Principal Controls Engineer
About The Position
The Principal Controls Engineer works within engineering groups to support the development and implementation of control strategies and sub-system requirements for advanced equipment control systems. This role supports a broad range of Ogden products including aircraft ground air conditioning equipment, aircraft ground power conversion equipment, load sharing systems, and military aircraft ground support systems. Controls work encompasses control strategy development and verification, including: Component selection (electronic control modules, VFDs, motors, drives, engines, generators, energy storage cells, sensors, etc.) Embedded printed board systems or programmable logic controllers (Allen Bradley, Beckhoff, IFM) HMI design, integration development, programming, communications, and applications. This role supports both new product development and sustaining engineering efforts, including modernization of legacy systems due to component obsolescence, and requires strong ownership of PLC programming, operator interface development, and hands-on troubleshooting support.
Requirements
- Accredited Bachelor's degree in mechanical/electrical Engineering or related field with five (5) or more years of related experience.
Nice To Haves
- Eight (8) or more years of experience in controls engineering, systems integration, or a related field
- Experience integrating multiple PLC-controlled systems and enabling communication across networks (SCADA or similar environments)
- Strong experience in: PLC programming (Allen Bradley, Beckhoff, IFM)
- Operator interface (HMI) development
- TwinCAT (2 and 3) experience desired, with preference for TwinCAT 3
- Experience developing end-user equipment interfaces with a focus on usability and intuitive operation
- Experience working in high-mix environments requiring standardization across multiple products
- Familiarity with: Altium (circuit board design)
- Copia (Gerber file repositories)
- Experience supporting manufacturing environments, including troubleshooting and production support
- Work experience in automotive or heavy-duty vehicle CANbus/Modbus/Bacnet and architecture a plus
- Embedded software development experience using C/C++/C# or Python a plus
Responsibilities
- Perform engineering calculations, investigations, and tasks supporting control system development and implementation
- Deliver results according to Oshkosh and general industry engineering standards and processes
- Support more senior engineers and product leads in preparation of plans, designs, computation methods, integration and reporting
- Support both new product development (NPD) and sustaining engineering efforts, including hardware and software obsolescence updates and system replication using modern components
- Design, develop, and program PLC-based control systems and operator interfaces (HMIs), including: Creation of intuitive, user-friendly displays, Alarm handling and system feedback visualization
- Support integration of multiple control systems and communication across networks
- Provide hands-on troubleshooting support for manufacturing and test cell operations, identifying root cause across software, hardware, and process-related issues
- Support production implementation, field service support, and sustaining engineering activities across a wide variety of products
- Collaborate with software engineering, internal engineering groups, and external component suppliers
- Provide guidance or mentorship to entry level engineers, designers, or technicians
- Support equipment sub-system controls research, development, verification and validation, testing, and production implementation
- Support development of requirements including resources, equipment, estimates, test plans, and milestones
- Develop and utilize test environments, including bench testing and simulated systems, to validate control strategies
- Work with internal and external teams (industry consortiums, universities) on advanced control development and component development efforts
- Read and interpret electrical wiring schematics, diagrams, wire tag tables, and P&IDs
- Generate Control Narratives with strong revision control documentation
- Other duties as assigned
- Regular attendance is required.
Benefits
- People First culture
- Opportunities to support team member growth and success
- Competitive total rewards package
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
