Lead Process Control Engineer
INEOS · Alvin, TX
- Level
- Manager
- Team
- Controls
- Base pay
- $160k–$200k
- Experience asked
- 15+ years
- Industry
- Chemicals
- Posted
- Yesterday
The role in 30 seconds
A management controls role at INEOS (chemicals) in Alvin, TX. Promote, ensure and sustain commitment to operating assets with no harm to people and to the environment by visibly demonstrating Safety Leadership.
- They ask for
- 15+ years
- Tools it names
- Root cause
- Base pay
- $160k–$200k
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026
Controls Engineer roles in Texas: typical posted base $98k–$158k. This one lists $160k–$200k.
Median of the low and high ends of 14 live postings that list pay, out of 87 controls engineer openings in Texas, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
Texas plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 86 other live controls postings in Texas.
- Base pay
- About 44% above similar roles
- Experience asked
- More than usual (15+ vs 4+)
Typical $97k–$154k, from 12 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 4+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- PLC 79%
- Automation 78%
- Robotics 44%
- Python 28%
- EHS / safety 28%
- ✓ Root cause 25%
✓ = 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 INEOS
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 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.
This plant: INEOS in Alvin
4 other open roles at this site.
- SIS PLC Specialist · Controls · Specialist
- Production Engineer, Furnace · Production
- Process Control Engineer · Controls
- Process Engineer, Polymers · Process
Full description from INEOSAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Offer Range: $160,000 - $200,000 (commensurate with experience)
Organizational Context and Job Purpose
The Olefins & Polymers USA division of INEOS is one of the largest producers of olefins and polyolefins in North America. From its manufacturing locations at Chocolate Bayou and the Battleground Manufacturing Complex, it is a merchant marketer of butadiene, ethylene, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene with annual revenue of over $4b.
The Chocolate Bayou Site is located in Southeastern Texas about 40 miles South of Houston and consists of two Olefins units that produce approximately 4bn pounds/year of ethylene, 2 Polypropylene units that produce approximately 1bn pounds/ year of polypropylene, and the Light Ends storage & transfer facilities at Stratton Ridge.
How the Role Fits In
This Lead Process Control Engineer role is part of the Process Control and Operational Technology team within the Central Applied Technology organization. Engineers in this group support daily unit operations, advanced applications, process control infrastructure systems, and projects across O&P USA. This role serves as the functional lead for unit process control engineering work, helping coordinate and prioritize activities, support advanced DCS applications, and perform hands-on projects for the Chocolate Bayou site and pipeline supply organization (PSO).
This role provides functional leadership and technical coordination for process control engineering activities while supporting the safe, reliable, and optimized operation of distributed control systems (DCS) and associated process control technologies across the site. The role has no direct supervisory or managerial responsibilities. The role serves as a key interface among operations, engineering, capital projects, and management to coordinate priorities and advance process control strategy, standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Responsibilities
and Accountabilities
The position is accountable for understanding and putting into practice the INEOS 20 Principles. Additionally, this position helps reinforce understanding of these principles across the work group through functional leadership and technical support.
Accountability: SHE Stewardship
Meet all SHE objectives and comply with all governmental laws and policies for a manufacturing site.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
Company
INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA
Interested in joining a winning team? A team whose employees are empowered to make a difference?
Job title: Lead Process Control Engineer
Location: Chocolate Bayou Works - Alvin, TX
Supporting activities
- •Ensure process hazards are systematically identified, risk assessed, reviewed and managed.
- •Always place safe operation or shutdown of the asset ahead of production.
- •When in doubt ensure the asset is always taken to its safest state.
- •Ensure assets operating envelopes and protective systems are in place to deliver safe operation and maintain asset integrity.
- •Support operating, maintenance, and CAPEX strategies to drive asset integrity and environmental compliance.
- •Promote, ensure and sustain commitment to operating assets with no harm to people and to the environment by visibly demonstrating Safety Leadership.
- •Ensure that a comprehensive SHE management process delivers and improves safety performance through incident reporting, behavioral awareness, compliance with policies, audits, and corrective action tracking/resolution and incident investigation.
Accountability: Functional Technical Leadership
- •Serve as a functional technical lead, stay current on relevant technologies, and work with Team Leaders and the Technical Authority to develop roadmaps.
- •Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and knowledge sharing for recent graduates and site process control engineers without direct supervisory responsibility.
- •Help coordinate and prioritize activities for recent graduate and site process control engineers, clarify technical needs, and support successful outcomes.
- •Facilitate technical collaboration, coaching, and knowledge development across process control engineering resources supporting OLE1, OLE2, PP3/4, and Utilities.
- •Help establish clear technical priorities, deliverables, and work coordination needs for process control engineering activities.
- •Coordinate workload priorities across units and help identify resource needs, constraints, and conflicts for resolution by the appropriate manager or Team Leader.
- •Drive standardization of process control practices, philosophies, and documentation across the site.
- •Provide functional technical direction and recommendations for DCS systems, including Honeywell TDC3000 and Experion platforms.
- •Coordinate day-to-day process control support activities across units, including:
- •Troubleshooting process, alarm, DCS, and process control network issues
- •Supporting startups, shutdowns, and turnarounds
- •Root Cause Failure Analysis
- •Control loop performance and tuning
- •Process and system performance monitoring
- •Provide functional technical leadership and coordination for process control aspects of capital projects, including:
- •Control strategy development and design
- •I/O assignment and system architecture
- •DCS configuration and implementation
- •Provide functional technical leadership for site-wide process control strategy, alarm management, and advanced process control applications.
- •Ensure compliance with PSM, MOC, and corporate engineering standards.
- •Provide functional technical leadership and support for HAZOPs, LOPAs, and PSSRs as required.
- •Drive alarm management improvements, including rationalization and implementation.
- •Provide technical leadership for process control network design and cybersecurity alignment.
- •Champion the use of advanced control, optimization technologies, and emerging digital solutions.
- •Identify and prioritize opportunities to improve reliability, efficiency, and cost performance.
- •Provide functional technical le