Maaden Brief:
MAADEN, established in 1997, is one of the fastest-growing mining companies in the world and the largest multi-commodity mining and metals company in the Middle East. We are leading the development of the mining industry to become the third pillar of Saudi Arabia’s economy by building a world-class, unique, and fully integrated mining value chain.
We are pleased to share an exciting opportunity for the position. This role offers a chance to contribute to our ambitious growth and play a key part in shaping the future of mining in the Kingdom.
Role Profile: Recycling Lead Engineer, Process
Job Title: Recycling Lead Engineer, Process
Business Unit/Function: MAADEN Aluminum
Department: Recycling – Production & Quality Engineering
Job Location: Ras Al Khair, Eastern KSA
Working hours: 8 hours
Job post duration: starting 14 June 2026 - end date 28 June 2026
Job Purpose
The Process Lead Engineer is responsible for providing technical leadership and operational driving excellence across the entire aluminum recycling process. The role ensures safe, reliable, efficient, and sustainable operations from scrap receiving and sorting through melting, alloy preparation, casting, and finished product handling.
The position leads process optimization initiatives, supports technology implementation, ensures product quality and regulatory compliance, and promotes continuous improvement to maximize metal recovery, productivity, and cost competitiveness.
The Process Lead Engineer plays a key role in advancing recycling performance, improving energy efficiency, reducing environmental impact, and supporting the strategic growth and competitiveness of the organization.
Key Accountabilities
Health, Safety and Risk Management
- Promote a strong safety culture.
- Ensure compliance with company HSE requirements and regulatory standards.
- Participate in:
- Hazop.
- Risk assessments.
- Incident investigations.
- Ensure safe operation of high-temperature processes and molten metal handling systems.
Technical Leadership
- Provide technical leadership and expertise throughout the aluminum recycling process including:
- Scrap receiving and preparation.
- Sorting operations.
- De-coating and pretreatment.
- Melting and holding furnaces.
- Alloying and metal treatment.
- Casting operations (slab, billet, sow or ingot).
- Product handling and packaging.
- Ensure compliance with industry standards, operational philosophies, and best engineering practices.
Process Optimization and Continuous Improvement
- Identify opportunities to improve:
- Metal recovery and yield.
- Throughput and productivity.
- Furnace efficiency.
- Energy consumption.
- Casting performance.
- Product quality.
- Waste minimization and dross reduction.
Scrap Management and Sorting Performance
- Optimize scrap blend strategies to maximize recovery and minimize contaminants.
- Support development of sorting philosophies and material flow strategies.
- Monitor and improvement:
- Recovery rates.
- Yield.
- Purity levels.
- Sorting efficiency.
- Residue generation.
- Evaluate new sorting technologies including:
- Sensor-based sorting.
- XRT.
- LIBS.
- Eddy current separators.
Melting and Metal Treatment
- Optimize furnace performance and charging practices.
- Improve:
- Specific energy consumption.
- Melt losses.
- Furnace productivity.
- Metal cleanliness.
- Support alloy chemistry control and molten metal treatment processes.
- Ensure effective management of:
- Fluxes.
- Degassing systems.
- Filtration systems.
- Dross generation and recycling.
Casting Operations
- Oversee optimization of casting processes to ensure:
- Product integrity.
- Surface quality.
- Dimensional accuracy.
- High productivity.
- Consistent metallurgical properties.
- Support improvements in:
- Casting tables.
- Cooling systems.
- Mold technology.
- Process automation.
Quality Assurance
- Establish and maintain robust quality systems and procedures.
- Develop and monitor quality KPIs.
- Ensure compliance with:
- Customer specifications.
- Internal quality standards.
- International standards.
- Investigate quality deviations and implement corrective actions.
Operational Excellence and Reliability
- Monitor plant performance and reliability indicators.
- Identify operational bottlenecks and constraints.
- Support reliability and availability improvements.
- Participate in:
- FMEA.
- RCA.
- Reliability studies.
Operational readiness activities
Sustainability and Environmental Performance
- Drive initiatives aimed at:
- Lower carbon footprint.
- Reduced energy consumption.
- Increased recycled content.
- Waste reduction.
- Circular economy principles.
- Ensure compliance with environmental regulations and sustainability targets.
- Support management of:
- Dross.
- Salt slag.
- Dust and emissions.
- Waste streams.
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in science and engineering, with Chemical / Metallurgical Engineering preferred. Other Engineering professionals with related experience.
Minimum Experience:
- 10+ years of experience in aluminum recycling, secondary aluminum production, melting and casting operations, or related metallurgical industries.
- Experience in one or more of the following is preferred:
- Scrap sorting.
- De-coating technologies.
- Melting furnaces.
- Holding furnaces.
- Alloy development.
- Billet casting.
- Slab casting.
- Process optimization.
- Operation readiness and commissioning.
Ma’aden High-Performance Competencies:
- Ethical Leadership
- Technical Expertise
- Safety Leadership
- Team Leadership and Development
- Communication and Collaboration
- Quality Focus
Skills:
- Aluminum recycling technologies.
- Scrap processing and sorting systems.
- Melting and casting processes.
- Metallurgy and alloy chemistry.
- Process optimization.
- Root cause analysis.
- Statistical process control.
- Quality management systems.
- Reliability engineering.
- Project management.
