The South African Breweries
ENERGY AND FLUIDS SPECIALIST
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ENERGY AND FLUIDS SPECIALIST
Senior Process Engineer – Brewery Process Engineering
(Developing the Future Through Unstoppable Innovation)
About SAB and the Role
At SAB, we dream big—whether it’s expanding our capabilities into innovation, meeting who our consumers expect today, or laying the foundation for a cleaner, more sustainable future. Our vision—"We Dream Big to Create a Future With More Cheers"—guides us every day as we optimise breweries, transform products, and champion responsible consumption.
Now, we're looking for a relentlessly curious, analytically driven Process Engineer to lead the Process Engineering function in our Brewery, where your work will directly shape the performance, efficiency, and innovation of critical operations. This has the potential to be your launchpad—not just for career growth, but for becoming a defining force in South Africa’s beer and manufacturing spaces.
Key Purpose
Lead and optimise the generation and utilisation of all utilities within the Brewery’s process while driving transformational improvements in:
- Process stability
- Performance and scalability
- Talent empowering teams throughout Brewing, Packing, and Utilities
The goal? Realising full process capability through targeted initiatives, cost savings, and competitive relaxation.
Core Responsibilities
Process Steward
- Apply engineering principles to diagnose and resolve systemic challenges for Brewing, Packaging, and Utilities Teams across site or regional scale
- Design targeted “step change” improvements rigorously tested via process audits, simulations, or direct plant experiments
Project Leader
- Own process optimisation initiatives, from initial gap analysis to implementation and ROI measurement
- Serve as a ** supporting force** in:
- Regional capital projects (supply, execution, technical inputs)
- CAPIN (Cost Avoidance, Product Improvement) opportunities within Brewing, Packaging, or Utilities plants
Resource & Capacity Builder
- Coordinate leadership programs, such as coaching Process Engineering trainees as they advance in brewing technical roles
- Target technological gaps across the value chain, partnering with teams to fill them
Responsibilities in Detail
- Offer technical line support for Brewing/Packaging to troubleshoot anomalies, command—or when the best is not yet built—engineer workarounds or long-term resolutions using control systems and automation.
- Execute ** utilise empirical data** from process capability studies (e.g., energy, operational benchmarks) to advocate for evidence-backed innovation.
- Drive for design improvements in regional capital projects by providing technical guidance during development and commissioning.
- Deliver CAPEX savings by spearheading energy recovery projects, waste minimisation macros, and line capability upgrades.
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Qualification & Minimum Standards
Academic Background
- Essential: Minimum BSc in Chemical Engineering (or equivalent qualified).
- Desirable: Optional Professional Registration (PR Eng).
Experience
- Must meet the following criteria:
- 3–5 years’ proven experience as a Process Engineer
- Focus on Production, Utilities, or Mixing Operations within manufacturing contexts.
Technical Competencies
Hold proven expertise in:
- ✓ Problem-Solving: Model system challenges, from equipment malfunctions to supply chain hiccups, using both technical and creative approaches.
- ✓ Condition monitoring/automation: Mastery of PLC/SIS and industrial networks; prior work in SCADA, traffic optimisations, or fault detection preferred.
- ✓ Process Analytics: Strong mathematical base + ability to use software for trend analysis, optimisation algorithms (e.g., Matlab, Azure time-series predictions).
- ✓ Sustainability Mindset – Ability to track KPIs like EU-rated energy consumption and carbon tax, prioritising low-hanging AOPs to get targeted savings into regional projects.
Process Leadership
- Critical Skills: Self-direction, project vision-casting, employee engagement in improvement circles.
- Collaborative Result Orientation: Represent operations/engineering at plant management meetings, shaping agendas and trade-offs.
Who We Are Looking For
✔ Brewery Neophyte candidate
- Drove for solutions through redesign or integrated root-cause investigations aligning with business agility timelines.
- Demonstrated leadership by mentoring team members, such as pathfinding contributors with first exposure to core systems (e.g., ERC conversion in future projects).
✔ Proactive Problem-Solver When faced with systemic inefficiencies in resin use, delivered Cookie Cutter database templates to API systems where optimal efficiency mechanisms had been unscalable until structured.
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⚠ Overt maturity is not guaranteed through placing into a program, which you will complete to the same Professional Engineer (PR Eng) stage");
Why Join SAB Today?
Your Progress Counts
SAB invests in you by:
- Providing opportunities for PR Eng if you’re working towards your professional accredited journalism path.
- Climate Action commitment—this role embraces unsung innovations in close-loop systems, renewable utilities integration, and responsible consumption targets.
Economic Impact
Your work helps SAB remain South Africa’s largest employer in traditional beverage production, supporting:
- Over 250,000 jobs across the supply chain (hops, packaging, logistics dealers)
- Reinvestment in every brewery and depot across 7 regional markets, sustaining # of Bedsecret team-driven impact.
A Culture of Ambition
In any of SAB’s 7 SaintJohanson brownfields or greenfield installations, you’ll reimagine how drinking culture intersects with responsively energised systems. This will align every minimised kilogram of extra-CO₂ or productivity system you finalize into a vision people trust.
As champions of innovation in sustainability, operational robustness, and community-enabling tools (EDAPPRO), close as SAB’s largest business, the potential for transformation in your skill set is bounded only by ambition.
Additional Notes
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Operational Force: Reports directly into the Head: Technical Services. Pressures of site-specific brewing controls (TDS=""> Transitions into larger manufacturing systems in our unified SAB Rothmans Entertainment value chain.
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Data & Tools: Leverage technology resources like:
- SCADA, ArcGIS, or Virtual Reality experiments across 15klm³ tanks or process humidity peaks of control systems, to ensure fit-off share synergy integration.
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Future Fleet: Our 2024 State of Safety sustainability banner, EFEL initiative, unsafe controlled environments, and others allow breakthroughs at mergers/acquisitions ventures like Bonus and Menntas.
SAB ranks among South Africa’s admired companies. Uplift your legacy while you lift the bar for innovation. Are you ready to join us?
Technical Enquiries
Find us at: # [#SABAvenues of Electricity]
Equal opportunity & embraces lifecycle whispers of access within Employment Equity Plan.
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