Sr. Director, Operations Technical Services

Senior Director of Operations - Technical Services
Location:  Houston, Texas

Valicor Environmental Services, LLC. (Valicor) seeks a chemical process engineer with five to ten years of experience to join its team. The candidate, reporting to the COO, will support and lead the development and application of projects in various industries, but with focus predominantly in oily wastewater treatment and recovery, metals bearing wastewater treatment and various projects involving upgrades, improvements, and support of existing operations across the USA. Engaged in all aspects of process development, from initial feasibility, through process design, proposal, construction, commissioning, operational handover, and ongoing support of operations, the ideal candidate will have a faithful reliance on data-driven decision making. The candidate will also be responsible for supervision of a small national maintenance team that will be responsible for the implementation of upgrades and improvements.

Through the implementation of physicochemical and separation or treatment technologies, Valicor operates approximately 20 Centralized Waste Treatment sites involving the treatment and/or recovery of valuable constituents in clients’ wastewater and residuals streams. 

 General Requirements: This position requires experience in the following areas:

• Engineering and economic studies.
• Providing technical guidance on complex issues requiring independent and/or teamwork analysis and judgment.
• Familiarity with work processes of large and small engineering companies.
• An ability to refine/improve the process groups efficiency and execution capabilities.
• An ability to work effectively with a range of technical and operations personnel
• Good writing skills.
• An ability to provide technical support for business development.
• Travel 30-50% of the time.

Education: B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering

Qualities: The position places an emphasis on the following qualities:

• Safety leadership. Demonstrates safe work practices and speaks up when deficiencies are identified.
• General attitude and work ethic.
• Functional contribution to the team.
• Ability to troubleshoot, innovate and strengthen the group’s ability to perform.
• Demonstrated written, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills across a divergent audience.

Skills: The following skills are expected of a candidate in this role:

• Development of material and energy balances (MEB).
• Use of AutoCAD to develop process flow diagrams (PFDs), piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), and process General Arrangements (GAs).
• Develop process and functional control descriptions and provide support with operating procedures and troubleshooting guides.
• Experience with Process Safety Management and, especially, Process Hazards Analyses (PHA) is a plus.
• Working with business development to define client requirements and develop processes that meet goals in an economical fashion.
• Project Management. Ability to develop work scopes and direct various work crafts during construction.
• Experience with commissioning and start-up.
• Basic understanding of industrial Electrical and Instrumentation (I&E) and the ability to make recommendations for instrument selection.
• Practical working knowledge of principals of chemical engineering, including heat and mass transfer, and fluid dynamics for pump sizing and pressure loss calculations.
• Working knowledge of Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices, e.g., ISA, API, etc.

 Technologies: Experience with the following technologies and unit operations is beneficial:

• Processes involving the handling of oily wastewater separation, metal-bearing wastewater, solids and slurries, including conveyance and pumping systems.
• Solid-Liquid Separation
  1. Recessed Filter Press
  2. API Oil-Water Separator
  3. Dissolved Air/Nitrogen/Gas Flotation
  4. Belt and Recessed Plate Filter Presses
• Physicochemical-based unit operations
  1. Coagulation
  2. Flocculation
  3. Chemical Precipitation
  4. Oxidation
• Biological Treatment systems experience
• Thermodynamic separation and/or design experience is a plus

 Computer and Software – Aside from typical office productivity software, experience with AutoCAD is a plus.