Automation and Controls Engineer

The role

The Automation and Controls Engineer will design, develop, commission, and manage automation and controls projects for manufacturing, product testing, reliability testing, and end-of-line validation. This role involves defining controls strategy and architecting PLC and controls code for high-volume manufacturing.

What you will do

• Design, develop, commission, and manage automation and controls projects.
• Help define Vital Lyfe’s controls strategy for PLC, HMI, SCADA, and factory software systems.
• Architect, write, and debug PLC and controls code.
• Design and commission automated equipment and test systems.
• Implement compliant safety systems for automated equipment and assemblies.
• Generate HMI screens, electrical designs, documentation, schedules, and budgets.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, computer science, or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in industrial automation, factory automation, automated test systems, or controls system design and implementation.
• Comfort working in ambiguity and making tradeoffs with incomplete information.
• Bias toward action, ownership, and practical engineering solutions.
• Hands on work on development hardware.
• Long periods of standing, crouching, walking.
• Lifting up to 50 lbs.

Nice to have

• Ability to help select the right automation architecture, controls platform, and factory software tools.
• Experience with electromechanical systems, automated test stands, manufacturing equipment, reliability rigs, or end-of-line test systems.
• Electrical sizing of motors, cables, circuit protection, VFDs, motor starters, drives, and other motion systems.
• Design of fail-safe electrical circuits using safety PLCs, safety-rated relays, interlocks, e-stops, and other machine safety devices.
• Hands-on troubleshooting experience using tools such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, EMI probes, and industrial network diagnostic tools.
• Proficiency understanding and creating electrical schematics, panel layouts, wiring diagrams, I/O lists, and single-line diagrams.
• Experience with fieldbus networks, serial communication, Ethernet communication, and industrial protocols such as EtherCAT, Profinet, Ethernet/IP, Modbus, or CAN.
• Hands-on experience designing and commissioning high-quality electrical panels and electro-mechanical systems.
• Knowledge of NEC, NFPA, OSHA, UL508A, and related control system safety standards.
• PLC programming experience; Beckhoff TwinCAT, Rockwell, Siemens, Codesys, Omron, or similar experience is valuable.

Benefits

• Work on high-impact problems with global relevance
• Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience
• Early ownership in a high growth, engineering led startup
• Join a tight knit, mission driven team in a fast-paced environment
• Build long term career equity as we grow

About the company

Vital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation, creating a new category of personal water making technology built to scale where infrastructure can’t.