Production Engineer

Ashland Specialty Ingredients, GP

Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then we'd like to meet you and bet you'd like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Production Engineer to join our Specialty Ingredients business at our Hopewell, Virginia facility.

This is a highly visible and impactful role within the Manufacturing organization, providing technical leadership and process ownership for critical production operations.

This position will report to the Production Manager.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:



* Serve as the process owner for assigned production units, establishing operating strategies, critical process parameters, operating limits, alarms, and performance standards.


* Monitor and improve key process performance metrics including throughput, yield, quality, cycle time, capacity utilization, and operating reliability.


* Partner closely with Operations to troubleshoot process issues, improve process stability, and optimize plant performance.


* Lead root cause investigations and develop sustainable corrective and preventive actions to eliminate recurring issues.


* Provide process engineering leadership for Process Hazard Analyses (PHA), Management of Change (MOC), incident investigations, and Pre-Startup Safety Reviews (PSSR).


* Evaluate and manage technical risks associated with reaction hazards, pressure systems, thermal stability, chemical exposure, and loss-of-containment events.


* Develop, maintain, and improve process documentation including mass and energy balances, operating envelopes, process maps, technical reports, and capacity models.


* Build and utilize data analysis tools and dashboards to connect production, quality, downtime, process performance, and cost metrics.


* Mentor operators, supervisors, and other technical personnel on process knowledge, continuous improvement, and structured problem-solving methodologies.


* Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Reliability, Quality, and EHS teams to drive continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Travel Responsibilities

Occasional travel (up to 10%) may be required for training, benchmarking activities, technology transfer, or support of business initiatives.

What This Role Is Not:



* Not a management position - this is an individual contributor role with significant technical influence but no direct reports.


* Not an entry-level position - this role requires prior manufacturing and process engineering experience with the ability to independently solve complex technical challenges.


* Not solely an office-based role - you will sp...