The Senior Process Engineer is responsible for providing technical leadership, process development, metallurgical support, and continuous improvement for cold strip mill operations processing nickel, cobalt, and similar high-performance alloy products. This role supports manufacturing, quality, sales, customers, and engineering teams by improving material quality, processing efficiency, manufacturability, and consistency of final properties.
Responsibilities:- Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on improved material quality, processing efficiency, manufacturability, repeatability, and consistency of mechanical, physical, and metallurgical properties.
- Provide technical and metallurgical support for cold rolling, thermal processing, cleaning, slitting, finishing, inspection, and related strip processing operations.
- Analyze production, property, disposition, rejection, and nonconformance data to identify undesirable trends, determine root causes, and implement effective corrective and preventive actions.
- Support disposition of nonconforming material and lead investigations into process failures, customer complaints, and internal quality concerns.
- Review customer and industry specifications to determine processing capability, identify exceptions or deviations, and communicate requirements clearly to internal stakeholders and customers.
- Work closely with sales, quality, manufacturing, and customers to clarify technical requirements, confirm specification options, and support new business opportunities.
- Develop, optimize, and maintain standard processes, process routings, operating practices, and technical procedures to ensure material meets customer and industry requirements.
- Provide shop floor technical support to resolve processing issues, improve yield, reduce variation, and maintain production flow.
- Use statistical methods, process data, and structured problem-solving tools to monitor process performance and guide process improvements.
- Support capital projects by providing technical input to improve manufacturing capability, reliability, safety, and product quality.
- Lead and manage customer trials, process trials, and new product development activities; communicate results internally and externally as required.
- Serve as a technical resource and mentor for Process Engineers and manufacturing personnel, helping develop processing knowledge, troubleshooting skills, and understanding of process engineering responsibilities.
- Provide technical support for raw material suppliers and outside processing suppliers, including issue resolution, capability review, and process improvement.
- Maintain working knowledge of pyrometry requirements and support monitoring of production furnace performance and thermal processing compliance.
- Perform or support metallographic analysis and interpretation as needed to evaluate material condition, process effectiveness, and failure mechanisms.
- Create and present technical information, investigation results, process recommendations, and project updates to all levels of the organization.
- Perform additional duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Seven or more years of process engineering, metallurgical engineering, manufacturing engineering, or related experience in a metals manufacturing environment.
- Experience with cold strip mill processing of nickel, cobalt, stainless steel, specialty alloys, superalloys, or similar alloyed products.
- Strong understanding of cold working, thermal processing, annealing, mechanical property development, surface quality, dimensional control, and strip product manufacturability.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze process and quality data, identify trends, troubleshoot complex manufacturing issues, and implement sustainable corrective actions.
- Experience reviewing customer specifications, industry standards, and technical requirements for manufacturability and compliance.
- Working knowledge of root cause analysis, corrective action systems, nonconforming material disposition, and continuous improvement methods.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to work effectively with production, quality, sales, customers, suppliers, and leadership.
- Proven ability to mentor engineers, support cross-functional teams, and lead technical improvement projects.
- Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed, up to approximately 15%.
Preferred Qualifications:- Experience with nickel-cobalt specialty alloys, precision strip, aerospace materials, medical materials, or other high-reliability alloy applications.
- Experience with statistical process control, design of experiments, Minitab, JMP, or similar data analysis tools.
- Knowledge of furnace controls, pyrometry standards, heat treatment validation, and thermal processing audits.
- Experience supporting capital equipment projects, manufacturing trials, customer qualifications, or new product introductions.
- Familiarity with quality management systems, customer audits, and industry specifications related to specialty metals processing.
Core Competencies:- Technical leadership in specialty metals processing
- Strong metallurgical and process troubleshooting capability
- Data-driven decision making and statistical analysis
- Customer-focused technical communication
- Continuous improvement mindset
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Project leadership and execution
- Mentorship and development of engineering talent
