Lead Project Engineer

AK Steel Corporation; Indiana, Northern (PA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Cleveland-Cliffs is seeking a Lead Project Engineer – Corporate Engineering to drive safe, on-time capital project execution across its Northwest Indiana facilities. The role involves construction management and safety leadership for major capital programs, coordinating with plant engineering, operations and contractors.

The position emphasizes safety audits, outage planning, and delivering status updates on safety, quality, schedule, and risk.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering, or Construction Engineering and Management.
• Ten years in heavy industrial construction or project execution.
• Proven ability to plan and execute safely with strong quality focus.

Responsibilities

• Promote safety culture and contractor safety compliance for capital projects.
• Plan, coordinate and execute capital projects with safety, quality and schedule focus.
• Lead contractor safety audits, field observations, and daily safety topics.

Skills

Project management

Safety leadership

Contract coordination

Industrial construction

MS Office

Education

Civil Eng

Construction Eng & Mgmt

Safety Management

Job description

Location: Burns Harbor, IN

Cleveland-Cliffs has an immediate opening for a Lead Project Engineer – Corporate Engineering to support capital project execution across the Company's steelmaking operations. This position is responsible for providing construction management and safety leadership for capital projects as part of the Corporate Engineering team.

The Lead Project Engineer will play a key role in planning and ensuring contractor safety compliance, coordinating field activities, and supporting successful project delivery. This role requires close collaboration with plant engineering, operations, maintenance, and contractor personnel, primarily at Cleveland-Cliff’s facilities in Northwest Indiana. Travel to other Cleveland-Cliff’s locations may be required.

Summary of Responsibilities

• Develop a thorough understanding of the Cleveland-Cliffs Contractor Safety Handbook and site-specific safety requirements for capital projects in order to promote a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Support the planning, coordination, and execution of capital projects with a strong focus on safety, quality, and schedule performance.
• Conduct and facilitate contractor safety audits, observations, and field assessments during outage activities develop and communicate daily safety topics and lessons learned based on audit findings and field observations.
• Provide regular project status updates, highlighting safety, quality, schedule, and risk management metrics.
• Ensure project-specific processes, procedures, and standards are properly implemented and maintained to meet Engineering Department quality and safety requirements.
• Collaborate closely with Corporate Engineering team members, Plant Engineering Managers, and Area Engineering Managers to support project execution.
• Partner with Operations and Maintenance teams to develop and execute pre-outage and outage plans.
• Coordinate activities among contractors, suppliers, consultants, and internal stakeholders to support safe and successful project delivery.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with engineering consultants, equipment suppliers, material vendors, industry organizations, and construction contractors.
• Participate in and support training initiatives on project management, safety, engineering practices, and corporate programs.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil, Structural, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, or Construction Engineering and Management.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in a heavy industrial construction or project execution environment.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and execute projects safely, efficiently, and with a strong focus on quality.
• Proven commitment to maintaining a safe work environment and ensuring the well‑being of employees and contractors.
• Experience coordinating contractors and managing construction activities in active industrial facilities.
• Strong understanding of risk identification, assessment, and mitigation principles.
• Effective communication, organization, and problem‑solving skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Project, and PowerPoint.
• Demonstrated multidisciplinary engineering and construction experience.
• Understanding of the complexity of integrated steel manufacturing operations and the importance of maintaining safe and reliable production assets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of three (3) years of experience managing major construction outages, shutdowns, or turnarounds within the steel industry.
• A degree in Safety Management or Industrial Safety with previous experience leading contractor safety initiatives and field construction teams.
• Experience managing capital projects in steel, mining, metals, or other heavy manufacturing industries.

Cleveland-Cliffs is a leading North America-based steel producer with focus on value-added sheet products, particularly for the automotive industry. The Company is vertically integrated from the mining of iron ore, production of pellets and direct reduced iron, and processing of ferrous scrap through primary steelmaking and downstream finishing, stamping, tooling, and tubing. We offer an excellent total compensation package, including competitive pay with variable compensation opportunity, health insurance, retirement plan, education assistance, paid time off, and more.

• Competitive pay with variable compensation opportunity, health insurance, retirement plan, education assistance, paid time off, and more.
• Relocation assistance is not provided for this position.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please send an e-mail to [e-mail] or call 1-[phone] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Do not email your application materials to this email address. Application materials sent to this email address will not be considered.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is an equal opportunity employer – M/F/Veteran/Disability.

We are a drug-free workplace and conduct pre-employment screening as a condition of employment.