Planning & Optimization Engineer III/Senior Planning & Optimization Engineer

An exciting career awaits you

At MPC, we’re committed to being a great place to work – one that welcomes new ideas, encourages diverse perspectives, develops our people, and fosters a collaborative team environment.

Value Chain Optimization (VCO) is seeking a motivated employee with interest in commercial optimization and business transformation. In this role, you will collaborate with VCO leadership, Commercial IT, commercial business partners, Refining teams, and external consultants to deliver an integrated planning framework that maximizes enterprise value capture and ensures consistency across MPC’s asset footprint.

This role is accountable for end-to-end delivery of VCO transformation workstreams, including standard work design, stakeholder alignment, change control, training/user adoption, and sustained implementation.

This position is open to all MPC locations that suit business needs.

• Enables and improves the commercial decision-making processes across regional refinery operations (feedstock selection, product/intermediate placement, supply chain optimization, market analysis) by driving standard work, governance, tool adoption, and cross-functional alignment without owning the daily planning decisions or plan outputs.

• Demonstrates an advanced understanding of refinery operations, economics, and market dynamics across multiple refineries, and mentors/enables teams on planning & optimization methods, value levers, and model-based thinking to support consistent, repeatable execution, focusing on capability building and transformation adoption rather than day-to-day plan ownership.

• Leads and facilitates value chain collaboration forums to align stakeholders on economic drivers, decision rights, standard KPIs, and execution cadence, and to surface/resolve cross-site dependencies, risks, and barriers impacting VCO transformation outcomes.

• Understands how regional plans are developed, optimized, and executed using linear programming (LP) models, and acts as the transformation liaison to ensure model/process changes are standardized, documented, tested, governed, deployed, and adopted. Partners with planning teams to translate operational realities into requirements, coordinate constraint/structure updates through defined governance, and validate that model/process changes align with real refinery and supply chain constraints.

• Has the capability of leading end-to-end evaluation of buy-or-make cases, from data gathering to final recommendation, as well as developing sophisticated economic models and sensitivity analyses to assess risk and uncertainty. Collaborates with Trading, Refining, and VCO leadership to capture identified value.

• Leads development and deployment of backcast/performance learning routines to identify drivers of deviations (production efficiency, cost drivers, market conditions), and converts insights into standardized improvements (data definitions, model/process updates, control plans, and continuous improvement actions). Partners with operational and planning teams to implement and sustain corrective actions through the VCO governance cadence.

• Manages VCO transformation projects/workstreams independently (problem statements, hypothesis, data/insight, recommendation), applying deep understanding of refinery processes and commercial implications to remove barriers, standardize solutions, and accelerate adoption across refineries/value chains.

• Maintains working literacy of refinery scheduling concepts and APS capabilities to translate transformation requirements into scalable tools/process improvements; coordinates with scheduling/planning desks to standardize material balance methods, KPI definitions, exception management, and operating rhythms. Drives change management and user adoption so operating strategies are executed consistently.

• Owns end-to-end workstream delivery: builds and maintains the integrated project plan, milestones, dependency map, and delivery cadence; ensures alignment across Commercial IT, business partners, Refining, and external consultants.

• Leads stakeholder communications and reporting: prepares regular progress updates, decision memos, and readouts for VCO leadership and functional stakeholders.

• Drives adoption and sustainment: defines standard work, training materials, user enablement plans, and post-implementation control plans/KPIs to ensure solutions are embedded and sustained.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering required.

• Four (4) years of relevant experience required. Experience working with LP models (PIMS), as well as Refining and Midstream operations preferred.

• Experience leading cross-functional transformation or standardization initiatives, including requirements definition, process design, testing/UAT, deployment, and sustainment preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to influence outcomes without direct authority across Planning, Scheduling, Refining, Trading, and IT stakeholders preferred.

• Action Planning

• Adaptability

• Business Acumen

• Communication

• Continuous Learning

• Critical Thinking

• Decision Making

• Innovation

• Problem Solving

• Results Driven

• Teamwork

• Process Improvement Mindset

• Analytical

• Collaboration

As an energy industry leader, our career opportunities fuel personal and professional growth.

Location:

Findlay, Ohio

Additional locations:

Anacortes WA Refinery, Canton OH Refinery, Carson CA Refinery, Catlettsburg KY Refinery, Denver CO, Detroit MI Refinery, Dickinson ND Refinery, El Paso TX Refinery, Galveston Bay Refinery, Garyville LA Refinery, Houston, Texas, Kenai AK Refinery, Los Angeles CA Refinery, Mandan ND Refinery, Martinez CA Refinery, Robinson IL Refinery, Salt Lake City UT Refinery, San Antonio, Texas, St Paul Park MN Refinery, Texas City TX Refinery

Job Requisition ID:

00019899

Location Address:

539 S Main St

Education:

Bachelors: Engineering (Required)

Employee Group:

Full time

Employee Subgroup:

Regular

Marathon Petroleum Company LP is an Equal Opportunity Employer and gives consideration for employment to qualified applicants without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, reproductive health decision-making, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition or AIDS/HIV status, ancestry, national origin, genetic information, military, veteran status, marital status, citizenship  or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.  If you would like more information about your EEO rights as an applicant, click here.
If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process at Marathon Petroleum LP, please contact our Human Resources Department at [email protected]. Please specify the reasonable accommodation you are requesting, along with the job posting number in which you may be interested. A Human Resources representative will review your request and contact you to discuss a reasonable accommodation. Marathon Petroleum offers a total rewards program which includes, but is not limited to, access to health, vision, and dental insurance, paid time off, 401k matching program, paid parental leave, and educational reimbursement. Detailed benefit information is available at https://mympcbenefits.com.The hired candidate will also be eligible for a discretionary company-sponsored annual bonus program.
Equal Opportunity Employer: Veteran / Disability

We will consider all qualified Applicants for employment, including those with arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws. In reviewing criminal history in connection with a conditional offer of employment, Marathon will consider the key responsibilities of the role.