Full Job Description
Optimization Planning Engineer
Posting Start Date: 10/28/26
Job Location (Short): Tacoma, WA, USA, 98421
Optimization Planning Engineer
The Opportunity
• Optimization Planning Engineer at a growth-oriented downstream energy company
• Competitive salary with a strong comprehensive benefits package
• Opportunity to work in a positive, collaborative, and inclusive work environment
• Career growth and development opportunities within a unique and growing energy company
• Reporting to the Planning and Economics Manager, you will be primarily tasked with creating refinery-wide operating plans that are safe, feasible, and economically optimized.
Key activities include:
• Serving as the primary interface between commercial group, logistics and refinery operations. Works closely with refinery operations, rail and marine schedulers, and product marketers to manage daily issues relating to tank movements, rail and marine movements, feedstock imports and product sales.
• Develops and optimizes the 90 day run plan and forecast spreadsheet, updates daily by working with crude rail schedulers, and product marketers to incorporate crude and feedstock receipts, sales plans/targets and refinery operating constraints.
• Shares weekly inventory projections with headquarters and risk group in Houston.
• Communicates crude run plan/actual/forecast and anticipated constraints to refinery leadership and commercial team during weekly Refinery Production Planning meetings.
• Performs daily refinery volumetric balance and generates production/consumption and refinery yield reports.
• Responsible for generating all refinery gasoline blends and managing gasoline and gasoline blend stock inventories. Works with operations and laboratory to manage gasoline quality and economically optimize blends.
• Runs Linear Program to evaluate near-term refinery operations and help build an economically optimized plan. Communicates plan to refinery and corporate. Develops 3 month plan for Tacoma refinery and headquarters leadership.
• Coordinates all refinery LP model changes and updates with the assistance of Haverly and/or outside consultant help as needed. Runs LP Model as needed to evaluate shifts in refinery economics.
• Occasionally update crude assays in HCAMS and/or HCOMET (shared responsibility).
• Responsible to run and maintain the LP results summary file (Excel using HCAMs / PIMS). This tool is used to generate the crude schedule and yields that form the basis for production, inventory and financial forecast for the Tacoma refinery.
• Performs economic analysis on production opportunities and helps monitor unit optimization.
• Periodically performs LP backcast analysis for refinery and reports results to leadership.
• Engages technical skills to improve spreadsheet tools that are used for economic analysis and blending. Creates new spreadsheet tools as needed.
• Job requires some "on call" support for gasoline blending issues, or other operational and logistical issues that may include nights/weekends/holidays. On call responsibilities are shared with Planning and Economics Manager.
• Other job duties are required and directed.
Note: This description is intended to give you a general overview of the position. Additional responsibilities and opportunities may be identified based on current business needs.
Qualifications
• To meet the basic qualifications for this role, you will have legal authorization to work permanently in the United States for any employer without requiring a visa transfer or visa sponsorship.
• Additional qualifications include:
• Bachelor's degree in chemical or mechanical engineering preferred
• Minimum three years of oil refining/petrochemical experience in Process Engineering or Operations required
• Minimum five years of oil refining experience, especially in Planning and Economics, Operations, Lab, and Process Engineering preferred
• Experience running an LP (Haverly GRTMPS or PIMS) preferred
• Experience building and maintaining an LP (Haverly GRTMPS or PIMS) preferred
• Experience using Haverly HCAMS to process crude assays preferred
• Must also have computer skills including proficiency with Windows and Microsoft Office suite programs, especially Excel.
• This position requires organization and communication skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks while meeting deadlines and production requirements.
Hiring Range:
The hiring range for this position is $114,498 to $171,746, plus 15% discretionary bonus. The candidate selected will be placed according to his/her skills and qualifications.
Our Headquarters
Par Pacific Holdings, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, owns, manages and maintains interests in energy and infrastructure businesses. We are a growing energy company focused on renewable and conventional fuels in the Western United States. Par Pacific also owns 46% of Laramie Energy, LLC, a natural gas production company with operations and assets concentrated in Western Colorado. Our common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the trading symbol "PARR".
Our Refineries and Logistics Operations
We own and operate refineries in Hawaii, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming, with total operating throughput capacity of over 219 Mbpd. Par Pacific owns and operates one of the largest energy networks in Hawaii with 94,000 bpd of operating refining capacity, a logistics system supplying the major islands of the state and 90 retail locations. In the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, Par Pacific owns and operates 125,000 bpd of combined refining capacity and related multimodal logistics systems.
Our Retail Operations
We own and operate over 90 retail locations in Hawaii under the Hele and 76 brands and over 30 retail locations in Washington and Idaho under the nomnom brand.