Project Engineer

Why This Role Matters

"The goal is the same: the projects on time on budget and to do more of them than Im capable of doing right now."

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2025 sales of $34 billion and the electronics division sits at the center of the story that matters right now. This is the group that supplies ultra-high-purity gases to the semiconductor industry the chip fab buildout across the United States and the memory and compute growth driving AI. Tim put it plainly: the division is connected to the biggest names in chips and "theres going to be no shortage of work anytime soon."

RTP is the smaller more integrated of the two sites and that is its advantage. Operations plant engineering project engineering and automation run as one team on nearly everything so a Project Engineer here learns the whole operation fast rather than staying boxed into one discipline. The Project Managers have more capital work than they can personally execute and this seat is the added capacity that lets the team run more of it. This is not a maintenance hire. It is a build at a moment when the business is growing into the next phase of what the electronics division becomes. Tim came into his own seat in January after 22 years at Linde precisely because of that upside. As he said he is "the poster child for why you do that" and the division is "really at the precipice of something great."

The Mission

Help the Project Managers move more capital projects across the finish line on time and on budget by owning the execution work a PM cannot personally carry across multiple concurrent projects. At RTP you do it inside an integrated team so you will learn across operations plant engineering and automation as you go.

Tim described the structure this way: the Project Manager dictates who does what and the Project Engineer does the "what." Early in a projects life you help scope the work build the budget and lay out a preliminary schedule so a capital need can be turned into a funded authorized project. Once funding is awarded you execute alongside the PM: bill of materials specifying the equipment and instruments and valves coordinating with procurement to buy them and managing the contractors on site through construction. You track the finances so nothing gets away from the team. When it works the PM keeps their arms around the whole effort and RTP completes more projects than it can today.

Performance Objectives

The first four are what the seat produces day to day. The last two are the outcomes Tim is actually buying.

1. Scope projects and develop budgets and preliminary schedules that convert capital needs into funded authorized projects working in partnership with the Project Manager and process engineers.
   
2. Specify and procure the physical scope of each project: author the bill of materials specify equipment instruments and valves and coordinate with procurement to purchase them without gaps or delays.
   
3. Manage onsite contractors through the construction phase from mobilization to turnover so work is executed to scope and to the sites safety standard.
   
4. Track project finances and expenditures across multiple concurrent projects so the Project Manager always has a current accurate picture of the whole effort.
   
5. Deliver each assigned project on time and on budget measured against the schedule and budget you helped build.
   
6. Increase the sites project throughput so RTP completes more capital projects than the current Project Managers can deliver alone. This is the reason the seat exists.
   

Fit Traits

These are the human patterns Tim reads as strength. Each is anchored to what he actually said. At RTP the integrated team gives an earlier-career hire room to grow into these.

Figures It Out Without a Manual. This is the trait Tim named as the one that is missing in some people. Signal: "I need people who want to figure out what to do on their own and I can help you prioritize and guide you in the right direction." He will guide and prioritize. He will not hand you a plan every morning. At RTP there is a team around you to learn from while you build that muscle.

Curious and Not Afraid to Get It Wrong. Signal: "I need someone who is curious and willing to learn and willing to just ask questions and figure things out and make mistakes and learn from them." This is the trait that matters most for the earlier-career hire RTP can take.

Technical Aptitude Over Industry Pedigree. Signal: "They dont necessarily have to be in that industry but they have to have some technical aptitude." Tim is explicit that RTP does not require gases-industry experience but the aptitude is not optional: "Im not going to take an accountant and ask them to size a globe valve."

Energized by Tangible Results. Signal: "If you have a personality where youd like to see things you like to see tangible things you like to see results then thats a person whos a good fit." The people who thrive here get satisfaction from turning a design into something real and on the ground.

Owns Their Piece. The right fit is a self-motivated worker who does not need to lead people or own the whole project but wants to own their slice of it and be accountable for it. Tim confirmed this is exactly right for the seat.

Who Youll Work For

Tim has been at Linde for 22 years and moved into this electronics engineering leadership role in January coming up through Lindes engineering organization. He made the move himself for the same reason he is now hiring: the division is growing fast and he wanted to be at the front of it. He runs a small hands-on team guides and helps prioritize and expects the people around him to drive their own work rather than wait to be told.

The thing you should know about Tim is that he is honest to a fault and he will be honest with you. He was the first to say this is not a flashy job. "It is a straightforward job. It is a very important job. But its just not super exciting." He would rather tell you exactly what the work is and let you decide than sell you into a seat you will leave.

"I came over here myself so I can be the poster child for why you do that. I think its very exciting times. Its just really at the precipice of something great here."

Why Veterans Succeed Here

This is the part no traditional posting can do and it is the reason VHS matched this role.

The work is attention to detail reasoning about physical systems coordinating with a project manager and a set of suppliers and contractors and executing under a schedule. Strip away the industrial-gases label and those are the exact human assets a strong technical service member already carries. Tim gets this. On the call he walked straight to it himself: a senior Navy nuke or a high-speed Machinists Mate who has worked pumps valves piping and fluid systems or a sailor who spent a dry-dock period upgrading a ship or submarine and owned a piece of that project is doing a version of this job already. The scale is different. The discipline is the same.

Kingman runs the way a good unit runs: early starts direct communication accountability that moves at the speed of the work and a leader who came up through the operation and hires for aptitude and drive over pedigree. Because this is the more senior seat with less support it fits a seasoned NCO or company-grade officer who has already run concurrent projects and does not need the plan handed to them. VHS has placed more than a thousand veterans into this industry and the pattern is consistent: the service members who thrive here walk into an unfamiliar system ask the right questions and get productive fast.

Requirements

Minimum qualifications with the veteran lens applied. The industry background is negotiable. The aptitude is not.

Benefits

Compensation is dependent on experience. Relocation is available for the role where needed.

Benefits from the company package: medical dental disability and life insurance paid holidays and vacation an employee discount program and support for educational and professional growth.