Senior Automation and Electrical Engineer

Precision Fluid Controls, Inc.; Lincoln (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Precision Fluid Controls, Inc. is hiring a hands-on automation and electrical engineer located in Lincoln, CA. The role involves designing and integrating custom automated systems and spans the full lifecycle from design to integration with existing equipment.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and significant experience in automation and controls. Key responsibilities include electrical architecture design and PLC programming, ensuring successful collaboration with mechanical engineers.

Qualifications

• 5-10+ years in automation, controls, or machine design.
• Strong experience with PLC programming.
• Demonstrated ability to work with existing equipment and integrate new capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Design electrical architectures for custom automated systems.
• Develop and program PLCs, HMIs, and motion systems.
• Integrate sensors, actuators, robotics, and vision systems.

Skills

PLC programming

Electrical design and schematics

Industrial sensors and instrumentation

Troubleshooting and debugging

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Allen-Bradley

Siemens

Beckhoff

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

Precision Fluid Controls, Inc. designs, manufactures and tests components for launch vehicles and ground support applications—providing many types of valves including throttling valves, ball valves, check and relief valves, vent and relief valves, pressure reducing, both manual and dome loaded, regulators, sleeve valves, butterfly valves, solenoid valves plus many others.

About the Role:

We are seeking a hands‑on automation and electrical engineer to design, build, and integrate custom automated systems. This role spans full lifecycle development—from greenfield system design through integration with existing equipment, including extracting and instrumenting signals from legacy or closed platforms to enable advanced data collection.

The role is a fully on‑site role located in our Lincoln, CA.

What You’ll Do:

• Design electrical architectures for custom automated systems, including schematics, panel layouts, and power distribution
• Collaborate with mechanical engineers to define system interfaces and ensure robust machine design
• Develop and program PLCs, HMIs, and motion systems
• Integrate sensors, actuators, robotics, and vision systems
• Instrument existing machines to capture data not natively exposed to OEM systems
• Access and interpret electrical signals (analog, digital, encoder, etc.)
• Develop non-invasive or minimally invasive data acquisition solutions
• Interface with legacy equipment using custom hardware or communication protocols
• Troubleshoot and debug systems at the component, subsystem, and system level
• Support commissioning, startup, and continuous improvement initiatives

What You’ll Need:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent experiences)
• 5-10+ years in automation, controls, or machine design
• Strong experience with PLC programming (e.g., Allen‑Bradley, Siemens, Beckhoff)
• Electrical design and schematics
• Industrial sensors and instrumentation
• Demonstrated ability to work with existing equipment and integrate new capabilities

Preferred/Differentiating Skills:

• Experience extracting signals from legacy or undocumented systems
• Proficiency with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and signal debugging
• Experience with data acquisition systems or edge computing platforms
• Familiarity with industrial communication protocols (Modbus, OPC UA, serial interfaces)
• Experience designing custom instrumentation or retrofitting machines
• Embedded systems or microcontroller experience (Arduino, STM32, etc.)

What Success Looks Like:

• You can walk up to a closed machine and figure out how to get meaningful data out of it
• You can design a system from scratch and bring it to life
• You can bridge gaps between mechanical design, electrical systems, and data infrastructure