Senior Controls Engineer

Our Equipment Automation Engineering (EAE) team seeks a professional and innovative individual to join our team in Pullman WA or Lewiston ID.  SEL is a 100 percent employee-owned company that specializes in creating and manufacturing digital products and systems that protect and control power systems around the world.    

The Equipment Automation Engineering team supports manufacturing and vertical integration teams by understanding our manufacturing processes, recommending solutions, and executing projects.   

The successful candidate will be dependable, responsible, and self-motivated, and work closely with EAE mechanical engineers, Production representatives, and related Engineering teams to develop, successfully implement, and support manufacturing automation solutions.  These solutions often include fully custom automation designs.    

As a Senior Controls Engineer, a typical day might include the following:    

1. Mentoring engineers and technicians.   

2. Leading in initial equipment concept development and carefully balancing product specifications, process control requirements, layout complexity, cost, quality, and lead-time limits.   

3. Laying out new industrial electrical control panels which are NFPA79/NEC/UL508A compliant and create electrical schematics.  

4. Architecting, writing, and debugging PLC ladder logic with an emphasis on generating code that is organized, structured, documented, maintainable and reusable. PLC code will interact with subsystems such as conveyors, robots, Manufacturing Execution System (MES), machine vision, and 3rd party equipment.   

5. Managing electrical cabinet builds. 

6. Creating machine interactions with plant-wide Manufacturing Execution System (MES).   

7. Introducing automated machines and processes into production, and training Maintenance and Production teams to support after deployment of equipment.  

8. Creating and reviewing specifications and providing technical evaluations for outsourced automated equipment purchases.  

9. Performing as technical lead on assigned projects.   

10. Other duties as assigned.   
   

This job might be for you if you are a US Citizen and if you have:

1. B.S./M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, or related discipline 

2. 12+ years relevant experience in designing and implementing automation solutions in a manufacturing environment.   

3. Strong technical expertise in the application of PLCs (example: Allen Bradley, Mitsubishi), HMI/GUI layout, Field Bus Networks, Safety Systems, Vision Systems, and integration of Robotics.   

4. Familiarity with electrical prints and standards for industrial equipment.   

5. Excellent technical presentation and training skills. 

6. Demonstrated advanced proficiency in programming PLCs, with a well-defined methodology for maintaining code structure and organization.     

7. Ability to program state machines for complex processes which involve multi-station parallel processing, pick and place automation, data acquisition, and PID control.     

8. Proven ability to design reliable systems with error handling and recovery processes.