Electrical Controls Engineer
About The Position
We are seeking an experienced Electrical Controls Engineer to design, program, document, commission, and support industrial control systems for industrial machinery. The role combines electrical engineering, PLC programming, control-panel design, machine safety, and field commissioning. The engineer develops practical, reliable control solutions from concept through startup and works closely with customers, project managers, engineers, technicians, panel builders, and field service personnel. The position takes ownership of control-system projects from design through commissioning, including electrical documentation, PLC/HMI programming, testing, startup, troubleshooting, and customer support. Work includes engineering design and hands-on industrial applications around control panels, machinery, furnaces, ovens, production equipment, and other industrial systems. Periodic travel to customer facilities is required for commissioning, troubleshooting, installation support, and technical assistance.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation Engineering, or a related technical discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
- At least 5 years of industrial controls, automation, electrical engineering, or related experience.
- Demonstrated experience designing or supporting industrial electrical control systems.
- Demonstrated experience programming and troubleshooting industrial PLC systems.
- Experience developing or modifying industrial HMI applications.
- Ability to read, interpret, and develop electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and control-system documentation.
- Strong understanding of industrial control components, including PLCs, HMIs, relays, contactors, VFDs, power supplies, circuit protection, sensors, actuators, and control wiring.
- Ability to troubleshoot electrical and control systems using schematics, PLC diagnostics, and appropriate test equipment.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and troubleshooting skills.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities.
- Ability to communicate effectively with customers, engineers, technicians, electricians, project managers, and other stakeholders.
- Ability and willingness to travel periodically to customer sites.
Nice To Haves
- Formal functional safety training or Functional Safety Engineer (FSE) certification.
- Experience with ISO 13849-1, IEC 62061, Performance Level (PL), Safety Integrity Level (SIL), safety categories, SISTEMA, and safety-system validation and verification.
Responsibilities
- Design electrical control systems for new equipment, system upgrades, and machine retrofit projects.
- Develop electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, I/O drawings, panel layouts, and bills of material.
- Create and maintain electrical documentation using SolidWorks Electrical, maintain accurate engineering records, and incorporate design revisions throughout the project lifecycle.
- Select and specify PLCs, safety controllers, HMIs, VFDs, relays, contactors, power supplies, circuit protection, sensors, actuators, and other control components.
- Develop control-panel designs and support panel fabrication, inspection, and testing.
- Program, modify, test, and troubleshoot industrial PLC and HMI systems.
- Develop machine sequences, interlocks, permissives, alarms, diagnostics, and process-control functions.
- Interface new control systems with existing OEM machinery and controls.
- Evaluate existing equipment when electrical documentation is incomplete, outdated, or unavailable.
- Troubleshoot PLC I/O, remote I/O, industrial networks, VFDs, sensors, actuators, and other control-system devices.
- Perform factory testing, I/O checkout, system testing, startup, and commissioning.
- Design and support safety-related control systems for industrial machinery.
- Integrate safety devices, including light curtains, area scanners, guard-door interlocks, safety-rated RFID switches, emergency stops, two-hand controls, safety mats, enabling devices, safety contactors, safety valves, and motion-monitoring devices.
- Develop safety-related control architectures with appropriate redundancy, monitoring, diagnostics, fault detection, and reset/restart functions.
- Apply applicable requirements of the ANSI B11 series and other relevant machinery safety standards.
- Support machine risk assessments and safety-system verification and validation.
- Travel periodically to customer sites for commissioning, troubleshooting, installation support, and technical assistance.
- Perform other related duties as assigned by the supervisor.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
