Engineer Principal Pulp

Lewiston
803 Mill Rd
Lewiston, , USA

Lewiston is Clearwater Paper’s original manufacturing facility and home to nearly 700 dedicated team members who power our site. Together, we make paperboard used in products across the United States, including food packaging, plates, cups and more. Home to the first mill that produced poster board from wood waste, the site currently operates two paper machines, two extruders, two power boilers and two recovery boilers.

Located where the Snake and Clearwater rivers meet on the Idaho-Washington border, Lewiston offers an active outdoor lifecycle with easy access to fishing, boating, hiking and camping. The region’s milder climate means more rain than snow in the winter and long, sunny days in the summer.

Living here means you’ll be close to Lewis-Clark State College, University of Idaho, Washington State University,and Walla Walla Community College,as well as strong local K–12 school districts

The Principal Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for pulp mill operations, providing leadership and subject matter expertise across all pulp production systems including chip and sawdust fiberline, recaust, bleaching, ClO2 generation, and process support systems. This role partners closely with mill leadership, operations, maintenance, and reliability teams to establish and execute a comprehensive technical strategy focused on safety, process stability, cost optimization, asset reliability, and product quality.

The Principal Engineer leads the development and deployment of long-term reliability and process improvement initiatives, integrating process engineering support, quality systems, predictive maintenance, and operating discipline to improve mill productivity and reduce variability. As a key technical leader within the mill, this role drives both short- and long‑term operational improvements, supports outage planning and execution, resolves complex process challenges, and ensures alignment between engineering standards and day‑to‑day mill performance.

In addition, the Principal Engineer plays a critical role in developing technical capability within the organization by mentoring engineers and operations leaders, strengthening troubleshooting rigor, and embedding data‑driven decision‑making across pulp mill operations. This position ensures that capital investments, environmental compliance efforts, and safety initiatives are technically sound and fully integrated into sustainable operating practices.

• Serve as the senior technical authority for pulp mill operations, leading structured problem‑solving efforts to identify and eliminate process variability, reliability losses, safety risks, and cost drivers using FMEA, Root Cause Analysis, VAVE, and data‑driven methodologies.
• Lead the development and execution of pulp mill asset reliability and process safety strategies, integrating risk‑based maintenance practices, capital prioritization, and operational discipline to protect production continuity and environmental compliance.
• Identify, evaluate, and advance process optimization and debottlenecking initiatives across fiberline, bleaching, and supporting systems; develop and execute multi‑year technical roadmaps aligned with mill performance objectives.
• Act as the primary technical liaison to external engineering partners, OEMs, and service providers, ensuring solutions are technically sound, operationally practical, and delivered safely, on schedule, and within approved budgets.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement within pulp mill operations by regularly evaluating and refining maintenance strategies, critical spare parts programs, and vendor performance to enhance asset reliability and reduce total cost of ownership.
• Drive performance improvements through the development of engineering standards, process optimization initiatives, and equipment design enhancements, with emphasis on fiber yield, chemical efficiency, energy reduction, and environmental performance.
• Strengthen process control and quality systems by standardizing operating procedures, technical documentation, and troubleshooting protocols…