Senior Controls Engineer

Pohlad Companies•Shoreview, MN

15h•$110,000 - $130,000

About The Position

PAR Systems is seeking an Electrical Controls Design Engineer to join its Advanced Manufacturing team. The team designs systems for aerospace and defense applications, including precision cutting and trimming, robotic and configurable fixtures, drilling, and friction stir welding. The role turns machine requirements into complete electrical designs supporting procurement, panel fabrication, machine assembly, commissioning, and long-term service. The engineer works closely with controls software, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and project teams to deliver safe, reliable, and maintainable equipment. Experience with AutoCAD Electrical and EPLAN is highly valued, with EPLAN experience preferred. The position includes developing electrical designs and documentation, selecting control hardware, performing electrical design calculations, coordinating interfaces and layouts, and maintaining consistency across released design documents. The engineer also supports fabrication, assembly, checkout, and commissioning, and contributes to EPLAN design content and improvements in electrical design quality and efficiency. This is a salaried position with a targeted starting pay range of $110,000–$130,000 annually. PAR Systems offers training and development, project exposure, and benefits including 401(k) matching, medical, dental, and vision insurance, disability and life insurance, PTO, paid holidays, parental leave for both parents, and tuition reimbursement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant education and experience will also be considered.
Three or more years of electrical controls design experience for industrial machinery, automation systems, or custom equipment.
Proficiency producing complete electrical design packages using AutoCAD Electrical or EPLAN.
Experience selecting and integrating industrial control components, motor controls, instrumentation, and safety hardware.
Working knowledge of power distribution, grounding and bonding, conductor sizing, circuit protection, and control panel design.
Familiarity with applicable machinery and industrial control panel standards, such as NFPA 79, NFPA 70, and UL 508A.
Ability to evaluate vendor documentation and translate equipment interfaces into accurate schematics.
Strong attention to detail, clear communication, and disciplined management of drawings, BOMs, and revisions.
Ability to work independently while coordinating decisions with a multidisciplinary project team.
Willingness to support equipment checkout and occasional customer-site activities as project needs require.

Nice To Haves

EPLAN Electric P8 experience is strongly preferred, particularly delivery of complete machine electrical designs.
Experience working in both EPLAN or AutoCAD Electrical.
Experience with EPLAN project structures, device tagging, cross-references, macros, parts management, and automated reports.
EPLAN Pro Panel and three-dimensional control panel layout experience.
Experience establishing electrical CAD standards, maintaining component libraries, or supporting a CAD platform transition.
Experience with multi-panel systems with interconnected wiring and coordinated device identification.
Experience with servo systems, coordinated motion equipment, robotics, and precision manufacturing machinery.
Machine safety circuit design experience and participation in safety reviews.
Short-circuit current rating evaluation and control panel thermal analysis experience.
Engineering change control experience and integration of electrical design data with ERP, PDM, or PLM systems.
Hands-on panel assembly, wiring, troubleshooting, or commissioning experience.
Strong AutoCAD candidates interested in developing EPLAN expertise are encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities

Develop electrical control schematics, power distribution drawings, panel layouts, field wiring diagrams, and installation documentation for custom automated equipment.
Select and specify controls hardware, including PLCs, I/O, safety devices, servo drives, VFDs, power supplies, sensors, instrumentation, and electrical protection devices.
Perform design calculations for electrical loads, conductor sizing, circuit protection, power supplies, and enclosure thermal requirements.
Create and maintain bills of material, cable schedules, terminal plans, device identification, and wire numbering.
Define electrical interfaces with mechanical equipment, vendor-supplied systems, and controls software, and verify that drawings reflect selected components and machine requirements.
Coordinate layouts and wiring across control panels, junction boxes, and field devices.
Participate in design reviews and apply customer specifications, applicable electrical standards, and PAR engineering practices.
Prepare design packages and component releases to support project schedules and procurement needs.
Maintain consistency between schematics, panel layouts, BOMs, and released revisions through engineering changes.
Support panel fabrication, machine assembly, electrical checkout, and commissioning by resolving design questions and incorporating verified changes into final documentation.
Help develop EPLAN templates, macros, parts data, reports, and reusable design content.
Share technical knowledge and contribute to improvements in electrical design quality and efficiency.