Combustion Engieer

Valmont Industries; Omaha, Northern (NE, KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401k match

Paid time off

Life insurance

Disability coverage

Work Life Support

Tuition Reimbursement

Wellness programs

Job summary

Valmont Industries seeks a Combustion Engineer to lead design, implementation, and optimization of combustion systems across galvanizing facilities. The role emphasizes safety, reliability, and product quality through strong engineering and field collaboration.

The candidate will manage capital projects, coordinate with operations and contractors, and develop procedures for tuning, testing, and upgrades while ensuring compliance with safety standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
• 3 years of work experience in a manufacturing/industrial engineering position.
• Experience with PLC-based combustion control systems and industrial automation.
• Capable of energy balances, mass balances, and related thermodynamics calculations.
• Enjoys working with equipment, contractors, and operations personnel to improve safety, reliability, efficiency, and product quality.
• Strong oral and written communication skills to clearly present information to management.
• Work effectively alone and as part of a team across divisions.
• Demonstrated accuracy in fast-paced environments.
• Passion and integrity with drive to excel.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, optimize, and troubleshoot combustion systems across facilities.
• Develop procedures for combustion tuning, optimization, and performance testing.
• Troubleshoot combustion, process heating, and thermal system issues in a manufacturing setting.
• Coordinate with operations, maintenance, safety and engineering teams on improvements.
• Manage combustion-related capital projects from concept through commissioning.

Skills

PLC-based combustion control systems

Energy balances

Strong communication

Team collaboration

Field experience with equipment

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

PE license or Engineer-in-Training (EIT)

Tools

AutoCAD

SolidWorks

MS Office

Job description

6123 Cunningham Rd Houston Texas 77041

A Brief Summary of This Position:

The Combustion Engineer executes various projects associated with combustion systems in the hot dip galvanizing industry. The position is responsible for complex engineering projects from design to implementation in accordance with the company’s standards, policies, and procedures. Additionally, this position supports reliability by providing technical guidance and engineering recommendations. This includes initiating or updating documentation such as standard work instructions, procedures, and other relevant documentation. The position requires the ability to plan and apply the practices of engineering and project management. The ideal candidate combines strong engineering fundamentals with practical field experience and enjoys working directly with equipment, contractors, and operations personnel to improve safety, reliability, efficiency, and product quality. This position reports to the NA Coatings Engineering Director.

Essential Functions:

• Responsible for the design, implementation, optimization, and troubleshooting of combustion systems used throughout our production facilities
• Initiate and maintain procedures for combustion tuning, optimization, and performance testing to improve fuel efficiency, product quality, and equipment reliability
• Troubleshoot combustion, process heating, and thermal system issues in a manufacturing environment
• Troubleshoot combustion control loops, burner management systems (BMS), flame supervision equipment, and process instrumentation
• Develop engineering designs, equipment specifications, P&IDs, calculations, and project documentation
• Configure and validate control devices including thermocouples, pressure transmitters, flow meters, control valves, VFDs, and oxygen analyzers.
• Configure, and optimize furnace control systems to ensure safe, stable, and efficient operation
• Manage combustion-related capital projects from concept through commissioning, including budgeting, scheduling, vendor coordination, installation, and startup
• Configure, and optimize furnace control systems to ensure safe, stable, and efficient operation.
• Work closely with operations, maintenance, production, and safety teams to identify and implement process improvements
• Support preventive maintenance programs and establish best practices for combustion equipment reliability
• Ensure compliance with applicable safety, environmental, and industry standards related to combustion systems
• Coordinate with equipment suppliers, contractors, and engineering consultants during project execution
• Provide technical support and training to operations and maintenance personnel
• Evaluate and implement upgrades to legacy furnace control systems, improving reliability, maintainability, and operational performance
• Identify energy efficiency opportunities
• Assist the engineering team with additional capital projects, equipment upgrades, process improvements, and plant initiatives as needed; this includes projects beyond combustion-based equipment or initiatives
• Collaborative team player with the ability to work across departments
• Comfortable balancing office-based engineering work with field support and equipment commissioning.

Required Qualifications of Every Candidate (Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities):

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field
• 3 years of work experience in a manufacturing/industrial engineering position.
• Experience with PLC-based combustion control systems and industrial automation
• Capable of performing energy balances, mass balances, and related thermodynamic or heat transfer calculations
• Enjoys working directly with equipment, contractors, and operations personnel to improve safety, reliability, efficiency, and product quality
• Strong oral and written communication skills to clearly and concisely present information to management
• Work effectively alone and as a member of a team within various functional areas of the division
• Demonstrated accuracy in working with information in a fast-paced environment
• Passion and integrity with the drive to excel and deliver exceptional results

Highly Qualified Candidates Will Also Possess These Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related engineering qualification
• 5+ years of work experience in a manufacturing/industrial engineering position is preferred
• Knowledge of energy efficiency initiatives and emissions reduction strategies
• A background with Lean methodology
• Professional Engineer (PE) license or Engineer-in-Training (EIT) certification is a plus.
• Experience with combustion analyzers, process instrumentation, and data collection
• Working knowledge in the following areas is preferred:
  • AutoCAD/SolidWorks
  • Microsoft office Excel, Word, Access and Outlook

Working Environment and Physical Efforts:

Normal office environment makes up approximately 65% of the job while around 35% of the work is located out in the storage, shipping and production areas of the manufacturing site. When working in the production areas the employee will be subjected to welding smoke, noise, seasonal temperature changes, dirt, oil, coolant, and many other conditions found in a production environment. Working extended hours may be required to meet the demands of the business (e.g., support for production, troubleshooting, meeting project deadlines). Approximately 50% of the time is related to travel which can include both domestic and international trips.

Benefits

• Healthcare (medical, prescription drugs, dental and vision)
• 401k retirement plan with company match
• Paid time off
• Employer paid life insurance
• Employer paid short-term and long-term disability including maternity leave
• Work Life Support
• Tuition Reimbursement up to $5,250 per year
• Voluntary programs like tobacco cessation, Type 2 diabetes reversal, one-on-one health coaching, mortgage services and more

Valmont does not discriminate against any employee or applicant in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by law. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. If you have a disability and require any assistance in filling out the application for employment email [e-mail].

Valmont serves two primary markets — agriculture and infrastructure — and seven diverse product lines: Utility, Lighting and Transportation, Telecom, Solar, Coatings, Irrigation and Ag Tech. We manufacture products in 85 facilities spread across six continents, and we do business in 100 different countries. That’s what Valmont does. We conserve resources and improve life, finding ways to make innovation and technology beneficial in the real world.