Controls Engineer - Engineering & Automation

Crescent Recruitment; Christchurch; On-site; NZD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Crescent Recruitment is helping a Christchurch-based client recruit a Controls Engineer to lead end-to-end automation projects. You will design, program and commission control systems, from concept to production, working with mechanical designers and site teams across global deployments.

You’ll address real-world conditions in diverse environments and travel to customer sites as needed, delivering robust, sensor-driven automation solutions.

Qualifications

• Hands-on controls/automation engineering experience, including PLC programming and electrical control system design.
• Experience across mechanical/electrical integration, robotics and automated material handling in machine building or industrial equipment environments.
• Practical problem-solving approach and ability to work with mechanical designers, fabricators and site teams to bring equipment from panel to production.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end controls work from concept through panel to commissioning.
• Specify and program VFDs, servo drives and sensors to match machine requirements.
• Provide on-site support for commissioning and customer installations overseas.
• Collaborate with mechanical designers and site teams to ensure robust control system designs.

Skills

PLC Programming

Electrical Design

Robotics & Automation

Tools

Rockwell Automation

Job description

Controls Engineer - Engineering & Automation

Christchurch

Our client has been designing and building automation equipment for over a century, growing from a local engineering firm into a business with manufacturing and service operations globally. Their equipment moves product through some of the world's largest processing plants, mining operations and appliance manufacturers, supplying major international customers across those sectors.

The Christchurch site has a strong pipeline of work ahead and is continuing to grow its engineering team to support this and the company's wider global growth plans.

The role

You’ll join a small, close-knit engineering team responsible for the full lifecycle of bespoke automation equipment, working alongside mechanical design engineers to turn a machine concept into a fully specified, sensor-driven, automated system. This is genuine end-to-end controls work, the kind where you decide exactly how a machine needs to sequence itself, specify every VFD, servo drive and sensor it needs, and build and program the control system to match.

You’ll see equipment through from panel build to commissioning, both here and on customer sites overseas, and support machines already operating in demanding environments, from freezing works run at a few degrees all day to equipment sitting out in 50 degree Western Australian heat.

What you’ll bring

• Hands-on controls/automation engineering experience, including PLC programming (Rockwell or similar platforms) and electrical control system design
• Confidence working across mechanical/electrical integration, robotics and automated material handling, ideally in a machine building, food processing or industrial equipment environment
• A practical, problem-solving approach and comfort working alongside mechanical designers, fabricators and site teams to get equipment from panel to production

Nice to have: registered electrician status, giving you the ability to work directly on 400V systems as well as design them.

What’s on offer

A genuinely varied automation environment spanning meat processing, mining, materials handling and appliance manufacturing, with equipment shipped to customers worldwide. You’ll work out of a modern, well-equipped site, with the autonomy to own your control system designs end to end and a relaxed, down-to-earth team culture rather than a corporate one. Our client invests in developing its engineers rather than treating them as short-term project resource, and offers real career progression within a business with a clear growth strategy.

What next

If you’re motivated by solving genuine automation problems, building control systems that have to perform reliably in demanding real-world conditions, and being part of a team that owns its designs from first sequence through to a finished machine on the factory floor, this is a chance to make a real impact.

Applicants must have the right to work in New Zealand.