Capital Project Development Advisor

Calumet, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Calumet, Inc. in the United States seeks an experienced project development professional to support early-stage capital opportunities from screening through scoping, translating objectives into defined scopes and preparing business cases.

You will collaborate with operations, engineering, finance, and leadership to shape options, drive decisions, and ensure readiness for the next development phase, leveraging best practices to improve capital efficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical/business field.
• 10+ years of capital project development or related experience in petroleum or chemical processing.
• Working knowledge of FEL methodology and stage-gate development.
• Experience leading cross-functional discussions across operations, engineering, commercial, and finance.

Responsibilities

• Define potential scope of new capital opportunities from screening through scoping.
• Translate objectives into executable project scopes for evaluation.
• Assess portfolio fit, feasibility, cost, schedule, and resources for business cases.
• Collaborate with SMEs to screen and shape development options.
• Lead early development discussions with site teams and stakeholders to align scope.
• Drive decisions, actions, risks, and follow-up to maintain momentum.
• Apply best practices to improve capital efficiency across the portfolio.
• Ensure projects are well defined and ready for hand-off.

Skills

Scope definition

Cross-functional facilitation

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical judgment

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

FEL methodology

Stage-gate processes

Economic evaluation

Job description

PURPOSE

Provides project development support to operating sites, facilitating capital opportunities from initial screening through scoping. Translates business objectives, operational needs, and technical opportunities into well-defined project scopes that are strategically aligned, technically feasible, and ready to advance to the next phase of development. Collaborates with internal and external resources to apply best practices, tools, and systems that improve capital efficiency.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support early-stage project development by helping define the potential scope of new capital opportunities from initial screening through scoping.
• Translate business objectives, operational needs, and technical opportunities into potential project scopes that can be evaluated and advanced.
• Support business case development by assessing portfolio fit, strategic alignment, feasibility, cost, schedule, resource needs, and commercial attractiveness.
• Collaborate with subject matter experts to screen, evaluate, and shape development options for capital opportunities.
• Lead and facilitate early development discussions with site teams, operations, engineering, commercial, finance, and leadership stakeholders to build a shared view of scope.
• Drive key decisions, action items, assumptions, risks, and follow-up items to maintain alignment and development momentum.
• Apply best practices, tools, and systems in partnership with internal and external resources to improve capital efficiency across the development portfolio.
• Ensure potential projects are well defined, strategically aligned, technically feasible, and ready for the next phase of development before hand-off.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, or a related technical or business discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in capital project development, project engineering, or project evaluation in petroleum manufacturing or chemical process industries.
• Working knowledge of front-end loading (FEL) methodology, stage-gate project development, and business case / economic evaluation practices.
• Experience facilitating cross-functional discussions across operations, engineering, commercial, and finance stakeholders.

SKILLS

• Ability to translate business and operational needs into clearly defined, executable project scopes.
• Analytical judgment in evaluating feasibility, cost, schedule, resource requirements, and commercial attractiveness.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills across technical, commercial, and leadership audiences.
• Disciplined follow-through on decisions, assumptions, risks, and action items to sustain development momentum.
• Working proficiency with project development, estimating, and scheduling tools.
• Clear written and verbal communication of options, trade-offs, and recommendations.