Controls Engineer

Searchability; Oxford; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Artificial Intelligence Jobs is seeking a versatile Controls Engineer for Culham Science Centre, on-site four days a week. The role splits time between delivering real client projects and building the company’s AI platform for hardware engineering tooling.

You’ll design bespoke control systems for complex equipment, work across electrical and controls boundaries, and contribute engineering knowledge to product development while engaging directly with clients.

Qualifications

• Practical controls experience writing bespoke control systems at low level
• PLC programming and field device integration across multiple brands
• Experience getting motor drives working and bridging electrical and controls
• Real hardware delivery experience, following a design through to site
• Some coding knowledge (Python, C++, C# or Java) and OO programming
• Breadth to move between disciplines in a fast-moving small team

Responsibilities

• Design bespoke control systems for custom machinery and complex facilities
• PLC programming and integration with field devices, motor drives and instrumentation
• Implement functional safety on real systems
• Contribute to the AI platform and tooling with engineering judgment
• Work directly with clients on delivery, not via account management
• Help define how the engineering team works as it grows

Skills

Controls engineering

Robotics

PLC programming

Motor drives

CODESYS

Python

C++

Java

OO programming

Tools

Siemens

Rockwell

Beckhoff

CODESYS

Job description

Controls Engineer, AI Native Engineering

Culham, Oxfordshire (4 days on site)

KEY POINTS

• Controls engineer, permanent, full time, Culham Science Centre
• £35,000 to £70,000 plus, dependent on level and experience. Graduate through to Principal considered
• Split roughly 50/50 between real client delivery and building the company's own AI engineering platform
• Bespoke low level control work, robotics, drones, cranes, ROS 2 and similar
• Team of 10 heading toward 20, pre seed backed by top tier deep tech investors

ABOUT THE CLIENT

An engineering business spun out of the UK's national fusion research organisation, building AI tooling that makes hardware engineering significantly faster without losing the traceability and assurance that regulated work depends on.

What makes them unusual is the model. They take on real engineering projects, machinery design and complex scientific facilities, and build their AI platform off the back of that work. So the engineers are doing genuine hardware delivery and shaping the product at the same time, rather than one or the other.

They have gone from two people to ten in twelve months and have just closed a pre seed round backed by a leading university venture fund and a global engineering consultancy who are also using the platform.

THE ROLE

A generalist controls role in a small team. Design is the main focus, but they want people who have followed a project through to site rather than desk only designers.

You would work across the electrical and controls boundary rather than sitting in a narrow lane, and you would contribute your engineering knowledge directly into the product.

WHAT YOU WOULD BE DOING

• Designing bespoke control systems for custom machinery and complex facilities
• PLC programming and integration with field devices, motor drives and instrumentation
• Implementing functional safety on real systems rather than writing about it
• Contributing to the AI platform, shaping the tooling with your own engineering judgement
• Working directly with clients on delivery, not sitting behind an account manager
• Helping define how the engineering team works as it grows

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

• Practical controls experience writing bespoke control systems, ideally at a low level. Robotics, drones, cranes, ROS 2 or similar
• PLC programming and field device integration. No brand preference, Siemens, Rockwell, Beckhoff, CODESYS all welcome
• Getting motor drives working and bridging the gap between electrical and controls
• Real hardware delivery experience, ideally having followed a design through to site
• Some coding. Python, C++, C# or Java, with an understanding of object oriented programming
• Breadth over narrow specialism. There is no single must have, they want people who can move between disciplines
• Curious, energetic and comfortable in a fast moving small team

DESIRABLE, NOT ESSENTIAL

• Functional safety to ISO 13849, IEC 62061 or IEC 61508, specifically having implemented PL or SIL on real systems
• MATLAB and Simulink
• Nuclear, data centre or other regulated facility exposure
• Chartered status, or working toward it
• An interest in using AI in engineering. No machine learning background needed