, operations, maintenance, and customer groups.
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Proven organizational, interpersonal, and digital literacy.
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Desire and ability to learn across a wide range of plant disciplines: electrical, mechanical, piping, controls, instrumentation, and systems.
Join Air Products, where we proudly value the skills, dedication, and leadership that veterans bring to the table. As a veteran-friendly organization, we actively encourage and welcome veterans to apply for various roles within our company. We recognize the unique strengths and experiences that veterans contribute, and we foster a workplace that honors your service while providing a platform for professional growth.
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Founded in 1940, Air Products is a world-leading industrial gases company and has a proud history of innovation, operational excellence, with an unwavering commitment to safety and environmental stewardship. Working together, we are taking our passion and diverse backgrounds forward to reimagine what’s possible and generate a cleaner future for our customers, our communities, and the world.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer (U.S.). You will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, citizenship, gender, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or veteran status.
Air Products is committed to working with and providing a reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability and you believe you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening or to submit an online application, please e-mail us at [email protected]. General application status inquiries are not answered by this mailbox rather you’ll receive an e-mail directly from our Career Center and/or the Talent Acquisition Specialist.
