Electrical Controls Engineer

Position Summary

This is not a remote position.  Must be able to work in Rockford IL. 

We are seeking an experienced Electrical Controls Engineer to design, program, document, commission, and support industrial control systems for industrial machinery.

This position combines electrical engineering, PLC programming, control-panel design, machine safety, and field commissioning. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing practical, reliable control solutions from concept through startup and will work closely with customers, project managers, engineers, technicians, panel builders, and field service personnel.

Electrical & Controls Engineering

• 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 documentation 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•            Evaluate existing equipment when electrical documentation is incomplete, outdated, or unavailable.
•            Develop and troubleshoot PLC programs for industrial automation and machine-control applications.
•        Develop and modify HMI applications, operator interfaces, alarms, and diagnostics.
•        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.

·         Primary PLC platforms: Allen-Bradley/Rockwell and Siemens.

 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 incorporating 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.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation Engineering, or a related technical discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• 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

Functional Safety- Preferred not required 

• 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
  • Safety-system validation and verification

WORK ENVIRONMENT

This position combines engineering design work with hands-on industrial applications. The engineer may work around electrical control panels, industrial machinery, furnaces, ovens, production equipment, and other industrial systems.

Periodic travel to customer facilities is required for commissioning, troubleshooting, installation support, and technical assistance.

The Electrical Controls Engineer will take ownership of control-system projects from design through commissioning, including:

Design Electrical Documentation PLC/HMI Programming Testing Startup Commissioning Troubleshooting Customer Support

The ideal candidate brings strong industrial controls fundamentals, sound engineering judgment, and a practical approach to solving real-world automation and machine-control problems.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, and walk.  The employee is frequently required to use hands and fingers to handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; talk and hear.  The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds; frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.   Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. 

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.  Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.