Lead Instrumentation and control engineer

• Location: Lubbock, TX and Rapid City, SD
• Contract length: 10-12 months
• Start: August 2026

Responsibilities

• Lead instrumentation and control activities during installation, commissioning, startup, and plant turnover for a brownfield RICE power generation project.
• Execute and oversee loop checks, point-to-point verification, I/O checkout, control logic testing, functional testing, and system validation.
• Support Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), commissioning, startup, and performance testing.
• Configure, troubleshoot, and support Distributed Control Systems (DCS), PLCs, HMIs, and SCADA systems.
• Coordinate instrumentation and controls activities with mechanical, electrical, construction, and operations teams during outages, tie-ins, and system cutovers.
• Review control narratives, logic diagrams, P&IDs, wiring diagrams, instrument indexes, and vendor documentation.
• Troubleshoot instrumentation, control valves, analyzers, communication networks, and control systems during commissioning and startup.
• Support calibration of transmitters, pressure, flow, temperature, and level instrumentation.
• Develop commissioning procedures, punch lists, turnover packages, startup reports, and project documentation.
• Ensure compliance with project specifications, OEM requirements, industry standards, and site safety procedures.

Qualifications

• 10 years of Instrumentation & Controls experience within utility, industrial, or power generation facilities.
• Experience supporting Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engine (RICE) power plants or similar thermal generation facilities.
• Experience with brownfield modifications, outages, tie-ins, and startup activities in live operating plants.
• Strong knowledge of Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and PLC platforms, including:
• Emerson Ovation
• Siemens PCS7
• ABB
• Honeywell Experion
• Rockwell Automation / Allen-Bradley
• Experience leading commissioning, startup, loop checks, control logic testing, FAT/SAT, and plant turnover.
• Working knowledge of power plant instrumentation, motor controls, MCCs, control valves, and process control systems.
• Proven troubleshooting experience with instrumentation, DCS systems, PLCs, and industrial communication networks.
• Familiarity with communication protocols including Modbus, Profibus, Profinet, OPC, Ethernet/IP, and TCP/IP.
• Strong understanding of electrical protection, control systems, and safe work practices within energized facilities.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering, or related field preferred but not required.

Preferred Experience

• RICE power plants (Wärtsilä, MAN Energy Solutions, Caterpillar, Jenbacher/INNIO, Cummins, Fairbanks Morse)
• Utility-scale power generation
• Brownfield retrofit and expansion projects
• EPC construction and commissioning
• SCADA and HMI systems
• Plant outages and system cutovers
• NERC compliance
• SAP or other Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)