Distillery Controls Engineer

MGP Ingredients•Miller Township, IN

About The Position

The Distillery Controls Engineer provides technical leadership and oversight for the plant’s distributed control systems (DCS) and operational technology (OT) environment to ensure reliable, secure, and efficient plant operations. This role leads control system projects, supports system reliability and cybersecurity, and partners cross functionally to maintain and improve process control, instrumentation, and automation capabilities.

Requirements

A safety minded individual who possesses a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, electro-mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline, or an accredited associate degree combined with at least five (5) years of relevant industrial experience.
Complete and apply training on plant control systems, including DCS programming, HMI development, input/output configuration, and system troubleshooting.
Configure, calibrate, and troubleshoot a wide range of industrial instrumentation and control devices.
Create and maintain electrical and control system drawings using AutoCAD or equivalent electronic drafting tools.
Apply working knowledge of the National Electrical Code (NEC) and NFPA 70E standards; utilize NFPA 70B and DISCUS standards where applicable.
Perform control system engineering work in a manufacturing or industrial environment, preferably within distillation, grain processing, or similar process driven operations.
Troubleshoot, modify, and support distributed control systems (DCS), including systems operating in virtualized environments.
Execute control system project development, implementation, testing, and commissioning activities.
Configure and support I/O devices, instrumentation, and associated control software platforms.
Apply engineering principles to the design, operation, and troubleshooting of industrial control systems, instrumentation, and electrical power systems.
Evaluate and implement current industrial control technologies to improve system reliability, safety, and performance.
Administer and support control system infrastructure within a virtualized operational technology (OT) environment.
Diagnose and resolve control system issues across hardware, instrumentation, networking, DCS, and HMI platforms.
Prioritize and respond to critical operational system issues to restore safe and reliable plant operations.
Coordinate effectively with contractors and service providers performing instrumentation and control system work.
Use administrative and technical software tools to document, track, and support engineering activities.
Provide after hours technical support, remotely or on site, when required to address critical system issues and maintain operational continuity.

Responsibilities

Lead large‑scale DCS and OT hardware and software upgrade projects from concept through commissioning.
Develop project scope, schedules, budgets, and resource plans for capital and continuous improvement initiatives.
Select control system hardware, software, and instrumentation solutions that meet operational and safety requirements.
Coordinate internal resources and external contractors to execute projects safely, on schedule, and within budget.
Oversee installation, testing, documentation, and transition of completed projects to operations.
Provide subject matter expertise for DCS programming, troubleshooting, modifications, and system enhancements.
Develop, modify, and deploy control logic, HMI screens, and instrumentation configurations.
Partner with Process Engineering, Maintenance, Production, Warehouse, and Quality teams to support operational goals.
Create, maintain, and control technical documentation for control system hardware, software, and network architecture.
Plan and coordinate control system activities for annual shutdowns and major maintenance events.
Identify required materials, spare parts, and labor resources to support scheduled maintenance work.
Verify instrumentation and control equipment meet calibration, performance, and safety standards.
Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and guidance to engineering, maintenance, production, and warehouse teams.
Support contractor onboarding and ensure technical alignment with plant control system standards.
Respond to critical control system issues, including providing after‑hours support when required.