Marathon Petroleum values its people and the unique skills and perspectives they bring to our industry, especially the engineers who find creative solutions to problems, who design, maintain and improve our systems, and who inspire us to think a little differently about how things work.

Here’s a look at several types of engineers and the unique skills they bring to the company.

What do engineers do?

Engineers are professional problem solvers. They design, develop, test and maintain a variety of systems and products.

“As engineers, we are all trained in a specific discipline,” said Mike Wamboldt, Civil Engineer at Marathon Petroleum’s Mandan refinery. “In school, they teach us to think a certain way. They turn us into problem solvers. We become confident we can figure something out even if we don’t know how to do it right away.”

At Marathon Petroleum, our many different types of engineers put their education to the test on real-world projects and bring creative solutions to our industry.

“Chemical engineers have many different job functions at Marathon Petroleum, including process engineering at refineries, validating and analyzing data and more,” said Amna Al-Jumaily, a Linear Program Modeler with Marathon Petroleum’s Operations Research Group in Findlay, Ohio. “As a chemical engineer, I help develop and build mathematical models of our refineries. I take the chemical processes that happen in a refinery and turn them into equations. The answers to those equations help us make informed business decisions. It’s exciting to use science and math principles to provide solutions to real world challenges.”

What are the 5 major types of engineers?

In general, there are several types of engineers that focus on different areas.

• Chemical Engineer – develops and designs chemical manufacturing processes
• Civil Engineer – plans, designs and constructs infrastructure projects and systems
• Electrical Engineer – designs, tests and maintains electrical equipment and systems
• Mechanical Engineer – designs power-producing machines and various devices
• Computer Engineer – involves both computer sciences and electrical engineering

What types of engineering jobs are there at Marathon Petroleum?

For many of the engineering jobs posted for Marathon Petroleum, a bachelor’s degree is the minimum education requirement; however, the job duties and experience required differ based on the role and location. Here is a look at some of the positions posted:  

• Instrument Engineer roles require a bachelor’s degree in chemical, electrical or mechanical engineering.
• Refining Chemical Engineer provides technical support for plant operations. They monitor, troubleshoot and optimize specific units within the refinery, and design and develop capital projects.
• Electrical Reliability Engineer provides technical support and troubleshooting assistance in resolving electrical design, operation, and maintenance problems and contact internal and/or external experts as required. They also perform failure tracking, root cause failure analysis, and life-cycle cost analysis to improve reliability of electrical equipment and systems.
• Project Engineer applies project management and engineering skills and knowledge in all phases of projects from conception to closeout. Manages multiple projects and assignments in a timely, safe and cost-effective manner.
• Operations Research Engineer may help develop planning, blending, scheduling and process models for refinery engineers. The models are used to optimize crude oil purchasing, refinery production, blending and finished product scheduling and optimization of refinery production.
• Environmental Engineer works on projects that involve the compliance of the entire refinery and process units in the refinery. Environment Engineers apply engineering principles and calculations to various environmental projects. It requires a broad knowledge of the various environmental laws that are applicable to refineries and what it takes to maintain compliance with those laws.
• Products Control / Economics Engineer may work on a wide array of projects including operations, blending and refinery economics. In the role, engineers understand how a tank farm is operated and how gasoline and other products are prepared and shipped to customers.
• Cybersecurity Engineer roles require a bachelor’s degree in a technical field like Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Information Systems Security, Electrical Engineering or Physical Sciences.

Interns and Co-op Positions

• Intern/Co-op Chemical Engineer can expect to become familiar with process equipment fundamentals and best practices, build critical thinking skills, and gain an understanding of how all engineering disciplines work together as a cohesive team.
• Intern/Co-op Mechanical Engineer can expect to become familiar with industry codes and best practices. Mechanical Engineering co-ops can enter into the following positions: Area Refining Engineer, Project Engineer or Reliability Engineer.
• Intern/Co-op Electrical Engineer can expect to become familiar with industry codes and best practices. Electrical Engineering co-ops can enter into the following positions: Electrical & Instrumentation Project Engineers, Reliability Electrical & Instrumentation Engineers or Process Control / Technical Service Engineers.
• Intern/Co-op Logistics and Storage Engineering can expect to become familiar with multi-discipline engineering design and project management services in multiple operations that include Logistics & Storage Support Services, Terminals, Transport and Rail, Marathon Pipe Line, Marine and Gathering & Processing.
• Intern/Co-op Information Technology features several roles that support the technology needs at Marathon Petroleum, including Business Analysis, Applications Development, Cybersecurity, Analytics & Innovation, and Cloud Computing.

Al-Jumaily had two co-op experiences with Marathon Petroleum. She spent time working at the Galveston Bay refinery in Texas and in Findlay, Ohio. Both roles gave her challenging projects that helped her decide where she wanted to work after graduation.

“I had internships and co-ops with several big companies. Marathon Petroleum gave me the same caliber projects that we did in school but for the real world. It was a lot of responsibility, and that really made me choose Marathon for my career. I’ve been here three years now, and it’s been very satisfying.”

 

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