Senior Controls & Automation Engineer (PLC/SCADA)

Job Overview - Senior Controls & Automation Engineer (PLC/SCADA)

• Dallas, TX - open to assisted relocation to Dallas, TX for exceptional candidates.
• Full-time opportunity
• $110,000 - $190,000 DOE
  
  

Industrial Controls & Automation Engineers are an essential component of ours vision for the modern factory. You will be an integral part of landing the first line in our first factory. You will provide direction to vendors and integrators in the company's controls and programming standards. You will help to achieve production milestones by owning FAT/SAT checklists, defining test plans, documenting software performance, and driving action items to closure. You will harden our manufacturing systems according to CMMC requirements. You will be the cross-team glue that keeps the manufacturing needs and the robotics development in lockstep. This role is heavily focused on controls implementation and troubleshooting, integration oversight, security hardening, and cross-functional coordination, and we are looking for candidates with a willingness to rise to the challenge.

Hiring at Senior; open to Staff/Lead for exceptional candidates.

Responsibilities

Land Factory 1, Line 1 (F1L1)

• Coordinate with other team members to install PLC programming artifacts (AOIs, UDTs, and custom routines) onto F1L1 equipment.
• Ensure comprehensive Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system coupling with F1L1 equipment.
• Troubleshoot controls, telemetry acquisition, machine tasking, and other PLC operations during F1L1 initial commissioning stages.
  
  

Ensure controls are effective and secure

• Drive effective development and evaluation of PLC artifacts by using Git, participating in code reviews, triggering CI/CD and other automated testing, and working with hardware-in-the-loop test fixtures.
• Triage EtherNet/IP and OPC-UA issues, timing / data-model mismatches, and network problems with tools such as Wireshark, PuTTY, protocol analyzers, or through more direct PLC / SCADA diagnostics.
• Implement and document controls aligned to CMMC 2.0 / NIST 800-171 in manufacturing contexts (secured accounts/roles, network segmentation, CIP Security, OPC-UA certs/policies, logging, backup/restore policies, and patching).
  
  

Enforce standards

• Guide vendors and integrators in proper application of code standards and higher level systems integration, and own the review process to validate adherence to our standards.
• Contribute to testing of, generating feedback on, and refactoring of PLC programming artifacts.
• Author and maintain FAT/SAT checklists, and drive outstanding action items to completion during equipment commissioning.
  
  

Collaborate across the organization

• Work with both manufacturing and MES teams to realize the vision of a software driven factory
• Collaborate with robotics engineers to implement PLC artifact improvements, test new control features, capture operator or manufacturing feedback on existing systems, and brainstorm new ways to leverage software and robotics.
  
  

Requirements

PLC Programming Experience

• 2-5 years of PLC programming experience on PLCs and HMIs: Manufacturing, palletizing, conveyance, or other automated system programming experience.
• Strong understanding of domain programs and protocols: Using Rockwell Studio 5000, FactoryTalk View, AOI and UDT programming, EtherNet/IP communication, and industrial networking.
• Proven SCADA integration experience: Connecting PLCs to software platforms such as Ignition, FactoryTalk Optix, or AVEVA Edge.
  
  

Software Engineering Experience

• Scripting language experience: Proficient in Go or Python to engage in testing, improve data collection, facilitate troubleshooting, or realize productivity gains.
• Development tooling experience: Experience with Git, semantic versioning, code reviews, continuous integration (CI) systems, automated testing, and authoring and maintaining documentation.
  
  

Collaborative Engineering Experience

• Experience with field acceptance tests (FAT) / site acceptance tests (SAT), specifically on running programming requirements to resolved states.
• Experience with reading specifications, capturing change requests and documenting changes, and communicating with other functional disciplines to ensure positive engineering outcomes.
  
  

Willingness to Get the Job Done

• Travel: Up to 25% for vendor site activities.
  
  

Bonus Qualifications

PLC Programming Experience

• Experience scaling PLC programs, AOIs and UDTs, and HMI applications across multiple lines and projects
• Experience with Ignition tag providers, UDT mapping, scripting, and security
• Experience with FactoryTalk Logix Echo, and leveraging Logix Echo APIs
• Experience with Siemens SIMATIC PLCs/HMIs
• Experience with Mitsubishi Q-series PLCs
  
  

Software Engineering Experience

• Experience with C# programming, such as developing applications using libraries provided alongside manufacturing software
• Experience with containerization software, such as Docker
• Experience managing programming efforts, creating integration training plans for other programmers, and understanding program schedules and delivery date