Senior Motion Control Systems Engineer

Kairos Power•Oak Ridge, TN

2d•$140,611 - $165,425•Onsite

About The Position

Kairos Power is seeking a Senior Motion Control Engineer to join its Plant Control Systems team. The role leads programming, electrical design, and integration of motion-control, mechanical-handling, and motor-driven equipment for an advanced nuclear power plant. Applications include cranes, hoists, manipulators, lifts, positioning systems, conveyors, and remotely operated equipment. The engineer specifies and integrates motors, drives, instrumentation, safety functions, operator interfaces, and plant-control-system interfaces. The work covers control-system and equipment design for a nuclear environment, emphasizing safety, defined functional boundaries, documented requirements, verification, configuration control, and rigorous testing throughout the equipment lifecycle—from requirements and design through commissioning and operation. The role provides technical leadership, mentors less-experienced engineers, leads complex design activities, and independently resolves significant technical issues. It does not require direct personnel-management responsibility. The position is located onsite at Kairos Power’s Alameda, California headquarters, with some travel and occasional schedule flexibility; extended hours are seldom required to support launch and critical project timelines.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related engineering discipline.
At least 4 years of progressively responsible experience in control-systems engineering, industrial automation, instrumentation and controls, or a related field, including control-logic development using IEC 61131-3 languages or equivalent standards.
Experience serving as a responsible engineer, system owner, technical lead, or lead designer for complex electrical, controls, or mechanical-handling equipment.
Experience with cranes, hoists, manipulators, lifts, conveyors, positioning systems, remotely operated equipment, robotics, or similar motion-control applications.
Experience with system requirements, design documentation, supplier coordination, technical reviews, testing, commissioning, troubleshooting, and design-change implementation.
Strong knowledge of motion-control architectures, motors, drives, gearboxes, brakes, mechanical transmissions, feedback devices, sensors, load cells, and associated instrumentation.
Ability to perform or review motor sizing and related torque-speed, inertia, acceleration, duty-cycle, thermal, gearbox, braking, electrical-protection, grounding, shielding, cable-selection, and power-quality analyses.
Experience programming PLCs and motion controllers using ladder logic, structured text, function blocks, sequential-function charts, or equivalent methods.
Experience with industrial-control platforms such as Rockwell Automation, Siemens, Emerson, ABB, GE, or equivalent.
Experience with DCS, HMI, SCADA, remote I/O, instrumentation, control panels, historians, supervisory controls, and industrial communications.
Familiarity with industrial communication protocols such as Ethernet/IP, Modbus, OPC, Profibus, Profinet, fiber-optic networks, or equivalent technologies.
Ability to develop and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, panel layouts, control narratives, P&IDs, functional logic diagrams, cause-and-effect matrices, I/O lists, and test procedures.
Familiarity with machine-safety practices, including safety PLCs, safety relays, emergency stops, interlocks, overload protection, limit switches, safety-rated feedback, brake monitoring, and safe torque-off functions.
Working knowledge of low-voltage electrical design, including control power and interfaces from 480 VAC through 24 VDC.
Familiarity with configuration management, requirements traceability, independent review, software quality practices, controlled implementation, and lifecycle documentation.
Familiarity with applicable IEEE, IEC, NEMA, NFPA, ISA, ASME, OSHA, and project-specific requirements.
Knowledge of control-system requirements management, design verification, and requirements-traceability practices.
Ability to develop, review, and evaluate control-system test plans, procedures, acceptance criteria, and test results.
Ability to define, coordinate, and resolve multidisciplinary technical interfaces.
Ability to evaluate technical alternatives, risks, assumptions, and design tradeoffs and document engineering decisions.
Demonstrated technical leadership, sound engineering judgment, and ability to independently manage complex technical assignments with limited supervision and resolve complex technical issues.
Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to safety, quality, documentation, design traceability, verification, and configuration control.
Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly in written, graphical, and verbal form.
Ability to collaborate effectively with engineering, operations, maintenance, quality, safety, suppliers, and commissioning teams.
Ability to proactively collect, manage, and transfer knowledge and seek novel ways to create efficiencies.
Ability to move about to accomplish tasks or travel between worksites; communicate with others; and remain stationary, standing, or sitting for prolonged periods.
Ability to read and interpret hazardous warning signs, report equipment issues or unsafe conditions, and wear required PPE.
Occasional schedule flexibility; extended hours are seldom required to support launch and critical project timelines.
Authorization from the Department of Energy to access Part 810-controlled information is required to work in the facility; applicable licensing restrictions may apply to foreign nationals.

