Principal Combustion Engineer

About the role

Position Summary

Reporting to the Vice President, Plant Support, the Principal Combustion Engineer serves as the company's senior technical authority on Waste-to-Energy combustion performance, furnace operation, and boiler thermal behavior. This role provides expert-level technical support to operating facilities, with a focus on identifying true performance drivers
, stabilizing combustion, improving throughput and availability, and supporting investigations related to environmental exceedances
.

The position requires strong technical judgment
, systems-level thinking
, and the ability to distinguish signal from noise
. Success in this role depends as much on credibility, discretion, and influence as it does on combustion expertise. The Principal Combustion Engineer acts as a trusted conduit between plant operations, plant leadership, and corporate engineering.

• Serve as the subject-matter expert for combustion systems, furnace operation, and boiler performance across all Reworld Waste-to-Energy facilities.
• Evaluate operating data, trends, and transient events to identify underlying cause-and-effect relationships impacting performance, reliability, and emissions.
• Apply fundamental combustion principles, including air/fuel balance, residence time, and temperature, to guide troubleshooting and performance improvement efforts.
• Provide expert guidance on control strategy adjustments, operating targets, and system interactions affecting combustion stability and throughput
  .

• Review operating and exceptions data to identify issues that merit deeper investigation versus those that are expected or non-actionable.
• Exercise sound technical judgment in prioritizing effort, focusing on issues where combustion engineering can materially improve outcomes
  .
• Avoid unnecessary intervention in well-performing facilities while proactively engaging where emerging risks or degradation are identified.
• Help plants and leadership understand what matters, why it matters, and what does not within the expected skillset.

• Support root cause analyses related to environmental exceedances, abnormal emissions events, and combustion-related operating deviations.
• Analyze event timelines, operating data, and control system trends to determine causal mechanisms rather than symptoms.
• Partner with Environmental, Operations, and Maintenance teams to define corrective and preventive actions that are technically sound and operationally sustainable
  .
• Provide expert input on whether events warrant deeper investigation or represent known, understood failure modes.

• Build trusted relationships with plant personnel by listening, demonstrating technical credibility
  , and valuing operational insight.
• Act as a conduit between facilities, plant leadership, and corporate engineering, ensuring critical information flows appropriately.
• Support alignment between facility operations and facility management when technical perspectives differ.

• Leverage historical operating data, prior analyses, and plant-specific documentation to inform recommendations and share relevant insights.
• Contribute to the development and dissemination of combustion-related best practices, guidance documents, and institutional knowledge.
• Coach and mentor other engineers and plant personnel on combustion fundamentals
  , performance drivers
  , and systems thinking
  .
• Reinforce consistent application of combustion basics across the fleet.

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline. Candidates who do not have a 4‑year degree may be considered with equivalent job experience.

• Ability and willingness to travel up to 20% to support facility needs, investigations, performance improvement efforts, and stakeholder engagement.

• Minimum of 8‑10 years of experience in combustion systems, boiler performance, thermal processes, or industrial power…