Application Specialist - APC

Valmet; Warrington; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Benefits package

Overtime and on-call allowances

Job summary

Valmet is seeking an experienced Application Specialist - APC in the UK to support customers with advanced process control, tuning, and performance optimization across waste-to-energy and wastewater plants. The role combines on-site and remote expert services, with a strong focus on stability, reliability, and actionable recommendations.

You will work with customer teams during startups, commissioning, shutdowns and performance follow-up; travel up to 50% is expected, and you will document

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in process, automation, chemical or related engineering field.
• Experience with advanced process control and automation in industrial plants.
• Ability to translate technical findings into practical customer recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Deliver on-demand and agreed on-site and remote expert support for Advanced Process Control.
• Advise on process tuning, diagnostics, and operational optimization.
• Analyze process issues and identify root causes related to variability and control performance.
• Provide recommendations to improve availability, productivity, stability and quality.
• Support startups, commissioning, shutdowns and performance follow-up for clients.
• Prepare service reports and identify follow-up opportunities with sales and engineering teams.

Skills

Process engineering

Automation engineering

Control engineering

APC

Education

Bachelor's degree in Process Engineering

Tools

DCS knowledge

Valmet automation

APC tools

Job description

Are you an experienced Process Control or Automation Engineer who enjoys solving complex operational challenges and helping customers improve plant performance through advanced process control and optimization? The Application Specialist - APC is a customer-facing field expert responsible for supporting Valmet’s customers with a primary focus on advanced controls, tunning, process performance, automation, troubleshooting, start-up support and continuous optimization. The role combines on-site and remote expert services across waste to energy power plants and wastewater treatment plants with strong emphasis on process stability, operational reliability, control performance, and actionable customer recommendations.

Main Responsibilities

• Deliver on-demand and agreements, on-site and remote expert support for Advanced Process Control. This includes process optimization, control performance, troubleshooting, audits, studies, startup support, commissioning support, and shutdown-related activities.
• Support customers in process stabilisation, process tuning, process diagnostics, and operational optimization using Valmet’s automation, analysers, and process know-how.
• Analyse process issues and identify root causes related to process variability, control performance, valve behaviour, instrumentation signals, and operating practices.
• Provide expert recommendations for control strategy improvements, process tuning, automation adjustments, and operational best practices to improve availability, productivity, stability, and quality.
• Support customer teams during startup, commissioning, shutdowns, process upsets, and performance follow-up, and act as a technical authority in customer-facing discussions.
• Prepare professional service reports that clearly document observations, process issues, findings, recommendations, customer actions,
• Support technical-commercial follow-up by identifying service leads, automation upgrade opportunities, process optimization cases, maintenance actions, and remote support opportunities from site work.
• Support scope definition, quotation inputs, service planning, and cross-functional coordination together with sales, service coordination, application engineering, and global experts.
• Train and guide customer personnel on process understanding, control philosophy, system usage, troubleshooting logic, and performance improvement actions.
• Work according to Valmet’s HSEQ and field-service delivery processes and ensure disciplined use of core systems, documentation, and service workflows.

What You Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Process Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Automation Engineering, Control Engineering, or equivalent
• This position may also be relevant for professionals with experience as a Process Control Engineer, Automation Engineer, Process Automation Engineer, APC Engineer, Control Systems Engineer or Process Optimization Engineer.
• Strong experience in automation including process operations or process support, especially waste to energy
• Strong experience in controls / automation / process tuning / DCS-supported troubleshooting
• Experience in startup, commissioning, shutdown execution, or process performance support
• Ability to translate technical findings into practical customer recommendations
• Willingness to travel frequently (50%) and support customers on site, including shutdowns and extended working hours where needed

You May Also Have

• Experience with Valmet or equivalent distributed control systems, analysers, APC, or related optimization tools
• Experience in remote support and performance follow-up
• Experience in technical-commercial follow-up, quotations, or service agreements
• Experience supervising contractors or coordinating site teams

To Be Successful in This Role We Are Looking For:

• High customer credibility
• Strong technical ownership
• Structured reporting discipline
• Calm and analytical troubleshooting approach
• Ability to work independently in high-pressure site conditions
• Strong cross-functional collaboration across sales, service, product, and customer teams

We Offer

• We offer you the opportunity to join a team which supports Valmet’s customers throughout the UK and Ireland in a variety of pulp, paper and energy producing industries. Automation services are key to the future of Valmet and we offer a competitive salary and benefits package and overtime / on-call allowances.