Controls Engineer

Materion Corporation • Buffalo, NY

1d • $79,200 - $118,800

About The Position

At Materion, everyone is included, respected and offered opportunity to grow. Join us! The Controls Engineer, under the direction of the Facilities Manager and supporting the Engineering Manager/Director, supports daily plant operations by ensuring reliable performance of automation and control systems. This role acts as a technical bridge between Operations, Engineering, and Maintenance, helping translate production needs into effective system solutions while maintaining safe, efficient, and stable controls infrastructure.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation, or related field.
• 2–5 years of experience in industrial controls or automation.
• Practical experience with PLCs, HMIs, and industrial networks (Allen-Bradley, Siemens, or similar).
• Understanding of industrial communication protocols (EtherNet/IP, Profinet, OPC, etc.).
• Strong troubleshooting and communication skills; ability to work well with cross-functional teams.
• Must have export compliance eligibility for access to U.S. controlled technology which comes under the licensing jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of State, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Administration Regulations (EAR).
• Must qualify as either a U.S. citizen, a U.S. National, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., a Person Admitted into the U.S. as an Asylee or Refugee., a National of a country that is not prohibited from having access to U.S. controlled technology (via a letter of assurance), or a Person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction.

Nice To Haves

• Exposure to IT/OT networking is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Operations to understand production requirements and translate them into control system functionality.
• Monitor automation system performance, identify bottlenecks, and implement improvements to enhance throughput and reduce downtime.
• Provide real-time troubleshooting and support for production-critical controls issues.
• Work closely with Engineering on new equipment installations, upgrades, and process improvements.
• Develop and review control system designs, PLC logic, HMI screens, and networking architecture for new projects.
• Ensure all engineering changes are documented, validated, and compliant with internal standards.
• Support Maintenance teams through root cause analysis, advanced troubleshooting, diagnostic tools, and training.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures for controls-related maintenance activities.
• Coordinate with Maintenance on preventive and predictive strategies that involve instrumentation, sensors, and automated components.
• Collaborate with IT to ensure secure and robust interfaces between industrial control systems and enterprise networks.
• Manage data flow from plant-floor systems to MES, SCADA, historians, and other business systems.
• Maintain PLC, SCADA, HMI, and network documentation, backups, and version control.
• Lead automation upgrades and migrations (e.g., PLC platform changes, HMI software updates, network modernization).
• Champion standardization across all controls platforms within the facility.

Benefits

• Equal employment opportunity employer
• Prohibits harassment of applicants and employees based on any protected categories
• Complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions
• Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities
• Veteran Employee Resource group supports veterans and promotes the benefits of hiring veterans in the workplace
• Military friendly company

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level