Automation Control Engineer

Brightpath Associates LLC; San Leandro (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Brightpath Associates LLC is seeking an Automation Systems Engineer in California to maintain, troubleshoot, and enhance PLC, SCADA, and HMI environments, ensuring safe and efficient plant operations. You will partner with Production, Maintenance, and Quality to stabilize systems, document changes, and drive continuous improvements.

The role emphasizes strong technical ownership, clear standards, and scalable automation foundations to support long-term performance and data-driven decision-making.

Qualifications

• Experience maintaining PLC, SCADA, and HMI environments.
• Strong documentation and change control practices.
• Collaborates with Production, Maintenance, and Quality teams.

Responsibilities

• Maintain, troubleshoot, and improve PLC and SCADA environments to keep plant operations safe and efficient.
• Support day-to-day reliability, documentation, and version control to enable quick troubleshooting.
• Lead automation work with contractors and integrators within projects and improvements.

Tools

PLC

SCADA

HMI

Job description

We're entering an exciting phase of hypergrowth and transformation as we build the systems that will support our journey toward a $1 Billion business. We're introducing new manufacturing technologies, modernizing legacy platforms, and expanding automation across our operations. To support this work, we're looking for an Automation Systems Engineer to serve as a key technical anchor for our automation systems.

Reporting to the Principal Automation & Controls Engineer, you'll maintain, troubleshoot, and improve PLC and SCADA environments that keep our plant running safely and efficiently. You'll bring strong internal customer service, technical ownership, and a calm, solutions-first approach while you work side-by-side with Production, Maintenance, and Quality to keep systems stable, well-documented, and continuously improving. From project execution to day-to-day reliability support, you'll help strengthen the automation foundation that enables consistent performance, smart decision-making, and long-term scalability.

You'll join a people-first, purpose-driven team and help build foundational data capabilities that will shape how the company makes decisions for years to come. If you're excited to build something meaningful, visible, and lasting, you'll thrive here.

Success Factors (First 12-24 Months)

• Automation Systems Expert: You became a trusted technical resource across Production, Maintenance, and Quality by keeping the PLC, SCADA, and HMI environments stable, consistent, and easy to support. Documentation, version control, and clear standards helped operators and technicians troubleshoot confidently, while system updates were made thoughtfully and communicated clearly to the people who rely on them most. Your attention to best practices and compliance ensured electrical and automation work aligned with plant expectations, safety requirements, and long-term reliability.
• Operational Reliability Partner: When performance was at risk, you showed up as a steady partner on the floor - helping Production maintain flow, Maintenance restore system health, and Quality stay confident in process integrity. You responded quickly to line upsets tied to PLCs, HMIs, instrumentation, and control networks, restoring stability while also helping teams understand what happened and why. Issues didn't just get resolved, they were closed out well, with root cause analysis, shared learnings, and corrective actions that reduced repeat failures and strengthened overall performance.
• Project & Contractor Leadership: You successfully led automation workstreams within capital and improvement projects by keeping technical execution tightly aligned with operational reality. From early requirements through commissioning and handoff, you coordinated integrators, panel builders, and installers in a