Freelance or permanent - Senior Mechanical & Piping Project Engineer, Technical Lead

The role focuses on senior technical project engineering rather than administrative coordination or conventional project management. As the technical lead in multidisciplinary CAPEX projects, you help deliver safe, feasible and maintainable solutions within a controlled project environment. You operate in an operational brownfield setting where safety, reliability, technical quality and limited disruption to production are essential. The position combines specialist Mechanical & Piping expertise with a broad view of engineering, execution and handover activities.

Responsibilities include: establishing and maintaining the technical basis, design philosophy, project scope and battery limits; leading and aligning engineering work across disciplines, with Mechanical & Piping as the core area and close cooperation with process, E&I, automation, civil, safety and infrastructure teams; organising design reviews and assessing solutions for safety, compliance, functionality, reliability, maintainability, constructability and lifecycle value; converting process and project requirements into Mechanical & Piping concepts, and overseeing the quality of layouts, P&IDs, equipment specifications, piping classes, routing and isometrics; evaluating technical alternatives with regard to feasibility, safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness; giving technical direction to engineering partners, suppliers and contractors, and critically reviewing their content, quality, planning and deliverable completeness; supporting technical decision-making, recording assumptions and deviations, and ensuring that decisions and follow-up actions remain traceable; identifying technical and project risks, assessing how changes may affect scope, schedule, cost, execution and business continuity; contributing to technical specifications, tender packages, bid evaluations, supplier selection and contractual technical clarifications; following up Mechanical & Piping activities where relevant, including fabrication, inspections, FAT, delivery, installation, SAT and punch-list management through mechanical completion; providing engineering support during construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning, start-up and handover; supporting the Project Manager with clear technical recommendations and transparent stakeholder reporting; and coaching engineers and contributing to project engineering standards, methodologies, lessons learned and knowledge sharing.

The profile requires a master's degree in a technical discipline or equivalent experience, extensive experience in technical design and engineering in an industrial or process environment, demonstrable specialist knowledge of Mechanical & Piping engineering in the process industry or heavy industrial environment, proven experience with multidisciplinary CAPEX projects, ability to provide technical direction to engineering partners, suppliers and contractors, familiarity with Mechanical & Piping standards such as PED, ATEX and EN 13480, a VCA-VOL certificate or willingness to obtain one, knowledge of AutoCAD Plant 3D as an asset, ability to work with project controls, technical depth with a broad overview, decisiveness, pragmatic problem-solving, clear communication of complex technical topics, structured and autonomous working, and fluency in Dutch and professional English.

Other languages are an advantage. The location is Olen, with 100% onsite presence. The selection procedure consists of two interview rounds: an initial interview via Teams, followed by an on-site interview that includes a business case. The offer is part of a growing Belgian SME where initiative and personal development are encouraged, with an enjoyable work environment, a career plan with attention and budget for extra education/certification, an attractive salary supplemented with extra-legal benefits including a company car.

Freelance is also possible.