Celanese is a Fortune 500 global chemical and specialty materials company, bringing together more than 11,000 people across over 50 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Every day, our scientists, engineers, operators and professionals turn ideas into solutions that help shape everyday life.
Celanese – Everything We Do Starts with Our People
See our company values in action featuring Celanese employees on the job and in our communities.
We’re passionate about developing the next generation of talent. Join us on an Industrial Placement and you’ll have the opportunity to solve real problems, take on meaningful challenges and make an impact. This is more than just a year in industry. It’s your chance to get involved, contribute and see where your ideas can take you.
The Opportunity
Our 13-month Industrial Placement Programme gives you the opportunity to take what you’ve learned at university and apply it in a real manufacturing environment, with opportunities available at two of our UK manufacturing sites: Newport, South Wales and Spondon, Derbyshire.
Newport, South Wales
Our Advanced Elastomer Plant manufactures Santoprene™, a high-performance Thermo-Plastic Vulcanizate (TPV) used globally, particularly within the automotive industry. Using a reactive extrusion process, the site has the capacity to manufacture up to 100,000 tonnes per year.
Spondon, Derbyshire
Our Clarifoil® Plant manufactures Cellulose Acetate Film, a biobased and compostable film primarily supplied to the packaging industry. With 8 film casting machines and 5 slitting machines, the site can produce up to 2,000 tonnes of film each year, providing a very different manufacturing and engineering environment.
Whichever site you join, you’ll work alongside experienced engineers and operational teams, gaining hands-on exposure to the challenges, decisions and improvements involved in manufacturing.
From day one, you’ll be encouraged to ask questions, bring fresh ideas and take ownership of meaningful work. Based in either the Maintenance or Process teams taking on the roles Maintenance/Reliability support engineer or a Continuous Improvement/process support engineer.
As a Maintenance/Reliability Support Engineer, you will:
Own and deliver improvement projects, identifying opportunities and taking your ideas through to implementation.
Support capital projects through development, execution, commissioning and troubleshooting.
Use data to improve equipment reliability, develop maintenance strategies and monitor the performance of mechanical equipment.
Develop maintenance KPIs and reporting tools to help identify trends and improvement opportunities.
Support reliability performance reviews, communicating results and helping generate actions to achieve site goals.
Contribute to annual maintenance planning and longer-term equipment reliability improvements.
Lead productivity and cost-reduction projects that deliver real value to the business.
As a Continuous Improvement/Process Support Engineer, you will:
Lead improvement/efficiency projects across multiple areas including supply chain, operations and quality.
Lead and support process investigations across multiple areas including quality, safety, customer feedback and reliability.
Provide Capital Project support, including commissioning and troubleshooting.
Use data analysis and IT skills to develop or improve process monitoring and optimisation tools.
Participate in the site Alarm Management program to improve safety, quality and reliability.
Troubleshoot real-time processing issues.
What you need:
You must be an undergraduate penultimate year Chemical/Mechanical/Electrical engineering student, graduating in 2028.
You must be on track to achieve at least a 2:1 Bachelor’s or preferably Master’s degree in chemical/mechanical/electrical engineering.
Have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Have strong IT skills.
Be enthusiastic and determined to succeed.
Be self-motivated to meet deadlines.
Be humble and able to ask for guidance when unsure.
Have an inquisitive nature.
What is desirable:
Extracurricular activities/hobbies that have contributed to self-development.
Prior work experience, particularly with an engineering focus.
Positions of responsibilities within clubs or committees or within team-based project work.
Evidence of a practical nature and ability to work as a team.
Demonstrating your personality in your application.
Please note:
The salary for an IPS is £28,850 per year.
The IPS holiday allowance is 25 days per year.
The starting date for this year’s intake is 1st July 2027.
You will need to tell us which site you would prefer to be considered for, when applying.
This is a site-based role, and successful applicants will ideally need a car to get to site in Newport as it is located in an industrial estate. Spondon is located by the train station.
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