Scheduling And Blending Engineer/professional

Operations Research Analyst

An exciting career awaits you At MPC, we're committed to being a great place to work – one that welcomes new ideas, encourages diverse perspectives, develops our people, and fosters a collaborative team environment.

POSITION SUMMARY: The Operations Research (OR) group within the Refining organization enhances and supports the planning, optimization, simulation, scheduling, and blending software applications used by the refineries, value chain optimization, commercial and other organizations within the company – not only to run and optimize the day-to-day business, but also to develop the company’s long-term asset investment strategy. This successful candidate is responsible for developing and supporting tools to optimize the supply chain. The primary focus is the integrated scheduling (APS/ORION - Aspen Petroleum Scheduler) and blending optimization (MBO - Aspen Multi-Blend Optimizer) platforms used at the refineries but can also include secondary distribution networks such as pipelines, terminals, and docks outside of the refinery fence line. Opportunities will also exist for consulting with other business units within MPC to aid in the development of solutions to drive profitability.

Current Marathon employees or contractors can be located in Findlay, San Antonio, Houston or any refinery location. Other candidates will be located in Findlay, OH, San Antonio, TX, or Houston, TX offices only. Relocation is approved. Travel for this position is less than 10%. This position belongs to a family of jobs with increasing responsibility, competency and skill level. Actual position title and pay grade will be based on the selected candidate’s experience and qualifications. Typical grade range is 12-13.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build, maintain, and enhance refinery and/or commercial models and related tools for scheduling (primarily APS/ORION) and blending optimization (primarily MBO). Coordinate with local refinery, value chain optimization, or commercial teams on updates and changes to the tools. In the future, this could include also include Aspen Unified Scheduling (AUS).
• Strategize on new approaches and improvements to scheduling and blending tools across refinery or offsite locations and lead these projects from definition through full implementation. May collaborate with consultants on major projects and rollout of scheduling tools to new organizations/departments.
• Interface with IT organization on development or enhancement of supporting tools.
• Develop and support tools for reconciling, biasing, and auditing the scheduling and blending optimization solutions against actual performance.
• Build, maintain, and utilize reports, dashboards and other tools to drive continuous improvement.
• Provide technical support, consulting, and training to Value Chain Optimization and Commercial personnel and help to improve the planning, scheduling, and optimization work processes, data accuracy, and user experience/efficiency.
• Interface with software supplier on recommended enhancements and bug/fix items.
• May work to migrate APS models to Aspen Unified Scheduling (AUS), provide feedback to the vendor on the application, in addition to user support.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s Degree required.
• Chemical Engineering, Computer Science or related degree is preferred.
• Five plus years of experience in refining or supporting refinery applications is required.
• Strong computer proficiency including Microsoft Office products, particularly Excel is required.
• Experience with APS and/or MBO strongly preferred. Experience with Aspen Unified Scheduling (AUS) is a plus.
• Experience with PIMS, VBA programming, SQL/SSMS preferred.
• General knowledge of refinery flow sheet and process unit functions is preferred.
• An understanding of refinery and/or commercial planning & scheduling processes their role in the supply and value chain is preferred.
• Experience working in planning and scheduling is preferred.

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