Principal Controls & Automation Engineer

Principal Controls & Automation Engineer

JOB-10046689

Anticipated Start Date

6/1/2026

Location

Midford, UT

Type of Employment

Contract Hire

Employer Info

Our client is a leading clean energy innovator focused on advancing geothermal technology to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy. Backed by strong investor support and a multi-billion-dollar project pipeline, the company is developing groundbreaking enhanced geothermal systems to deliver reliable 24/7 carbon-free power. The organization brings together world-class engineers, researchers, and developers dedicated to shaping a more climate-friendly energy future.

Job Summary

The Principal Controls & Automation Engineer is responsible for owning the controls, automation, and SCADA systems for the company’s geothermal power plants, from initial design through commissioning and operations. This hands-on role includes PLC/DCS architecture, HMI and SCADA development, network design, panel design, field installation, loop checkout, testing, and startup activities. The position also drives standardization, reusable engineering tools, and technical leadership to support the development of a scalable fleet of ORC geothermal plants.

Job Description

• Own the end-to-end controls architecture for the company’s ORC plants — PLC, DCS, HMI, SCADA, historian, and network — from green-field design through commissioning and into operations.
• Drive hardware and software selection decisions: PLC / DCS platform, SCADA / HMI platform, instrumentation, communication protocols, and cybersecurity posture; defend each decision back to first principles.
• Design and review electrical control panels, IO architecture, and field instrumentation; coordinate with EE / I&C disciplines on cable schedules, panel layouts, and termination details.
• Architect plant network topology — control LAN, business LAN, DMZ, OT/IT segmentation — and define standards for protocol selection (Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP, Profinet, OPC UA, DNP).
• Develop and maintain reusable PLC / DCS library blocks, faceplates, and configurable core logic that compress per-plant delivery time on plant N 1.
• Lead PLC and HMI software development across the platforms in the company’s ecosystem — Rockwell Studio 5000 / PlantPAx / ACM, Siemens TIA Portal, Honeywell Experion, Yokogawa, Ignition, FactoryTalk — and rationalize the stack where opportunities exist.
• Build and maintain the IO list, instrument list, and motor list as living documents that drive panel design, loop checks, simulator stubs, and acceptance testing — not as static deliverables that go stale at IFC.
• Develop SCADA dashboards, alarm management strategies, and historian (PI / equivalent) data models that operations and engineering can actually use to run the plant.
• Supervise on-site controls installation; lead pre-startup loop checks, point-to-points, functional tests, and integrated commissioning for plant control, BoP, turbine, and generator scopes.
• Own the controls portion of MC-to-COD: write the test procedures, run the tests, document the results, and turn over to operations clean.
• Interface directly with OEM controls teams (Turboden ORC, switchgear, generator excitation, VFDs, fire & gas, vibration monitoring) to integrate vendor scopes into the plant control architecture.
• Stop unsafe field conditions on sight; enforce LOTO, PTW, and energization holds without compromise.
• Define and own the company’s controls engineering standards — tag naming, library structure, alarm philosophy, screen design, panel design conventions, network architecture — and enforce them across plants.
• Build internal tools (Excel / VBA / Python) that automate IO list generation, loop check sheets, ACM imports, simulator stubs, and acceptance test packs. If you are doing it by hand twice, you are scripting it.
• Treat every Cape Station deliverable as plant-N 1 IP — not as a one-off. Codify what works into the company’s controls playbook.
• Provide technical guidance and design oversight for junior engineers, integrators, and EPC controls scopes; review designs and hold the line on quality.
• Mentor the next layer of controls engineers; build the bench so the program scales without the senior layer becoming a bottleneck.
• Represent Plant Construction & Operations in cross-functional reviews with Production Engineering, O&M, Drilling, and Reservoir teams on data, automation, and integration topics.

Skills Required

• 10 years of hands-on industrial controls experience covering PLC and / or DCS programming, HMI / SCADA development, network architecture, electrical panel design, site installation, loop checkout, and commissioning of full plant systems.
• Deep working fluency in at least two of: Rockwell (Studio 5000, PlantPAx, ACM), Siemens (TIA Portal / Step 7), Honeywell Experion, Yokogawa, Ignition, FactoryTalk, or comparable platforms.
• Demonstrated experience leading commissioning of a complete plant or major plant subsystem from cold steel through performance acceptance.
• Strong fluency in industrial communication protocols — Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP/RTU, Profinet, OPC, DNP, and serial.
• Track record of producing reusable library logic, standards, or tooling that reduced per-project delivery time on subsequent projects — with concrete before / after evidence.
• Comfortable in the field, in PPE, climbing into panels and pushing buttons. This is not a behind-the-desk role.
• Excellent written communication; able to produce design documentation a junior engineer can follow and a vendor cannot wiggle out of.
• Willing and able (with or without reasonable accommodation) to travel to Cape Station and other company locations regularly, with extended on-site rotations during commissioning campaigns.
• Direct controls experience on geothermal binary / ORC plants (Ormat, Turboden, Exergy, or equivalent) preferred
• Steam turbine, gas turbine, or rotating equipment controls experience — GE (Frame 5/6, LM2500, LM6000), Siemens (SGT-100, SGT-200), Westinghouse, Solar, Pratt & Whitney, Dresser-Rand, or comparable preferred
• Experience with auxiliary system integration: vibration monitoring, voltage regulation, VFDs, fire & gas detection, generator excitation, switchgear / protective relaying preferred
• AutoCAD Electrical, EPLAN, or comparable electrical design platform; experience building and standardizing electrical design libraries preferred
• VBA, Python, or comparable scripting for engineering automation (IO list generation, loop check automation, simulator integration) preferred
• Compressor anti-surge, hydro turbine, or other complex rotating equipment controls experience preferred
• OT cybersecurity exposure (IEC 62443, NIST 800-82); experience designing segmented OT/IT architectures preferred
• Functional safety experience preferred (SIL-rated control loops, IEC 61511 / 61508)
• Track record of upgrading or replacing an existing plant control system on a live, production facility preferred

Education/Training/Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, or equivalent demonstrated experience