Plant Electrical Engineer

Overview

The Plant Electrical Engineer supports safe, reliable, and cost-effective operation of electrical assets at the Celanese Edmonton manufacturing site. The role leads reliability strategy development for medium- and low-voltage equipment supporting continuous acetyls production and utilities infrastructure.

This position works closely with Maintenance, Operations, E&I trades, Turnaround teams, and Capital Engineering to reduce equipment failures, improve asset lifecycle performance, and strengthen predictive maintenance programs across the facility.

Responsibilities

Electrical Reliability Strategy

- Develop and sustain reliability programs for major electrical systems, including 13.8 kV distribution, 4.16 kV motors and switchgear, 600 V MCCs, transformers and substations, VFD-driven equipment, UPS/control-power systems, critical compressors and pumps, and SIS-supporting electrical infrastructure.

- Lead site electrical asset criticality reviews and lifecycle planning.

Failure Elimination & Root Cause Analysis

- Lead investigations into electrical reliability issues, including nuisance trips, transformer failures, MCC problems, motor insulation breakdown, harmonic distortion impacts, and VFD reliability concerns.

- Apply structured problem-solving tools, including RCFA, FMEA, Weibull analysis (when applicable), and Six Sigma methodologies to resolve chronic reliability issues.

Predictive & Preventive Maintenance Optimization

- Strengthen and optimize electrical PdM/PM programs, including infrared thermography, partial discharge monitoring, insulation resistance testing, motor condition monitoring, breaker maintenance strategies, and arc-flash risk mitigation planning.

- Improve PM effectiveness within SAP PM reliability structures.

Capital & Turnaround Support

- Provide electrical engineering support for plant upgrades, obsolescence replacements, reliability-driven capital projects, shutdown/turnaround scopes, and major equipment replacements

- Collaborate with E&I technicians, planners, schedulers, reliability specialists, and maintenance supervisors, providing technical support and guidance within a unionized maintenance environment. Provide technical guidance while supporting efficient execution within a unionized maintenance framework.

Safety, Compliance & Standards

- Ensure compliance with the Alberta Electrical Utility Code, CSA standards, arc-flash safety requirements, corporate electrical safety standards, Management of Change (MOC) processes, and all applicable Process Safety expectations.

Continuous Improvement Leadership

- Lead reliability initiatives focused on reducing downtime, eliminating bad actors, optimizing maintenance costs, improving equipment availability, and refining PM intervals.

Qualifications

Required

- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

- Registered P.Eng. with Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta

- 5–10 years industrial electrical reliability experience

- Experience in continuous manufacturing or petrochemical environments

- Strong root cause investigation capability

- Experience supporting medium-voltage industrial systems (4 kV–15 kV)

Preferred Experience

- Chemical, refining, or acetyls production experience

- SAP PM reliability module experience

- Arc flash study tools (ETAP, SKM, EasyPower)

- Turnaround planning exposure

- Protective relay coordination familiarity

- Asset criticality modeling experience