Lead Mechanical & Piping Project Engineer
Location: Olen, BelgiumStart Date: ASAP
End Date: End of 2027
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, Full-time
Onsite Requirement: 100% onsite presence
Contract: Long-term collaboration envisaged
About the Role
Join an innovative site where research and development of clean technologies go hand in hand with the production of high-tech materials such as cobalt, nickel, and germanium. These materials are used in applications shaping the future, including rechargeable batteries, solar cells, satellites, and infrared lenses.
As Lead Mechanical & Piping Project Engineer, you will be the technical leader of multidisciplinary CAPEX projects, ensuring the coherence and quality of technical solutions, steering design decisions, and representing the client in dealings with engineering partners, suppliers, and contractors. You will work closely with the Project Manager to deliver installations that are safe, reliable, maintainable, and technically feasible.
This is not a traditional Project Manager role. You will remain closely involved in technical choices, engineering quality, and their translation into execution throughout the entire project lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and safeguard the project's technical basis, design philosophy, scope, and battery limits.
- Lead and integrate engineering across disciplines, with a focus on Mechanical & Piping (M&P), including process, E&I, automation, civil, safety, and infrastructure.
- Organize design reviews and assess designs for safety, compliance, functionality, reliability, maintainability, constructability, and lifecycle value from a TCO perspective.
- Translate process and project requirements into robust Mechanical & Piping concepts and safeguard the quality of layouts, P&IDs, equipment specifications, piping classifications, piping routes, and isometrics.
- Assess various technical solutions for feasibility, safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.
- Direct and challenge EPCm partners, suppliers, and contractors on technical content, quality, schedule, and completeness of deliverables.
- Organize technical decision-making, make assumptions and deviations visible, and ensure traceable decisions and actions.
- Identify technical and project risks and assess the impact of choices and changes on scope, schedule, costs, execution, and business continuity.
- Support technical specifications, tender packages, bid evaluations, supplier selections, and contractual technical clarifications.
- For Mechanical & Piping, where relevant, follow up fabrication, inspections, FAT, delivery, installation, SAT, and punch lists through to mechanical completion.
- Provide engineering support during construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning, start-up, and handover.
- Support the Project Manager with clear technical recommendations and transparent reporting to stakeholders.
- Coach engineers and contribute to standards, methods, lessons learned, and knowledge sharing within Project Engineering.
Requirements
- Master's degree in Electromechanics or a related field.
- Minimum 10 years of Mechanical & Piping experience on the client side.
- Minimum 3 years of experience managing projects with EPCM contractors.
- Experience with brownfield projects in the process industry.
- Good knowledge of and experience with project management methodologies (courses & trainings followed).
- Focus on coordinating projects within the Mechanical & Piping discipline.
Non-Technical Profile Requirements
- Combine technical depth with a broad overview, decisiveness, and pragmatic problem-solving skills across all disciplines.
- Ability to explain complex technical topics clearly.
- Work in a structured, independent, and results-oriented manner, demonstrating clear ownership.
- Fluent communication in Dutch and professional communication in English.
Language Skills
- Fluent in Dutch
- Fluent in English
- Other languages are an asset
Selection Procedure
- Two interview rounds: first interview via Teams, second interview on site with a business case.