Process Development and Scale - Up Engineer

Houston Area, TX, US

Company: ExxonMobil

About us

At ExxonMobil, our vision is to lead in energy innovations that advance modern living and a net-zero future. As one of the world’s largest publicly traded energy and chemical companies, we are powered by a unique and diverse workforce fueled by the pride in what we do and what we stand for.

The success of our Upstream, Product Solutions and Low Carbon Solutions businesses is the result of the talent, curiosity and drive of our people. They bring solutions every day to optimize our strategy in energy, chemicals, lubricants and lower-emissions technologies.

We invite you to bring your ideas to ExxonMobil to help create sustainable solutions that improve quality of life and meet society’s evolving needs. Learn more about our What and our Why and how we can work together.

What role you will play in our team

As a Process Development and Scale-Up Engineer, you will play a critical role in translating innovative process concepts into commercially viable technologies. You will lead efforts to identify, evaluate, and develop process configurations aligned with business strategy, and guide scale-up activities.

This role requires a strong foundation in unit operations and reactor design, with an emphasis on practical problem-solving and troubleshooting. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to integrate new technologies into existing operations, assess commercial feasibility, and develop robust scale-up strategies using tools such as advanced modeling, pilot plant experimentation, and scaling data to reduce technical risks needed to ensure successful commercialization.

This posting is open to both recent PhD graduates and experienced hires. While recent graduates are encouraged to apply, experienced hires will be expected to have had process scale-up and troubleshooting roles, particularly in pilot plant operations and reactor systems, and to provide examples when they have leveraged both technical depth and hands-on experience to drive a commercial process development forward.

Come be part of the team, with opportunities at our Spring, Texas or Baytown, Texas locations

What you will do

Primary job functions include one or more of the following:

• Identify and screen new process concepts to meet future business needs. Develop options to ensure advantage of technology based on understanding of ExxonMobil and industry wide strategic opportunities

• Evaluate new process configuration options via flowsheet synthesis to identify leading configuration options which warrant further development

• Assess how the envisioned technology will best integrate into existing operations and the implications integration has on the process configuration

• Identify and execute methodology to assess commercial feasibility of the concept before carrying into development

• Determine key parameters for process scale-up to commercial volumes from the pilot or demo scale. Integrate scale-up and overall development strategy for high complexity developments

• Establish and execute experimental and/or modeling plans (including building and leveraging appropriate tools) to address critical technical uncertainties in the technology commercialization

• Identify and define key process/plant integration issues. Develop plans to address through interfaces with partner projects and/or engineering organization

• Optimize process consistent with business/program objectives

• Influence and guide product specification setting

• Actively seek out and engage third parties where they provide competitive advantage as part of the development

About you

Qualifications

• PhD in Chemical Engineering or equivalent degree/work experience with specific expertise in at least one of the following: process conceptualization and flow sheeting, lab-scale and pilot unit design and operations, unit operations development & design, process scale-up

Preferred Knowledge and Skills

• Strong technical fundamentals in chemical engineering, particularly in unit operations, reactor design, and process troubleshooting

• Demonstrated ability to apply practical, hands-on experience in pilot plant operations and scale-up activities

• Experience in flowsheet synthesis and process configuration development. Strong skills in Aspen or equivalent flow sheeting software

• Ability to assess commercial feasibility and integrate new technologies into existing operations

• Experience in technoeconomic analysis of current and novel processes

• Proven problem-solving skills and critical thinking, especially in high-complexity development en