Senior Process Development Engineer

Location: Dayton TN, Various project sites across the U.S. and abroad

Employment Type: Full-time

Travel Requirement: Up to 40% (domestic and occasional international)

Who We Are

PITCO Engineering is a rapidly growing provider of automation, robotics, and digital twin solutions for manufacturers worldwide. We partner with OEMs, system integrators, and production facilities to design, program, and commission world-class automation systems that meet European and American engineering standards.

About the Role

Why this role exists

Most automation projects fail because someone tries to automate a process nobody fully understood in the first place. We don't.

PITCO's work is built on a five-phase methodology — Analyze, Optimize, Simulate, Pilot, Scale — and we are looking for a Senior Process Engineer who can drive engagements through every one of those phases. You will spend time on the floor watching how a plant actually runs, in the model challenging what it could be, and at the keyboard building the digital twins, control logic, and SOPs that turn "could be" into reality.

This is a first-principles role. We don't want someone who applies a playbook; we want someone who insists on understanding why before recommending what. If a vendor tells you their solution is the right answer, your first question is "compared to what?" If a plant manager insists on a particular method, your next question should be, “What does physics say about this?”

What you'll own, by phase

Analyze. Run on-site As-Is assessments. Walk every workstation, observe every shift, interview the people who actually run the line. Quantify the current state with real numbers — cycle times, OEE, scrap, throughput, dwell, labor hours per unit — so that every later phase has something honest to compare against. Deliver a current-state model and pain-point map the floor recognizes as their plant.

Optimize. Re-engineer the workflow before any automation touches it. Strip out non-value-adding steps, standardize inputs, and decide deliberately what not to automate. Define the KPI targets every later phase will validate against. Push back when the obvious answer would lock waste in place at higher speed.

Simulate. Build behaviour-accurate digital twins in Siemens Process Simulate / Plant Simulate. Stress-test layouts, shift models, and automation depth in software before any equipment is ordered. Validate state machines, HMI logic, and PLC sequences against virtual machines so commissioning surprises are something other people have.

Pilot. Move the winning concept to a contained physical pilot — limited scope, full instrumentation, pre-agreed KPI gates. Measure the physical run against the digital twin and close the gap on both sides. Decide, on numbers, whether the pilot graduates.

Scale. Codify validated changes into SOPs that the floor can actually follow. Train operators on the digital twin before they touch live equipment. Run phased rollouts with halt-and-fix triggers defined before launch. Keep the digital twin alive as a continuous-improvement and training asset.

Across all of this, you will lead client communications, mentor junior engineers and simulation specialists on your engagements, represent the client's interests in vendor negotiations, and own the technical quality of the deliverable.

What you bring

• Engineering degree (Mechanical, Electrical, Controls, Industrial, or Manufacturing).
• 5–8 years in industrial process, automation, or manufacturing engineering — ideally a mix of plant-floor and consulting experience.
• Hands-on familiarity with Siemens platforms (TIA Portal, Process Simulate, Plant Simulate). Equivalent depth in another major platform with willingness to extend into Siemens is acceptable.
• Working knowledge of PLC programming, HMI design, and state-machine-based control architecture.
• Lean / value stream mapping fluency. Six Sigma is a plus, not a requirement — we care more about how you think than which belt you wear.
• Experience running As-Is/To-Be assessments and translating them into actionable, measurable plans.
• Solid grasp of digital twins, virtual commissioning, and discrete-event simulation as engineering tools — not buzzwords.
• Comfort in front of clients: stakeholder interviews, executive-level presentations, KPI reviews, and the occasional difficult conversation about why a vendor's quote isn't the right answer.

Signals you'll fit here

• You instinctively ask, “Why is it done this way?" before “How do we automate it?"
• You think in systems and feedback loops, not features.
• You're as comfortable in a digital twin as you are in steel-toes on a plant floor — and you know why both matter.
• You'd rather find a problem on a screen on a Tuesday than on a line during a Friday-night ramp-up.
• You can defend a recommendation with numbers, and change your mind when the numbers say something else.
• You believe the right answer to "should we automate this?" is sometimes "not yet" — and you can explain why without losing the room.

What we offer

• Engagements with serious manufacturing clients — automotive, aerospace, energy, defense — where the methodology is the differentiator, not a slide.
• Real ownership over the technical direction of your projects, with embedded teams sized to the engagement instead of to the contract.
• Investment in the tools to do the work well: full Siemens PSS/PSL access, training, and a digital-twin sandbox that outlives every project.
• A team that takes process engineering seriously and treats automation as something it earns, not something it assumes.
• Competitive pay (based on experience)
• Hybrid flexibility
• Full benefits (health, dental, vision and more)
• Rapid learning environment with direct exposure to leadership
• Training resources and mentorship on automation + AI tools
• A culture that values execution and continuous improvement

How to apply

Send a CV and a short note to careers@pitcoengineering.com with the subject line "Process First — Senior Process Engineer". In the note, tell us about one process you helped fix that wasn't automated — and why automating it would have been the wrong move.