Process Engineer (Kwinana)

Covalent Lithium; City Of Kwinana; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive remuneration

Flexible work arrangements

Wellbeing program

Paid parental leave

Salary sacrifice options

Job summary

Covalent Lithium is seeking a Process Engineer to apply chemical engineering expertise across lithium refinery processes at the Kwinana Refinery. You will optimize performance, diagnose issues and support safe, reliable production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

The role requires a Chemical Engineering degree and at least 3 years of experience, including 2 years in lithium refinery process engineering. You will lead improvement projects, collaborate with Operations on commissioning, and

Qualifications

• Completion of a Chemical Engineering degree (or equivalent).
• Minimum 3 years professional experience; 2+ years as a Process Engineer in a lithium refinery.
• Experience designing and implementing process control systems.

Responsibilities

• Diagnose plant performance and optimize lithium refinery processes.
• Design and implement plant control systems and standard operating practices.
• Perform mass balances and manage yield/recovery losses.
• Conduct process, data, and root cause analyses and drive corrective actions.
• Lead improvement projects and develop scopes of work for studies.
• Collaborate with Operations on commissioning and start-up of solutions.
• Prepare business cases and secure approvals and budgets.

Skills

Process Engineering

Advanced Excel

Root cause analysis

Data analysis

Process control design

Education

Chemical Engineering degree

Job description

About Us

At Covalent Lithium, we are genuinely passionate about creating a clean energy future and supporting our teams who enable this vision.

About Us

At Covalent Lithium, we are genuinely passionate about creating a clean energy future and supporting our teams who enable this vision. Following the commissioning of our mine and concentrator at Mt Holland in 2024, we recently celebrated our first production of battery -grade lithium hydroxide at our Kwinana Refinery. We are now a fully integrated mine-to-refinery operation, supplying high quality lithium hydroxide to global markets and enabling approximately 1 million electric vehicles to go on the road, every year for the next 50 years. We are proud to foster a culture where people with different skills, experiences and backgrounds are welcomed and set-up for success.

Employee Benefits

We support, empower and reward our people with a range of benefits:

• Competitive remuneration, and annual incentives for eligible employees
• Access to discounts, recognition and rewards
• Access to flexible work arrangements
• Dedicated wellbeing program support and discounted health insurance
• Equal access to paid parental leave, financial support, return to work and parenting room
• Salary sacrifice options for superannuation and novated leasing

The Role

As a key member of the Process Technical team, the Process Engineer will apply their technical expertise across lithium refinery processes to optimise performance, diagnose issues and support the safe, reliable and efficient production of quality lithium hydroxide. You will identify improvement opportunities, lead root cause analysis and develop and implement practical solutions from concept through to successful integration into operations.

This is a Permanent Full-time position (Mon-Fri) based at our Kwinana Refinery

Key Responsibilities

• Apply deep technical knowledge of lithium refinery processes to diagnose issues and evaluate plant performance against production and quality targets.
• Design and implement process control systems and standard process control operating practices for the lithium refinery.
• Design and execute plant mass balances and manage yield/recovery losses, including developing bottleneck analyses and debottlenecking plans.
• Conduct process analysis, data analysis, and root cause analysis, tracking resulting actions through to closure.
• Identify design and process optimisation opportunities and lead improvement projects from conceptualisation through to implementation.
• Develop Scopes of Work (SOW) for engineering studies and test work and manage small-scale engineering projects in collaboration with engineering houses and vendors.
• Work in collaboration with the Operations team on the commissioning and start-up of implemented solutions and follow up on implemented projects to ensure value capture.
• Prepare and present business cases for improvement opportunities, securing senior management approval and budgets.

Role Requirements

• Completion of a Chemical Engineering degree (or equivalent qualification), and a minimum of 3 years of overall professional experience, including a minimum of 2 years’ experience as a Process Engineer within a lithium refinery; or an equivalent combination of relevant qualifications, skills and experience.
• Demonstrable experience as a Process Engineer – Chemical Control — designing a lithium refinery’s process control system and implementing standard process control operating practices.
• Demonstrable experience designing and executing mass balances for a lithium plant, including yield/recovery loss management.
• Demonstrable experience designing solutions and optimisations within a lithium refinery, including conceptualisation of process improvement initiatives.
• Demonstrable experience in process analysis, data analysis, and root cause analysis, with a track record of following actions through to closure.
• Advanced Excel skills.
• Strong working knowledge of lithium refinery processes.
• Demonstrable experience in knowledge management — implementing a system to document the refinery’s ramp-up learnings, translating them into operating standards.
• Demonstrable experience in knowledge management to document engineering solutions, RCA, and data analysis outputs.

A competitive remuneration package commensurate with the role, candidate experience, skills and qualifications will be offered.

Our team members are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work. Candidates from all backgrounds and ages are encouraged to apply, including First Nations People, those who identify as LGBTIQ+, people with disabilities and those with neurodiverse, intersectional, or multiple diverse characteristics.

Covalent Lithium is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, with a focus on our employees. We recognise skills, expertise, commitment and living our values of Purpose, Care, Accountability and Collaboration. Our goal is to attract, develop, motivate, reward, and retain the best people in the industry.