Apical Manufacturing Engineer

Kaneka Americas Holding, Inc.; Pasadena (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaneka North America is seeking a Process Reliability Engineer to monitor and optimize process performance, lead investigations, and drive safe, reliable operations. You will coordinate maintenance and support process safety analyses in a chemical manufacturing setting.

The role requires a Chemical Engineering degree, 5–12 years of experience, and strong cross-functional collaboration skills to reduce variability and improve equipment performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering (required).
• Experience in Process Safety Management (PSM) frameworks (required).
• 5–12 years in chemical manufacturing or PSM-regulated environments with progressive responsibility.

Responsibilities

• Monitor process, equipment, and production performance; identify improvement opportunities.
• Lead troubleshooting and root cause investigations; implement corrective actions.
• Coordinate maintenance activities, outages, and spare parts management.
• Provide safety and process knowledge for upsets, startups, and rate changes.
• Collaborate with operations, maintenance, engineering, quality, and HSSE to improve performance.
• Support PHA/HAZOP, PSSR, and risk assessments and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Process safety

Root cause analysis

Lean Six Sigma

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering

Tools

MS Word

MS PowerPoint

MS Excel

MS Outlook

Job description

Why Work at Kaneka North America?

At Kaneka North America, you'll find more than just a job-you'll find a place to build a career. We offer a peoplefirst, safetyfocused environment where employees are encouraged to learn, grow, and contribute. Whether you're early in your career or bringing years of experience, you'll have the chance to do meaningful work, collaborate across teams, and support products and industries that make a difference every day. Your contributions are valued, and your development is supported.

Our Culture & Values

Our culture is built on respect, teamwork, and doing things the right way. We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, trusted, and empowered to speak up and share ideas. Safety, integrity & trust, quality, and innovation guide everything we do, and we invest in our employees through continuous learning, collaboration, and opportunities for growth. At Kaneka North America, you're encouraged to take ownership of your work, grow your skills, and build a longterm career in an environment that values both accountability and people.

Process & Equipment Reliability

• Monitor process, equipment, and production performance using key operational metrics to identify improvement opportunities and support business objectives.
• Lead troubleshooting and root cause investigations for process, quality, and equipment issues; implement corrective actions to improve safety, reliability, and productivity.
• Coordinate maintenance activities within the process unit, including work prioritization, outage planning, work order management, spare parts coordination, and maintenance backlog reduction.
• Provide technical support during operational upsets, startups, shutdowns, and rate changes to maintain safe and efficient operations.
• Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, and HSSE to improve equipment performance, process capability, product quality, and plant effectiveness.
• Utilize CMMS, process historians, and data analytics tools to support decision-making, identify performance trends, and drive continuous improvement.
• Optimize manufacturing processes, material handling systems, coating, laminating, slitting, and converting operations to improve safety, quality, throughput, and cost performance.
• Partner with controls and automation personnel to troubleshoot and improve process control systems, instrumentation, drives, and equipment functionality.

Continuous Improvement & Project Execution

• Execute and lead process improvement initiatives, applying structured methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, DOE, SPC) to optimize yield, throughput, quality, and process capability while reducing variability and waste.
• Develop, scope, and implement process modifications through the Management of Change (MOC) system, ensuring technical rigor, risk identification, documentation integrity, and alignment with design intent and site standards.
• Support and actively participate in Process Hazard Analysis (PHA/HAZOP) and Pre-Startup Safety Reviews (PSSR), providing detailed process knowledge, identifying hazards and safeguards, and ensuring all action items are resolved prior to startup.
• Lead and coordinate process trials, including defining objectives, success criteria, experimental design, risk mitigation, and post-trial data analysis to validate improvements and drive standardization.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution of capital and small-project initiatives across engineering, operations, maintenance, and contractors to meet scope, schedule, and budget objectives, capturing lessons learned and embedding improvements into standard work.

Safety & Compliance

• Ensure full compliance with Process Safety Management (PSM), LOTO, and applicable regulatory requirements (OSHA, EPA, and site-specific standards), embedding these requirements into daily operations, maintenance, and project execution.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate process safety risks, utilizing structured risk assessment methodologies (PHA, LOPA, What-If analysis) to evaluate hazards, define safeguards, and reduce risk to acceptable levels.
• Maintain the integrity of safety-critical systems and layers of protection, ensuring proper design, functionality, testing, and documentation of interlocks, alarms, relief systems, and engineered safeguards.
• Lead and contribute to incident investigations, applying root cause analysis methodologies (e.g., TapRooT, Apollo, 5-Why) to identify systemic causes and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Promote a strong process safety culture, reinforcing ownership, accountability, and proactive hazard recognition at all levels of the operation.

Must demonstrate the following emotional intelligence skills:

• Emotional Empathy
• Positive Attitude
• Excellent Communication Skills
• Flexibility / Adaptability
• Interpersonal Skills

Qualifications

Education

Bachelors of Chemical Engineering (required)

Experience

Experience working within Process Safety Management (PSM) frameworks (required) Experience in maintenance coordination, turnaround planning, or reliability engineering (preferred) 5 - 12 years: Chemical manufacturing, process industries, or PSM-regulated environments with progressive responsibility in operations, process engineering, or reliability (required)

Skills

• MS Word (required)
• MS PowerPoint (required)
• MS Excel (required)
• MS Outlook (required)

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.

For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.