Forward Deployed Engineer (Pipeline / SCADA / APC)

Job Description FRDM Consulting is an integration-first engineering consultancy that embeds forward-deployed engineers to build production-grade software and optimization for pipeline and process operations. We are staffing the discovery / evaluation phase of an Advanced Process Control (APC) program for a major U.S. refined-products pipeline operator, and we are looking for a hands-on engineer or consultant to work embedded with our team. This is real pipeline engineering, not a generic data role. You will help turn the client's historian and hydraulicmodel data into a trusted operating record, calibrate a physics-based pipeline twin, encode the operating constraints, and quantify the throughput, energy, and drag-reducing-agent (DRA) value that APC can unlock. The evaluation runs offline on our secure infrastructure with no live connection to the client's SCADA or control systems — so the work is deep modeling, data engineering, and analysis, not live control. What you'll do (discovery / evaluation phase) • Ingest and quality-control historian extracts (line pressures, flows, pump status, DRA setpoints); map SCADA/historian tags to hydraulic-model tags; build a shift-segmented trusted operating record and a normalized operating baseline. • Reconstruct and calibrate a steady-state hydraulic model (Darcy-Weisbach networks, pump curves, station efficiencies, DRA drag-reduction curves) against historical operating data, and help cross-validate it against the client's SPS / Synergi reference model. • Build the constraint catalog from station protective-device data: pressure / MATP limits, low-suction shutdowns, velocity limits, restart inhibits, and DRA placement rules. • Support the optimization and scoring work that turns pump-scheduling scenarios into dollar-quantified throughput, power, and DRA outcomes with confidence bands. • Engage client SMEs (control room, scheduling, SCADA, hydraulics) for data clarifications and station walkdowns, including an onsite operator-engagement week in Atlanta. Required experience • Direct experience with liquids-pipeline operations and/or pipeline hydraulics (steady-state and/or transient). Hands-on familiarity with SPS / Synergi Pipeline Simulator (or Stoner lineage) is strongly preferred. • Hands-on SCADA and/or historian data engineering — e.g., OSIsoft / AVEVA PI, tag namespaces, timeseries QC, and dealing with real-world sensor and calibration issues. • Exposure to advanced process control, throughput/production optimization, or unit-commitment / MILPstyle optimization for pipeline or process systems. • Comfortable in Python for data pipelines and modeling; able to reason about pump curves, DRA, product batches, and hard operating constraints. • U.S.-based (U.S. person) and able to travel to Atlanta for an onsite week. Comfortable working under OT / critical-infrastructure security and confidentiality expectations. Nice to have • FERC-regulated tariff pipeline or refined-products (gasoline / diesel / jet) experience. • ML calibration, surrogate modeling, or physics-informed ML for engineering systems. • MILP / MPC optimization tooling (Pyomo, Gurobi, HiGHS). • Control-room, operator-adoption, or change-management experience. • P.Eng. / PE or equivalent professional credential. Engagement • Full-time (~40 hrs/week) through the ~6-month (24-week) evaluation phase, starting as soon as possible. • Remote-first with an onsite week in Atlanta; occasional additional travel possible with advance notice. • Strong potential to extend into a multi-year, phased implementation program. • You'll work embedded with our prime team and two specialist subcontractors (pipeline hydraulics and platform / OT security). To apply In a few sentences, tell us about the most relevant pipeline / SCADA / APC project you've done — what you built, which tools you used, and the outcome. Please note your U.S. work eligibility and your availability. Confidential: the end client is not named publicly; we'll share more under NDA with shortlisted candidates.