Controls Engineer

Red Metals•South Carolina, SC

6d•Onsite

About The Position

Controls Engineer South Carolina About Red Metals Red Metals is rethinking the domestic copper supply chain at a pivotal moment in American industry. Copper underpins electrification, data centers, and defense systems. U.S. demand already exceeds domestic supply, and the gap is widening as grid modernization, the energy transition, and buildout of AI infrastructure accelerate. We are building a new model for this critical industrial layer in the United States. The Role We are looking for a Controls Engineer to design, build, and continuously improve the systems that run our first copper processing and refining line. You will build the control stack from first principles, take it through commissioning, and own how the system learns and improves in production. The goal is a plant that gets smarter, faster, and more efficient over time.

Requirements

Degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Chemical Engineering or related field, or equivalent hands-on experience demonstrating controls engineering capability
3-8+ years of experience in controls or instrumentation engineering
Strong fundamentals in control systems, instrumentation, and electrical systems
Proven ability to build and run real-world control systems, from concept to production
Hands-on experience with PLCs and industrial control environments
Experience working with real process data, including data collection, analysis, and using it to improve system performance
Comfortable writing code and building tooling beyond ladder logic (Python or similar)
Comfortable working on the plant floor in an industrial environment
Ability to operate with incomplete information and make sound decisions quickly

Nice To Haves

Background in metals, recycling, mining, or heavy industry
Experience commissioning and scaling first-of-a-kind or non-standard systems
Experience building data pipelines, monitoring, and internal tools for industrial environments
Experience applying machine learning or AI tools to process optimization
Startup or early-stage experience

Responsibilities

Architect the control stack, from sensors and edge systems to plant-level control and data infrastructure
Design and implement control logic for process equipment
Build a unified data layer across the plant to capture process, equipment, and quality data
Integrate sensors and advanced instrumentation to enable real-time decision making
Develop closed-loop control strategies that adapt to variable feedstock and operating conditions
Work closely with process and mechanical engineers to translate physical systems into controllable, optimizable processes
Lead commissioning end-to-end, including hands-on debugging, tuning, and system bring-up
Use data, modeling, and AI/ML techniques to improve yield, quality, uptime, and throughput
Build internal tools and automation to reduce manual intervention and accelerate learning
Interface directly with vendors and integrators