Global Controls Project Engineer

AFB International•St. Charles, MO

5d•Onsite

About The Position

AFB International is seeking a Global Controls Project Engineer to lead electrical, controls, and automation work across its capital projects. The role independently manages smaller projects, generally valued below $500,000, and provides electrical and controls leadership on larger manufacturing, technology, and continuous-improvement initiatives. The position is based at the corporate office in St. Charles, Missouri, or the plant in Aurora, Missouri, and contributes to operations, capacity, reliability, safety, and business growth. The engineer manages projects from planning through closeout, maintaining scopes, budgets, schedules, risks, action items, and status reports. They develop and review electrical and controls requirements and deliverables; coordinate design resources, vendors, contractors, procurement, installation, commissioning, startup, and turnover; and verify that systems meet AFB requirements and global standards. The role also promotes consistent engineering practices and ensures solutions support safety, food safety, quality, cybersecurity, regulatory, and operational requirements. Work takes place in office, manufacturing, construction, and active production environments. Travel between AFB facilities and to vendor or contractor locations is required. Occasional off-hour support may be needed during startup, commissioning, or critical project activities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation Engineering, or a related discipline from an accredited university or technical college.
At least three years of experience in electrical engineering, controls, automation, capital projects, or industrial manufacturing.
Working knowledge of PLCs, HMIs, industrial networks, instrumentation, control panels, drives, and automation systems.
Experience with electrical documentation, control systems, equipment integration, commissioning, startup, and troubleshooting.
Experience working with equipment suppliers, system integrators, contractors, consultants, and plant personnel.
Ability to develop scopes, estimates, schedules, procurement documents, change control, and project closeout materials.
Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Ability to manage costs, evaluate alternatives, prioritize work, and make practical decisions in a changing environment.
Ability to travel between AFB facilities and to vendor or contractor locations.
Ability to provide occasional off-hour support during equipment startup, commissioning, or critical project activities.

Responsibilities

Manage assigned electrical, controls, and automation projects, generally valued below $500,000, from planning through closeout.
Maintain accurate project scopes, budgets, schedules, action items, risks, and status reports in accordance with AFB project-management practices.
Support larger capital projects by coordinating electrical and controls requirements, vendors, contractors, deliverables, schedules, costs, and risks.
Execute projects to meet approved safety, quality, cost, schedule, and scope expectations.
Develop electrical and controls scopes, design criteria, specifications, I/O and network requirements, bid packages, and procurement documents.
Manage and review electrical and controls design deliverables for completeness, accuracy, constructibility, maintainability, and compliance with AFB standards.
Review drawings, specifications, control narratives, panel designs, PLC and HMI documentation, network architecture, programs, alarms, interlocks, and operator interfaces.
Direct electrical consultants and other technical resources as needed.
Evaluate alternative solutions for practicality, reliability, maintainability, and cost-effectiveness.
Coordinate electrical and controls installation, field troubleshooting, commissioning, startup, training, performance verification, and turnover.
Participate in and lead Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs), document deficiencies, and ensure corrective actions are completed before equipment ships or enters service.
Verify that controls and automation systems meet AFB requirements and global standards.
Complete system backups, as-built drawings, network records, manuals, spare-parts information, and other closeout documentation.
Partner with the Global Automation and Controls Engineer and plant controls engineers to apply consistent architecture, programming, HMI, networking, and documentation standards.
Build working relationships with Corporate Project Managers, plant engineering and maintenance teams, Operations, Quality, EHS, vendors, contractors, suppliers, and integrators.
Ensure electrical and controls solutions support safety, food safety, quality, cybersecurity, regulatory, and operational requirements.
Troubleshoot and provide startup support for electrical, controls, automation, instrumentation, and industrial networking issues.
Communicate requirements, decisions, risks, and project expectations to cross-functional and external teams.