Process Control Engineer

Jerritt Canyon; Elko (NV); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Jerritt Canyon in Nevada is seeking an experienced Process Control Engineer to optimize and maintain our DCS/PLC/SCADA/HMI-based process control systems across crushing, grinding, flotation, and materials handling.

You will collaborate with operations, maintenance, metallurgy, and instrumentation teams to ensure safe, stable, and efficient plant performance, including commissioning and start-up of new equipment. 3–7+ years of mining process control experience is preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 3–7+ years of process control, automation, instrumentation, or controls engineering experience in mining or heavy industry.
• Hands-on experience with DCS, PLC, SCADA, and HMI platforms.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize process-control strategies for mining and mineral processing equipment.
• Configure and maintain PLC, DCS, SCADA, and HMI applications.
• Develop and optimize PID control loops, cascade controls, feed-forward strategies, interlocks, sequences, permissives, alarms, and process logic.
• Troubleshoot process-control issues and provide timely technical support to operations and maintenance teams.
• Analyze process data and control-system performance to identify opportunities for improved throughput, recovery, energy efficiency, product quality, and equipment reliability.
• Participate in the design, engineering, and implementation of process control modifications and capital projects.
• Support commissioning, start-up, shutdown, and ramp-up activities for new and modified processing equipment.

Skills

Process control engineering

DCS/PLC/SCADA/HMI

PID tuning

Alarm management

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related

Tools

DCS

PLC

SCADA

HMI

Job description

About Jerritt Canyon

The Jerritt Canyon deposit was discovered in 1972, and the first gold production from the property occurred in 1981. The Jerritt Canyon property contains 30,821 hectares of mining claims located in the mining-friendly state of Nevada. First Majestic acquired the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine from Sprott Mining Inc. on April 30, 2021. In May 2023, operations were suspended to prioritize exploration and technical studies. Jerritt Canyon is now entering a new phase of evaluation and planning, requiring substantial technical support to advance the work necessary for a potential future restart of operations.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Process Control Engineer to support the optimization, reliability, and continuous improvement of process control systems within mining and mineral processing operations. The successful candidate will work closely with operations, maintenance, electrical/instrumentation, metallurgy, and engineering teams to ensure safe, stable, and efficient plant performance.

This role will focus on the design, implementation, commissioning, troubleshooting, and optimization of process control systems, including DCS, PLC, SCADA, HMI, advanced process control (APC), instrumentation, and industrial communications networks.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, maintain, and optimize process control strategies for mining and mineral processing equipment and systems.
• Support control systems across areas such as crushing, grinding, flotation, thickening, filtration, conveying, material handling, pumping, and other mineral processing operations.
• Configure and maintain PLC, DCS, SCADA, HMI, and associated control-system applications.
• Develop and optimize PID control loops, cascade controls, feed-forward strategies, interlocks, sequences, permissives, alarms, and process logic.
• Troubleshoot process-control issues and provide timely technical support to operations and maintenance teams.
• Analyze process data and control-system performance to identify opportunities for improved throughput, recovery, energy efficiency, product quality, and equipment reliability.
• Participate in the design, engineering, and implementation of process control modifications and capital projects.
• Support commissioning, start-up, shutdown, and ramp-up activities for new and modified processing equipment.
• Work with instrumentation and electrical teams to troubleshoot field devices, control valves, analyzers, motors, VFDs, and related control equipment.
• Develop and maintain control-system documentation, including control narratives, functional specifications, I/O lists, logic diagrams, cause-and-effect matrices, alarm philosophies, and operating procedures.
• Implement effective alarm management and control-system improvements to reduce nuisance alarms and improve operator response.
• Support advanced process control, model-based control, optimization, and data-driven initiatives where applicable.
• Monitor system performance, identify control-system vulnerabilities, and recommend improvements to enhance availability and reliability.
• Ensure process-control solutions comply with company standards, engineering practices, cybersecurity requirements, and applicable regulatory and safety requirements.
• Collaborate with metallurgists and process engineers to translate process requirements into effective control strategies.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to junior engineers, technicians, and operations personnel.
• Participate in continuous-improvement initiatives, root-cause investigations, and process optimization studies.
• Support industrial automation and control-system cybersecurity initiatives, including access management, backups, change control, and system lifecycle management.

The above duties and responsibilities represent the nature and level of work assigned and are not necessarily all-inclusive.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree inElectrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Control Systems Engineering, Automation Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• 3–7+ years of process control, automation, instrumentation, or controls engineering experience, preferably within mining, minerals processing, metals, or heavy industrial operations.
• Hands-on experience with industrial control systems such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and HMI platforms.
• Strong understanding of process-control fundamentals, including PID tuning, control-loop design, process dynamics, instrumentation, and control-system architecture.
• Experience troubleshooting and optimizing control systems in a continuous-process or mineral-processing environment.
• Experience working with industrial communication protocols and networks such as Ethernet/IP, Modbus, Profibus/Profinet, OPC, or similar technologies.
• Ability to interpret and develop P&IDs, electrical drawings, control narratives, logic diagrams, and instrumentation documentation.
• Experience with commissioning, start-up, shutdown, and plant modifications is highly desirable.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use process data to identify and resolve performance issues.
• Ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams including operations, maintenance, metallurgy, electrical/instrumentation, and engineering personnel.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Company is an equal employment opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunities to employees and applicants in accordance with all applicable laws.