What are the responsibilities and job description for the Junior Process Controls Engineer position at CEC Controls Company Inc?
Job Title: Junior Process Controls Engineer
Location: Within 25 miles of Oakland County (Hybrid eligible after onboarding, approximately 75% work from home, 25% on jobsite)
Company: CEC Controls – Michigan Branch
Employment Type: Full-Time Travel: 10% (primarily within Michigan)
About CEC Controls
CEC Controls is a leading instrumentation and controls integrator headquartered in Michigan with a strong, long-standing presence in the water and wastewater industry and continued growth across industrial automation and process facilities throughout the state.
Position Overview
We are seeking a Junior Process Controls Engineer with 0–4 years of experience (recent graduates encouraged) to join our service and support team. This role is focused on long-term maintenance, troubleshooting, and upgrade contracts for municipal water and wastewater facilities in Oakland County – perfect for someone eager to get hands-on PLC/SCADA experience with a stable Michigan integrator.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide remote and on-site troubleshooting and support for existing PLC/HMI/SCADA systems
- Perform routine preventative maintenance, system backups, patch updates, and minor upgrades
- Update graphics, alarm databases, tags, and reports in Trihedral VTScada, Inductive Automation Ignition, or GE Vernova iFIX
- Troubleshoot industrial networks including managed Ethernet switches, VLANs, VPN tunnels, cellular routers, and firewalls
- Respond to service calls, document findings, and generate client reports
- Participate in 24/7 on-call rotation for Oakland County contracts (compensated)
- Assist senior engineers with FAT/SAT, panel upgrades, and small capital projects
- Support instrumentation calibration and loop checks as needed
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Computer Engineering
- 0–4 years of experience (co-ops and internships count)
- Basic understanding of PLC logic and familiarity with Trihedral VTScada, Ignition, or GE Vernova iFIX
- Knowledge of Allen-Bradley ControlLogix/CompactLogix or Siemens S7 platforms, Opto 22 would also be an asset
- Familiarity with industrial networking: managed switches, VPN, cellular routers, firewalls, and network security best practices
- Ability to read electrical schematics and network architecture diagrams
- Valid driver’s license and ability to pass background checks for municipal and industrial sites
Assets (Preferred)
- Familiarity with design requirements for hazardous locations (ie. Class 1, Div 1 and Div2)
- Familiarity with industrial instrumentation such as pressure, flow, level, temperature and analytical instruments
- Scripting/development skills in HTML, CSS, Python
- Experience with Relational Databases (ie. MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc,)
- Experience with Rockwell FactoryTalk View SE/ME, Wonderware, AVEVA System Platform, PAC Display, Groov View
- Knowledge of OPC UA, historian configuration (OSIsoft PI, Ignition Historian), and high-availability SCADA architectures
- Cybersecurity fundamentals (IEC 62443, NIST) applied to OT environments
What We Offer
- Competitive salary
- Full benefits (health, dental, vision, 401k match, life/disability)
- Mileage compensation and travel expenses for site work
- Clear path to Senior Engineer and Project Management roles
- Ongoing work on a diverse mix of municipal and industrial automation projects across Michigan
If you thrive on turning complex process requirements into reliable, redundant control systems and want to grow with a stable Michigan-based integrator, we want to hear from you.