Senior Process Control Engineer
Automationtechies · Billings, MT
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Controls
- Base pay
- $133k–$199k
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- Recently
The role in 30 seconds
A senior controls role at Automationtechies (industrial) in Billings, MT. Take a lead role in refinery process engineering with a growing energy company that values technical expertise, innovation, collaboration, and work/life balance.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Automation
- Base pay
- $133k–$199k
- Day to day
- some off-shift / weekend coverage
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026
Controls Engineer roles in the US: typical posted base $98k–$141k. This one lists $133k–$199k.
Median of the low and high ends of 313 live postings that list pay, out of 902 controls engineer openings in the US, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
Montana plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 901 other live controls postings in the US.
- Base pay
- About 40% above similar roles
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $97k–$140k, from 307 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Automation 74%
- PLC 68%
- Robotics 41%
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 25%
- Root cause 24%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Controls team at Automationtechies
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How does off-shift and weekend coverage work?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
Full description from AutomationtechiesAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Senior Process Control Engineer
Location: Billings, MT
Salary: $133,000–$199,000 per year
Take a lead role in refinery process engineering with a growing energy company that values technical expertise, innovation, collaboration, and work/life balance.
Our client is seeking an Senior Process Control Engineer to support refinery operations, process optimization, capital projects, and continuous improvement initiatives. You will work across multiple process areas, including crude distillation, hydrotreating, naphtha reforming, isomerization, asphalt blending, sulfur recovery, and refinery utilities.
What You’ll Do
- •Provide process control engineering support to refinery operations and maintenance
- •Lead projects from concept and process design through construction and startup
- •Identify opportunities to improve safety, reliability, production, and process efficiency
- •Perform process control design, simulation, optimization, and debottlenecking studies
- •Develop engineering specifications, project cost estimates, and economic justifications
- •Support DCS projects and participate in process hazard analyses
- •Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Environmental, Safety, IT, Laboratory, and Engineering teams
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
What You’ll Bring
- •Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering
- •5+ years of oil refining experience
- •Experience with basic and advanced supervisory continuous process control fundamentals, configuration, tuning, troubleshooting, and support.
- •Experience with Honeywell TDC-3000 required
- •Familiarity with alarm management, abnormal situation management, historian management
- •Intermediate experience in Advanced Process Controls, including MPC (specifically AspenTech DMC), online economic optimizers, etc. preferred
- •Experience in refining, oil & gas, petrochemicals or similar preferred
- •Exposure to and interest in more modern DCS platforms (esp. DeltaV) preferred
- •Experience with distillation, fluid hydraulics, and heat transfer preferred
- •Process control design, simulation, and project management experience
- •Strong technical problem-solving and communication skills
- •Ability to manage priorities and work independently