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineer (PE) license or eligibility for licensure; the posting also describes a PE license as highly desirable.
Nuclear power plant, advanced reactor, radiological facility, power-generation, utility, heavy-industrial, manufacturing, process-plant, or EPC experience.
Additional certifications such as NETA or CMCP.

Responsibilities

Serve as responsible engineer, system owner, or technical lead for assigned motion-control, electrical-control, motor-drive, and mechanical-handling systems.
Develop and maintain requirements, functional specifications, interface-control documents, design descriptions, calculations, drawings, equipment data sheets, and verification records.
Translate plant operating, equipment, environmental, maintenance, and safety requirements into practical electrical and control-system designs.
Define equipment operating modes, control functions, sequences, protection, fault response, alarms, interlocks, permissives, trips, and safe-state behavior.
Specify and integrate motors, drives, mechanical components, instrumentation, safety devices, control panels, and related equipment.
Perform or review motor, drive, braking, cable, electrical-protection, grounding, shielding, and power-quality analyses.
Develop or review electrical schematics, panel layouts, wiring and termination drawings, I/O and loop diagrams, control narratives, functional logic diagrams, cause-and-effect matrices, and test procedures.
Develop, configure, review, and test PLC, motion-controller, DCS-interface, HMI, SCADA, and related control software using established development, peer-review, testing, release, and configuration-management practices.
Define interfaces for commands, status, feedback, alarms, diagnostics, permissives, trips, safety signals, monitoring, data collection, event logging, and maintenance diagnostics.
Integrate assigned equipment with plant controls, supervisory systems, industrial networks, remote I/O, operator interfaces, and approved cybersecurity architectures.
Support separation and interface definition among equipment controls, plant controls, plant protection systems, and other safety functions.
Review supplier designs, calculations, drawings, software, test procedures, and technical submittals for compliance with project requirements.
Support supplier evaluations, procurement specifications, design reviews, inspections, test witnessing, factory and site acceptance testing, load testing, installation, commissioning, startup, and turnover.
Develop or review acceptance criteria, test plans, procedures, and reports; document resolution of design changes, nonconformances, and corrective actions.
Support troubleshooting, operability evaluations, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, reliability improvement, and lifecycle management of assigned systems.
Maintain traceability among requirements, design outputs, interfaces, software implementation, and verification activities throughout system development.
Evaluate and implement design changes under applicable engineering-change, configuration-management, and design-control processes.
Coordinate control-system interfaces with process, mechanical, electrical, nuclear, operations, cybersecurity, and other disciplines.
Perform or support design verification and technical reviews to confirm compliance with requirements, interfaces, criteria, and engineering standards.
Mentor junior engineers and contribute technical standards, reusable designs, control libraries, test methods, and lessons learned.
Develop, configure, review, test, and implement control software for PLCs and other industrial control platforms, including control logic using IEC 61131-3.
Implement regulatory controls, sequencing, equipment controls, permissives, interlocks, alarms, diagnostics, and fault-response functions.
Develop or support HMI and supervisory-control functionality for assigned systems.
Establish and follow software practices for code organization, naming, peer review, testing, version control, configuration management, and release documentation.
Perform peer reviews of control code and related design documentation.
Develop simulation, emulation, or test environments to verify control-system behavior before deployment.
Investigate and resolve software defects, integration issues, communication problems, and unexpected system behavior.
Support controlled software installation, commissioning, turnover, and lifecycle maintenance.
Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineers, designers, technicians, and project-team members.
Lead technical reviews, design discussions, troubleshooting sessions, and resolution of complex control-system issues.
Review other engineers’ work for technical accuracy, completeness, consistency, and compliance with project requirements.
Develop reusable design methods, standard architectures, templates, libraries, and engineering practices.
Share lessons learned and promote continuous improvement in control-system design, software development, testing, and commissioning.
Support training and cross-training on applicable control platforms, design tools, and plant systems.
Serve as a technical resource to the Senior Manager without assuming formal personnel-management responsibilities.
Perform other duties as assigned.