Controls & Systems – Design Consultant

Jobtailor; Emeryville (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor in Emeryville seeks a senior Controls Engineer to define performance requirements for a nanoscale actuator–sensor system and guide early design choices. You will evaluate sensor and drive-stack designs, specify data-logging for system identification, and outline a closed-loop architecture with a plan for simulation and estimation.

On-site collaboration is expected. Applicants should hold a PhD or MS in controls, robotics, or electrical engineering, with hands-on experience in noisy,

Qualifications

• PhD or MS in controls, robotics, EE, or equivalent, with hands-on closed-loop control-system design.
• Track record translating plant and sensor characteristics into design constraints for noisy, nanoscale, or precision-instrumentation systems.
• Strong in system identification and estimation (Kalman filters/observers) and in specifying data capture for modeling.
• Comfort advising physics and wet-lab teams, with occasional on-site collaboration in Emeryville.

Responsibilities

• Define the control-system requirements and constraints for the DNA Origami actuator–sensor system — sensor bandwidth, noise floor, latency; actuator drive-signal range and dynamics; end-to-end observability.
• Review the field-effect position-sensor and electrostatic drive-stack designs through a controls lens, flagging choices that would hinder stabilization, identifiability, or estimation.
• Specify what early experiments must log (sampling, excitation, metadata) for later system identification and ML modeling of the device response.
• Sketch the closed-loop control architecture and a simulation/estimation plan (feedback stabilization, averaging, observers) for the incoming engineer to implement.
• Provide a clean, documented handoff to the team.

Skills

Closed-Loop Control-System Design

System Identification

Kalman Filters

Data Capture Specification

Collaboration with Physics and Wet-Lab

Education

PhD or MS in Controls, Robotics, Electrical Engineering

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Job description

• Define the control-system requirements and constraints for the DNA Origami actuator–sensor system — sensor bandwidth, noise floor, and latency; actuator drive-signal range and dynamics; and end-to-end observability — and feed them into the device-physics and DNA-origami design decisions early.
• Review the field-effect (FET) position-sensor and electrostatic drive-stack designs through a controls lens, flagging choices that would make the system hard to stabilize, identify, or estimate.
• Specify what the early ensemble and single-molecule experiments must log (sampling, excitation, metadata) so the data is usable for later system identification and ML modeling of the device response.
• Sketch the closed-loop control architecture and a simulation/estimation plan (feedback stabilization, averaging, observers) that the incoming full-time Controls engineer will implement.
• Provide a clean, documented handoff to the team.

Requirements

• PhD or MS (or equivalent industry depth) in controls, robotics, electrical engineering, or a related field, with hands-on closed-loop control-system design.
• Track record translating plant and sensor characteristics into design constraints, ideally for noisy, nanoscale, or precision-instrumentation systems.
• Strength in system identification and estimation (Kalman filters / observers) and in specifying data capture for later modeling.
• Comfort advising a physics and wet-lab team fractionally, with occasional on-site collaboration in Emeryville.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in closed-loop control-system design, system identification, and data capture for modeling in precision instrumentation. Capable of translating complex sensor and actuator characteristics into actionable design constraints while collaborating effectively with interdisciplinary teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Closed-Loop Control-System Design
• System Identification
• Kalman Filters
• Data Capture Specification
• Collaboration with Physics and Wet-Lab Teams

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Control-System Requirements Definition
• Sensor Bandwidth Analysis
• Noise Floor Assessment
• Actuator Drive-Signal Dynamics
• Simulation and Estimation Planning

Soft Skills

• Advising
• Collaboration

Certifications & Qualifications

• PhD in Controls, Robotics, Electrical Engineering

Industry Keywords

• Precision Instrumentation
• Nanoscale Systems
• Electrostatic Drive-Stack Design
• Field-Effect Position-Sensor
• Closed-Loop Control Architecture