Lead Controls & Electrical Engineer

Overview

The Lead Controls & Electrical Engineer is the senior technical authority for electrical design and controls within KSi’s Commercial Business Unit. Historically KSi’s systems were largely repeatable; Commercial projects are not — each is effectively first-of-a-kind, introducing new equipment, integrations, and requirements that cannot be copied. This role owns that engineering judgment end to end as the final design-and-programming authority for Commercial work, so technical escalations resolve within the engineering team rather than on the BU manager’s desk. It spans KSi’s traditional PLC/HMI/SCADA stack and its emerging Python-based platform, raises the quality of electrical design output, and builds the standards, documentation, and team capability that let KSi scale novel work without single-person dependency.

Responsibilities

Design Authority & Engineering Leadership

· Serve as the final technical review and escalation point for automation design, electrical drawings, and controls programming on Commercial projects.

· Own engineering decisions on first-of-a-kind systems where no prior design can be copied; reason from fundamentals to scope new implementations and integrations.

· Provide design direction and technical support to the panel build, panel checkout, and startup/commissioning teams.

· Partner with the controls parts/BOM specialist on component selection, cross-referencing, and supply-availability risk for novel designs.

Authority, Oversight & Alignment

· Hold day-to-day technical authority over electrical and traditional controls design and standards for Commercial projects.

· Final design authority for Commercial solutions rests with the Commercial Business Unit Manager; this role earns increasing autonomy as its approach is calibrated to KSi’s hardware and software standards.

· When working within the KSi AutoBulk solution — or any solution spanning multiple business units — operate under the oversight of the Sr. Industrial Automation Engineer, who owns that platform.

· Participate and engage in standing weekly meetings with the CTO and the Sr. Industrial Automation Engineer to keep electrical and controls standards and platform direction aligned, rather than drifting into a separate Commercial track.

· Provide technical direction and design authority to Commercial controls and electrical design staff; day-to-day people management and task prioritization remain with their direct manager.

Electrical Engineering & Design Standards

· Own and continuously improve KSi’s electrical design output — schematics, panel layouts, I/O lists, network diagrams, and control documentation.

· Ensure compliance with UL 508A, CTE, and applicable electrical codes and certifications.

· Replace copy-paste drafting with adaptable, well-documented design standards and reusable libraries that flex to each Commercial project.

· Establish electrical CAD standards and review drawings produced by the design/drafting team, including a planned dedicated electrical design/drafting support role.

· Maintain BOMs, functional specifications, and design records.

Controls Development — Traditional and Emerging Platforms

· Design, program, and commission PLC, HMI, and SCADA solutions for Commercial systems using KSi’s established toolset.

· Build traditional control solutions that integrate and hand off cleanly to KSi’s next-generation Python-based platform; partner with the Sr. Industrial Automation Engineer (platform owner) and grow familiarity with that environment over time.

· Integrate industrial devices, instrumentation, and protocols (Modbus, EtherNet/IP, OPC UA, MQTT) to meet new and non-standard requirements.

· Troubleshoot and tune field equipment — sensors, actuators, VFDs, PID loops — to maximize uptime and performance.

AI-Enabled Engineering

· Actively evaluate and adopt AI tools to improve engineering speed, quality, and consistency — for design, code generation and refactoring, documentation, and troubleshooting — applying sound engineering judgment to validate their output.

· Champion practical, business-driven adoption of AI and emerging tools across the Commercial engineering team, and help establish where they do and do not belong in a safety-critical controls environment.

Team Capability & Knowledge Transfer

· Mentor controls and electrical staff and deliberately distribute know-how so technical capability is not concentrated in a single person.

· Document designs, decisions, standards, and troubleshooting guides as a standing expectation rather than an afterthought.

· Help scope, interview for, and onboard the planned phase-two electrical design/drafting support role.

· Build the general controls and integration know-how the Commercial team needs to handle new implementations independently.

Customer & Cross-Functional Support

· Provide pre-sales technical guidance and scope and estimate Commercial solutions for sales and dealer partners.

· Support startup and commissioning onsite as needed, including during peak treating season.

· Coordinate with customer IT and networking teams on hardware, network, and security requirements.

· Travel domestically and internationally as required.

Skills & Qualifications

Required:

· UL 508A: Hands-on UL 508A panel design and electrical code compliance experience.

· Electrical design: Strong schematic, panel-layout, and BOM skills with electrical CAD (e.g., AutoCAD Electrical or EPLAN).

· Controls depth: Proficiency with PLC/HMI/SCADA platforms and the ability to program from a blank sheet, not only modify existing programs.

· Industrial networking & protocols: Able to design and troubleshoot device integrations over Modbus, EtherNet/IP, OPC UA, and MQTT.

· Equipment & instrumentation: Solid working understanding of the mechanical equipment, sensors, and instrumentation these systems control.

· Experience: 8 years designing, programming, and supporting industrial control systems (10 preferred), with demonstrated ownership of complex or first-of-a-kind designs.

· Leadership & communication: Sets standards, documents clearly, and mentors others — this is a technical-authority role.

· Openness to the new platform: Willingness and aptitude to grow into KSi’s emerging Python/React control platform. You do not need to know it today — you do need to be eager to learn it.

Preferred, Not Required:

· Education: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field; equivalent hands-on experience is fully accepted in its place.

· New-stack skills: Existing experience with Python, React, relational databases, or web frameworks.

· Licensure: Professional Engineer (PE) license.

Who You Are:

· A builder of standards, not just a doer of tasks — you make the next project easier, not just done.

· Comfortable being the last line of technical defense and owning the call on unfamiliar problems.

· Reasons from first principles when there is no prior design to copy.

· Generous with knowledge; you mentor and document by default.

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• What interests you about this position?
• What interests you about working at KSi?
• What are the key contributions you can bring to this role?

Education:

• Bachelor's (Preferred)

Willingness to travel:

• 25% (Preferred)

Work Location: In person