Controls Engineer

AMPERA INC•Palm Beach Gardens, FL

42d•Hybrid

About The Position

Ampera Clean Energy is developing a modular power amplification system that utilizes nuclear heat input to drive a supercritical CO2 turbomachinery generator. Excellence in control systems is critical to Ampera's success. The Controls Engineer will be responsible for developing control systems for various machine configurations within a highly regulated environment, including compliance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This role requires collaboration with customers and stakeholders across multiple domains.

Requirements

B.S. in Electrical Engineering (M.S. preferred)
Experience working in a large-scale, production manufacturer.
Experience taking hardware from concept through fabrication, test, and iteration
Systems Integration / Product Release experience
Systems‑level thinking with comfort making technical tradeoffs under uncertainty
Strong fundamentals in low-voltage electrical engineering and electrical/mechanical interfaces
Sound engineering judgment and ability to make technical tradeoffs under uncertainty
Strong communication skills and a continuous-learning mindset
Comfort working with regulated and high-assurance stakeholders

Nice To Haves

M.S. in Electrical Engineering

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain PLC logic and core control loops (speed, pressure, temperature, flow, valve position), including tuning, commissioning support, and stable operation across the operating envelope.
Design and implement HMI/SCADA screens, alarms, trends, and operator workflows, including alarm philosophy and rationalization.
Integrate instrumentation, actuators, and plant/supervisory interfaces: sensor selection support, I/O mapping, signal conditioning, control panel design inputs, and communications via common industrial protocols (e.g., Modbus, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, OPC UA), including data tagging and time synchronization as needed.
Own panel design and build process, and lead FAT/SAT, including test procedures, simulation/forcing plans, punch-list closure, and documentation updates.
Support commissioning and troubleshooting through data/log review, root-cause analysis, issue reproduction, and robust corrective actions.
Develop real-time ECU/embedded control software for turbomachinery operation (e.g., speed/torque, valve control, thermal management, surge/overspeed protection).
Translate plant and component requirements into embedded software requirements, control algorithms, and state machines, maintaining traceability through implementation and test.
Define and implement I/O, sensor/actuator drivers, filtering/calibration/scaling, and diagnostics/fault handling to ensure deterministic trips and safe-state behavior.
Integrate ECU communications with the broader system and define data signals for monitoring, logging, and supervisory control.
Develop and execute validation strategies, test automation/regression testing, and commissioning support using calibrated datasets and data-logging plans.
Support embedded software configuration management, release processes, and field update strategies as appropriate.
Own the end-to-end controls lifecycle: architecture and requirements, implementation/integration, verification/validation, and support through test campaigns.
Partner cross-functionally to define control strategies for transient and off-nominal operation, protection of high-value hardware, and reliable startup/shutdown and failure-mode behavior.
Develop test plans and instrumentation strategies to validate performance.
Create and maintain controls documentation.
Understand, communicate, and comply with stakeholder requirements across multiple domains (e.g., NRC-regulated nuclear quality/regulatory expectations, customer/operator needs in AI/data centers, defense program requirements, and maritime operating constraints), ensuring controls designs, documentation, and test evidence are audit-ready and fit for intended use.