Job title: Senior Process Engineer
Job type: Permanent
Emp type: Full-time
Industry: Mining and Minerals Processing
Salary type: Annual
Salary: Negotiable
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Job published: 20 Aug 2025
Job ID: 43125
Contact name: Ernst Karberg
Phone number: +27128168733

Job Description

Senior Process Engineer: designs, sizes, and commissions smelting processes/vessels (Submerged Arc & Open Bath Furnaces). Involved in sales and execution phases, from feasibility studies to EPC projects, and contributes to product development initiatives.

 

 Key responsibilities:

 

  • Provide project related engineering and procurement deliverables and services for studies, tenders and projects.
  • Preparation of process designs, Block Floe Diagrams, PFD's, P&ID's, and all technical process documents
  • Develop and implement systems and procedures and manage support engineers, other discipline personnel and clients to successfully achieve their project objectives.
  • Preliminary cost estimates for potential projects and budget proposals.
  • Planning, design, specification, procurement, reporting, construction, commissioning and hand-over of project packages.
  • Ensure scopes of works for various projects are correctly specified and matches budget.
  • Manage all the resources in the best interest of the company
  • Provide technical leadership and maintaining technical quality norms and standards, ensuring that appropriate technologies are incorporated into the designs, and they comply with the relevant engineering standards.
  • Co-ordinating designs and drawing with all relevant engineering disciplines.
  • Contribute to the development and or refining of all ISO aligned, process systems and procedures.
  • Maintain professional registration(s) and keep up to date new technologies as well as changes in the application of current process technologies in the fields the company operates in.
  • Knowledge sharing and transfer on all applicable processes and technologies including the primary and secondary beneficiation of all applicable ores into the products as required by the group clients.
  • Compiling and delivering technical papers and presentations to further the company profile in the industry.

 

Qualifications (Typical):

  • Bachelor’s degree in chemical or metallurgical engineering, Pr Eng preferred.
  • Relevant post graduate qualifications could be advantageous.

 

Experience:

  • Minimum 10 years of overall industry-relevant experience, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience within the field of electric smelting furnace process engineering and process plant design.
  • Experience with mass and energy balances for pyrometallurgical processes from first principles through a relevant simulation package like HSC, Metsim. experience in the operation of electric smelting furnaces at a responsibility level that would allow the incumbent to make process decisions would be advantageous.
  • Electric furnace commissioning experience
  • Good theoretical knowledge of refractory materials and selection.
  • Pyrometallurgical test work planning and execution – bench- to pilot scale.
  • Modelling thermochemistry of pyrometallurgical processing in FACSTAGE.

 

Knowledge:

  • Advanced understanding of process design principles and furnace sizing.
  • Primary handling of ores with respect to electric smelting furnaces.
  • Pyrometallurgical processing in SAFs / OBFs.
  • All aspects of furnace design and operation.
  • Industry codes/standards and interdepartmental practices and procedures.
  • Pricing, tendering and budgeting principles, tools and control.
  • Safety consciousness and application of good practice health and safety.
  • Good understanding of best practices in the worldwide smelting industry.

 

Skills:

  • Project scoping, costing, design and detail engineering.
  • Project construction, supervision, commissioning and hand-over.
  • Designing and developing new processes and integrating into existing processes.
  • Maintaining and modifying existing systems
  • Troubleshooting and problem solving
  • Working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary environment with design engineers and other internal staff
  • Commercial awareness and sound written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
  • Liaising with clients, suppliers, contractors and relevant authorities
  • Project managing within cost and time constrained environments
  • Understanding and ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations and quality standards
  • Team leadership skills.
  • Listening to, interpreting and understanding feedback from clients and team members.
  • Organisational skills, planning, project management and prioritizing ability.
  • Interpersonal motivational skills.
  • The ability to work under pressure and to achieve deadlines.