Senior Process Engineer (Senior Process Engieer)

Official title: Senior Process Engieer

Location: Burgkirchen an der Alz, Germany - Plant (Gendorf) | Employment information: Full-time, permanent employee; Plant (Gendorf)

This senior engineering post is responsible for key process-design work for future plant capacity. The engineer will establish and review the process basis behind expansions, convert plant learning into reliable design inputs, and test whether design assumptions remain supported by validated operating information. The official description emphasises engineering fundamentals over assumptions that have not been tested against data.

A substantial part of the work concerns the process steps that influence yield, purity and stability in graphite and lithium extraction. The successful candidate will examine what data reveal about expected and actual performance, guide the technical use of that evidence, and help carry the resulting process design through equipment review, commissioning, validation and operational handover.

Responsibilities

• Lead key process-design activities for future plant capacity, including the development and review of process-flow documentation, piping and instrumentation documentation, mass and energy balances, process descriptions and equipment specifications.
• Translate pilot and industrial operating results into reliable engineering design criteria and scale-up assumptions, supported by process calculations and equipment sizing.
• Apply chemical-engineering fundamentals to optimise graphite and lithium extraction and post-processing, identifying the factors that affect yield, purity and process stability.
• Evaluate experimental and operational data, build and validate mass balances and process models, and identify differences between anticipated and actual process performance.
• Specify the data needed for future scale-up decisions and give technical direction to data analysts and other engineering functions so that models remain physically and chemically grounded.
• Participate in factory and site acceptance activities, commissioning work and process-performance validation for new equipment and plant expansions.
• Create acceptance and process-validation criteria from the original design intent, then assess commissioning and operating evidence against calculated performance targets.
• Turn engineering intent into standard operating procedures, operating envelopes and process documentation, while contributing to HAZOP, LOPA and other process-safety reviews.

Qualifications

• Degree in Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• Strong experience in process design and scale-up, including process-flow documentation, piping and instrumentation documentation, mass and energy balances, and equipment sizing.
• Ability to work with industrial datasets and translate operating evidence into engineering models and decisions.
• Experience supporting commissioning and process validation for industrial equipment or plants.
• Familiarity with process-safety methods such as HAZOP and LOPA.
• Ability to review vendor proposals critically and challenge technical assumptions with confidence.
• Preferred: process-engineering experience in chemical, hydrometallurgy, battery, mining, minerals, recycling or related process industries, with expertise in graphite and lithium extraction and post-processing.
• Preferred: experience in solid-liquid separation, precipitation, flotation, hydrometallurgy or mineral processing.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong chemical- and process-engineering fundamentals, combined with the ability to use both first-principles engineering and plant data.
• Confidence moving between detailed calculations, engineering documentation and the operational plant setting.
• Clear communication across Research and Development, Engineering, Operations, suppliers and external engineering partners.
• Fluent English; German is an advantage.
• Technical judgement for equipment proposals, process performance, operability and scalability.

Benefits and Employment Information

• Full-time, permanent employee position at Plant (Gendorf).
• The published vacancy does not disclose salary or additional benefits.