Control System Engineer

Hampton Lumber

8h

About The Position

Hampton Lumber is a thriving family-owned company aspiring to be North America's preferred source for responsibly-sourced wood solutions. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, we operate nine sawmills in Western Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. We also manage timberland and operate a wholesale and import/export division. Our mission is to grow, manufacture, and market renewable wood products and deliver innovative solutions for a more sustainable built environment. At Hampton Lumber, we accomplish this through our own operations as well as those of our affiliates—Trapa Forest Products, Idaho Timber, and RedBuilt. Our tagline, "Find a better way every day," encapsulates our commitment to innovation and improvement across all operations. We are guided by our core values: Safety – Prioritize safety across all operations. Integrity & Authenticity – Operate honestly and ethically while preserving our distinctive family-owned brand. Responsible Stewardship – Endeavor to balance and maintain economic, social, and environmental values in everything we do. Tenacity – Embrace challenges with grit, determination, and a can-do spirit. Continuous Improvement – Strive to enhance our processes, products, and people. Customer Satisfaction – Be nimble, responsive, and solutions-oriented. Community Engagement – Be a responsive, supportive, and respected member of the community. With over 80 years in the sawmill business, we are proud to have cultivated the knowledge and experience needed to grow and prosper, even in challenging times. We always look to the future and invest in our people, new technologies, and continuous improvement processes and techniques. The Control System Engineer provides senior technical leadership for industrial control and machine safety systems across sawmill operations. This role is responsible for driving strategic, mill-level controls improvements that enhance safety, reliability, and operational performance across multiple sites. Working closely with mill leadership and engineering management, this role evaluates existing systems, applies advanced engineering tools and experience to identify opportunities, and defines the best path forward for controls improvements. Once aligned with management teams, this role plans and executes the engineering scope to deliver continuous improvement. Capital project support remains part of the role but is secondary to leading proactive, strategic, mill-focused initiatives and establishing long-term technical direction for control systems.

Requirements

• ABET accredited Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Industrial Engineering
• Experience as the lead engineer developing PLC programs and control strategies for complete sawmill machine centers
• Experience as the lead engineer responsible for startup and meeting performance targets for complete sawmill machine centers
• Advanced Rockwell PLC programming expertise
• Advanced RMC motion control expertise, including full application development as well as challenging axis configuration and tuning
• Design, troubleshooting, and commissioning of high-performance HMI’s, with preference for Ignition and Rockwell FactoryTalk View SE.
• Design and development of effective alarm management and reporting strategies
• Design and development of functional safety systems
• Experience reviewing operation of existing sawmill equipment and preparing modernization and improvement strategies; demonstrated experience operationalizing these strategies to provide financial return to the company

Responsibilities

• Partner with mill and engineering leadership to identify, evaluate, and prioritize strategic controls opportunities across sites.
• Serve as a technical authority for assessing existing automation and safety systems, identifying risks, gaps, and modernization needs.
• Define and recommend the best technical path forward, considering safety, reliability, lifecycle cost, standardization, and maintainability.
• Develop clear engineering scopes and technical roadmaps for approved improvement initiatives.
• Lead planning and execution of aligned engineering scope, including design, implementation, testing, and commissioning.
• Drive continuous improvement in automation performance, system consistency, and long-term supportability.
• Establish and review PLC and Safety PLC architectures, standards, and design approaches for mill-level improvements and selected capital work.
• Coordinate controls implementation with operations, maintenance, and engineering teams to ensure safe and effective execution.
• Resolve complex, high-impact automation and machine control issues affecting safety or production.
• Provide senior-level technical guidance during startup, optimization, and post-implementation phases.
• Act as a technical resource for machine safety systems and functional safety design.
• Lead or support hazard reviews, risk assessments, and safety evaluations.
• Ensure compliance with applicable standards while aligning safety concepts with long-term control system strategies.
• Define documentation, change management, and validation expectations.
• Review and approve functional descriptions, control narratives, PLC changes, and I/O documentation as required.
• Plan and support acceptance test and safety validation activities for strategic improvements.
• Promote disciplined engineering practices and consistent standards across mills.
• Provide technical input and oversight for control systems on capital projects when required.
• Ensure capital implementations align with mill standards, strategic direction, and long-term maintainability.
• Mentor and technically develop controls engineers and technicians.
• Align mill, maintenance, operations, and engineering leadership around technical priorities.
• Act as a technical bridge between mill-level execution and enterprise engineering strategy.

Benefits

• Substantial company-paid assistance for Medical and Dental insurance premiums; mental health coverage; cost effective co-pays and deductibles
• 401(k) with 5% annual company contribution and generous company matching contributions vested over three years
• Paid time off, including eight paid holidays
• Opportunity to earn bonuses
• Employee wellness program that includes free counseling sessions, financial and legal guidance, and more
• Opportunities for paid training to support career advancement and personal development

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees