Senior Plant Engineer

As a Senior Plant Engineer, you manage the engineering aspects of an entire manufacturing facility or industrial plant — equipment, utilities, building systems, and capital improvement projects. This is a broad role that encompasses maintenance engineering, facilities engineering, and project engineering under one umbrella. The senior title means you're leading the plant engineering function and making capital investment decisions.

Your day spans multiple engineering disciplines. You might review a capital project proposal for a new production line, then investigate a compressed air system pressure drop, then meet with a contractor about a building renovation, then analyze utility consumption data to find energy savings. You need mechanical and electrical engineering fundamentals, project management skills, and the ability to manage budgets and contractors.

The breadth is both the strength and challenge of this role. You're responsible for everything physical in the plant — but you can't be an expert in everything. You need enough knowledge to identify problems, evaluate solutions, and manage specialists. The best plant engineers know when to go deep and when to bring in specialized expertise.