Junior Process Engineer - Operations (NEW 2026)

The Company

BQE Water are experiencing an exciting period of growth, which has facilitated the recruitment of a group of talented Junior Process Engineers with 1-3 years of work experience to join our fantastic team! years of work experience for our talented team! Through technical innovation and engineering expertise, we help clients from the international mining industry to produce clean water and reduce their environmental footprint and extract mineral value from their wastewater where possible. This enables them to meet stringent government regulations while operating in a socially acceptable way with a focus on water as a vital shared resource. To learn more about the business, please visit www.bqewater.com.

The Opportunity

Our Junior Process Engineers have a broad range of responsibilities and engage with all members of the company, as well as our clients. The right person will have a passion for engineering design, operational optimization and working within a team. In this role you will:

· Be assigned to a temporary placement at one of the Company’s operating facilities within the first year of employment, typically 6-12 months, where the location and exact duration will be subject to the needs from the Company’s existing operations. This is a valuable chance to gain hands on operations insights with end users!

· Build practical skills (during such temporary placement) by monitoring plant performance, supporting plant operations, responding to process upsets, and working alongside experienced operators and tradespeople to ensure safe, compliant and efficient water treatment. It’s a unique opportunity to gain experience which can’t be acquired in an office and deepen your understanding of:

o The mining industry

o The impact of process engineering decisions in the field

o Water treatment equipment and instrumentation (via hands-on experience)

o Operational decision-making

o Hazards and safety decision making and management in a mining setting

Upon placement completion, new hires will join the engineering team where they will:

· Work with the project team to complete engineering design deliverables for unique BQE Water Projects ranging from feasibility, basic engineering to detailed and Issue For Construction design.

· Work and engage with other project stakeholders: owner project teams, collaborating engineers from other disciplines, construction tradespeople, colleagues in project delivery, commissioning, operations and laboratory studies.

· Work with laboratory staff to convert lab discoveries into design apparatus for practical application on BQE Water projects, including hands-on assistance with pilot-scale testing.

· Design and/or support the operation of many unit operations including hydraulic conveying, solid-liquid separation, gas-liquid mass transfer, chemical and biochemical reactors, ion exchange and electro-reduction or equivalent processes and equipment.

· Complete detailed process engineering design including mass and energy balances, equipment sizing and specifications, PFDs, P&IDs, GAs, instrument lists, etc.

· Write, review and edit technical documentation including lab reports, technical papers, design reports and proposals.

· Plan process automation for treatment plants (i.e., control philosophies, instrument specifications, as well as the opportunity for PLC/HMI programming if interested)

· Contribute to the development of BQE internal design standards and tools

· Support our commissioning group by doing rotations to full-scale projects undergoing commissioning from construction support through performance testing

· Other tasks which contribute to the overall success of the Project Delivery group.

The Candidate

· You'll need to have a degree in engineering. Disciplines of preference: chemical, hydrometallurgy, mineral processing, materials or mechanical.

· 1-3 years of experience in process plant design engineering, commissioning, and/or operations in one of the following industries: water treatment, mineral processing, or chemical industries.

· Registered, or eligible to register as an EIT in your province.

· Solid understanding of the fundamental principles of aqueous inorganic chemistry.

· Strong mechanical aptitude – you have built things and can figure out how things work.

· Can-do attitude – you always find a way to get things done. You enjoy multi-discipline engineering, and don’t hesitate to roll up your sleeves to help with a hands-on task.

· Personally, you’ll possess attention to detail, ownership of your work, proven effective communication, effective relationship building skills with colleagues, clients and vendors.

· Comfortable to perform work periodically from remote sites all over North America, including rotation work to remote mine camps.

· Able to work at our office located in the Mount Pleasant area of Vancouver, BC when not working at site.

The Perks

In addition to your competitive salary you will receive:

Paid vacation allowance + company wide bonus paid week of leave around the festive season

Manulife health coverage on hire

A bonus company-funded flexible healthcare spending account at 3 months

GRRSP up to 5% at 3 months

Up to $1,000 annually in education matching to upskill upon 1 year of service

Covered professional designation dues and industry safety certifications

Twice monthly 'CEO Industry Sessions' to learn from David Kratochvil

When at the office: monthly socials, a free private gym, full kitchen, monthly socials, patio with staff BBQ etc.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $70,000.00-$85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

- Company events

- Dental care

- Employee assistance program

- Extended health care

- Life insurance

- On-site gym

- Paid time off

- RRSP match

- Vision care

Application question(s):

- At the time of application, do you have the legal right to work for any employer in Canada?

- Please research TN visa eligibility criteria, and confirm if you are eligible Y/N. Note, there is no wrong answer, this is not a mandatory requirement for our role, as other options are often available.

- Briefly summarize your water treatment/mining industry experience, if any.

- Describe a time when you had to apply first principles knowledge to solve a problem; this can be at work or in your personal life.

- Lastly, how would you verify the accuracy of a technical calculation under time pressure?

Work Location: In person