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Position Summary
The Technical Superintendent is responsible for leading the safe, efficient, and cost-effective planning, development, execution support, and closeout of turnarounds, major outages, and shutdown events, while also leading the day-to-day capital project program from concept through commissioning. The role coordinates across Operations, Maintenance, Reliability, Engineering, HSE, Supply Chain, contractors, and site leadership to define scope, develop integrated plans and schedules, control cost, manage risk and change, and capture lessons learned that improve future performance.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Turnaround & Outage Leadership
- Lead the planning and execution readiness process for turnarounds, shutdowns, and other major outage events.
- Develop and maintain an integrated turnaround scope (maintenance, operations, inspection, reliability, and capital work) aligned with site priorities.
- Coordinate consolidated execution plans and master schedules, including milestone plans, critical path, and resource loading.
- Establish labor, equipment, materials, and contractor strategies supporting safe execution, productivity, and cost control under compressed timelines.
- Drive scope challenge, scope freeze discipline, and scope change management to protect event duration, budget, and quality.
- Coordinate segregation of maintenance expense work and capital scope; support estimating, budgeting, accruals, and cost tracking.
- Monitor readiness through regular meetings, action tracking, milestone reviews, and cross-functional issue resolution.
- Provide field coordination and execution support to resolve schedule conflicts, resource constraints, emergent work, and contractor interface issues.
- Integrate shutdown preparation, isolations, cleaning, mechanical execution, inspection, testing, and startup activities into the event plan.
- Develop and improve standard templates, work processes, readiness reviews, and post-event closeout tools; capture lessons learned and performance metrics.
Capital Project Leadership
- Lead development and execution of the assigned capital project portfolio in alignment with business, reliability, and HSE objectives.
- Ensure strong Front-End Loading (FEL) and gated project development practices (scope definition, schedule, cost estimate, and risk assessment).
- Serve as the project engineer / project leader for assigned projects, coordinating engineering functions and implementing applicable project execution procedures.
- Direct and supervise site and contractor resources executing projects (engineering, procurement, construction, precommissioning, commissioning, and turnover).
- Oversee detailed planning, scheduling, progress tracking, cost control, value engineering, risk management, change management, and reporting.
- Review and approve (within delegated authority) scopes, bid packages, AFEs, requisitions, technical specifications, and construction work packages; elevate approvals as required.
- Support constructability reviews, respond to RFIs and change orders, and support punch-listing, commissioning, and facility turnover.
- Coordinate with Document Control to ensure project documents/records are controlled, current, and transferred to the project history file per procedures.
Electrical / I&E Coordination
- Provide oversight for projects with significant electrical, power distribution, and instrumentation/controls scope, collaborating with discipline leads as assigned.
- Coordinate electrical tie-ins, outages, and control system changes with Operations, HSE, Maintenance, and contractors to minimize risk and downtime.
HSE, Process Safety & Compliance
- Lead by example in HSE performance; ensure compliance with site safety rules, safe work practices, and permit-to-work requirements.
- Ensure contractor HSE management and performance requirements are met during projects and turnarounds.
- Plan, facilitate, and document required process safety deliverables (e.g., PHA/HAZOP, LOPA/SIL, MOC, PSSR) for capital projects and outage-related changes.
- Ensure work aligns with Process Safety Management, environmental compliance, and ISO management system requirements.
Systems, Reporting & Documentation
- Use SAP and other site systems to support scope development, work order alignment, materials tracking, reporting, and documentation.
- Use Primavera P6 or equivalent scheduling tools to develop, maintain, and track schedules.
- Provide regular status updates (scope, cost, schedule, HSE, risks) to site leadership and stakeholders.
People Leadership & Continuous Improvement
- Lead cross-functional teams and contractor interfaces; facilitate alignment and drive timely decisions in high-visibility operating environments.
- Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, and direction to assigned resources; support training needs and technical competence development.
- Promote a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Minimum Qualifications
Required
- Minimum 10 years of relevant industrial experience supporting/leading major outages, shutdowns, or turnarounds and/or executing capital projects in a chemical, petrochemical, refining, or related environment.
- Demonstrated knowledge of turnaround work processes (scope, planning, estimating, scheduling, risk management, execution support, and closeout).
- Demonstrated experience managing capital projects through all phases (concept/FEL, design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and handover).
- Strong knowledge of contractor safety practices and permit-to-work systems.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and business systems used for planning, reporting, and coordination.
- Fluent in English (reading, writing, speaking, presentations).
Education / Credentials
- B.S. or M.S. in Engineering (Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, or related) preferred; significant relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Project management training or certification is a plus; Professional Engineering registration preferred but not required.
- TWIC card required or ability to obtain and maintain one.
Key Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Planning & scheduling capability, including Primavera P6 (or equivalent).
- Cost control, budgeting, forecasting, and accrual management for outages and/or projects.
- Working knowledge of process equipment, maintenance practices, and plant execution requirements.
- Ability to integrate maintenance, operations, inspection, reliability, and project work into unified plans.
Westlake is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any characteristics protected by applicable legislation.
If you are an active Westlake employee (or an employee of any Westlake affiliates), please do not apply here. You will apply via the Jobs Hub application in Workday.
