Expert Application Engineer Steel

Location: Business Innovation Center, Nivelles - BelgiumTravel: 50%Reporting to the Global Application Director - SteelThe Role The Expert Application Engineer - Steel will be responsible for identifying and anticipating the needs of Lhoist’s present and potential European iron and steel customers as they transition to decarbonized production in the coming years. The applicant will apply their steelmaking knowledge and understanding of Lhoist’s products and production opportunities and challenges to maximize value for all parties. This position will also play a key role in defining short and long-term strategy as it relates to Lhoist’s steel market. The role is also responsible for initiating innovation projects related to Lhoist products and their use in the iron and steel industry. Working closely with Lhoist customers and the Lhoist regional commercial teams, the application engineer should apply his/her technical knowledge against commercial needs. In addition, the role should identify novel approaches to solve relevant problems inside the steel industry that can be solved with Lhoist products. This aspect of the job will require intense project management both inside the BIC lab and at customer sites via trials and close working with customer engineers. The application engineer will also be responsible for providing advanced technical support to the regional commercial teams as requests come in from customers. Technical market intelligence is also expected to be kept up to date and occasionally reported on to various positions inside Lhoist. The focus of the role is to evolve and expand the Lhoist offer to meet existing needs and future market requirements.Objectives:Maintaining attention on changes inside the steel industry related to decarbonization efforts and evaluating risks/opportunities for LhoistAnticipating and identifying market needs to drive innovation and development work,Remain at the forefront of industry breakthroughs, with the aim of anticipating Lhoist’s role and developing new applications.Entering innovation projects into the innovation pipeline and managing their progress throughout the process and to conclusion. Creating and maintaining the project budget. Providing advanced technical support to the regions by acting as the technical liaison between Lhoist commercial and Lhoist steel customersFostering cross-fertilization by identifying, documenting and driving sharing of applications between our geographiesContributing to the continuous improvement of existing applicationsEstablishing, developing, and maintaining a close relationship with key stakeholdersIdentifying relevant partners to cooperate withHelp coordinate and facilitate the EU New Business and Innovation ForumExperience / Background:Minimum 7-10 years of professional experience inside the steel industry in an engineering, operations, or R&D roleExpertise and/or experience with regards to sustainability and CO2 challengesStrong technical/scientific skillsManagement of innovation projects and providing advanced technical supportPrevious exposure to different countries and continents in a medium/large Multinational companyBehavioral skills:Strong influencing skills: must be able to establish positive dialogue and be able to convince internal stakeholders (Lhoist sales teams across EU) as well as external (clients, investors, contractors, centers of influence authorities, research centers, standardization bodies, etc.)Strong leadership skills & Team Player (cross cultural): ability to thrive in a multi-cultural environmentBusiness AcumenInnovation managementStrategic Ability Customer oriented, problem solvingAble to operate in a complex environmentOpen minded and able to interact with different culturesDemonstrates a balanced, realistic, rational attitude towards business challengesEstablishes high service, quality, and efficiency standardsFluent in English and preferably French as well (any other European language is an asset)