Senior Automation Engineer

Tesco Controls; Sacramento (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Tesco Controls, an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, seeks a Senior Automation Engineer to lead technical execution across panel design, PLC, SCADA/HMI, and networking projects. You will mentor engineers, review models, and support commissioning with hands-on leadership.

Travel up to 10% and collaboration with Manufacturing Engineering are required to ensure design quality, manufacturability, and customer satisfaction.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of industrial controls / systems-integration experience with proven project execution.
• Expert-level capability in at least one major discipline: panel/electrical design, PLC, SCADA/HMI, networking/telemetry, or systems architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical execution for complex projects or defined technical workstreams in panel design, PLC, SCADA/HMI, networking/telemetry, and/or commissioning.
• Translate enterprise standards into practical project-specific approaches.
• Review and design control-panels in SolidWorks with layout, wiring, interfaces, and manufacturability considerations.
• Coordinate with Manufacturing Engineering to resolve constructability, UL/listing, thermal, and production issues.
• Develop, review, and troubleshoot PLC applications, SCADA/HMI systems, and industrial networks.
• Mentor Automation Engineers and Junior Engineers through real project work and FAT activities.
• Own technical decisions and communicate risks, standards, and unresolved issues to the Project Manager.
• Support estimating and proposal development for technically complex scopes.
• Participate in FAT, startup, commissioning, and root-cause analyses and feed issues into standards.

Skills

Electrical design

PLC

SCADA/HMI

Industrial networks

Project leadership

Panel design

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

SolidWorks

Electrical design tools

Job description

At Tesco Controls (a UFT company), our culture is grounded in the idea that the how we achieve results is just as important as the results themselves. Our winning behaviors guide the way we work, collaborate, and grow-both as individual employees and as a team. Our core winning behaviors are to Build Relationships, have a Relentless Drive for Results, to Communicate with Integrity and Focus, and to Be a Mentor, Teacher, Learner. These behaviors are more than words-they are the foundation of our success and continued growth.

Here, you'll join a stable, growing company where your work directly supports cleaner water, stronger communities, and critical infrastructure across the country. If you want meaningful work, real growth opportunities, and a team that takes pride in doing the right thing-you'll find it here.

The Senior Automation Engineer is Tesco's advanced technical practitioner. The role exists for engineers who have developed exceptional depth in one or more automation disciplines and can use that expertise to lead technical execution, mentor other engineers, establish project-specific methods, and solve difficult integration problems without becoming a traditional people manager.

Depending on project scope and scale, a Senior Automation Engineer may lead an entire technical effort, lead one critical workstream, or serve as the technical authority supporting another project lead. The role remains hands-on: senior technical leadership at Tesco means producing engineering, reviewing models and code, testing systems, working with Manufacturing Engineering, and supporting commissioning - not simply approving the work of others.

This role will require travel up to 10% of the time.

What you will do:

• Lead technical execution for complex projects or defined technical workstreams in panel design, PLC, SCADA/HMI, networking/telemetry, systems architecture, FAT, and/or commissioning.
• Translate Tesco enterprise standards and CTMO-led methods into practical project-specific technical approaches.
• Perform and review complete control-panel design in SolidWorks 3D model space, including physical layout, electrical design intent, component selection, interfaces, serviceability, and downstream manufacturing requirements.
• Coordinate with Manufacturing Engineering before submittal to resolve constructability, UL/listing, access, thermal, fabrication, wiring, material, and production issues.
• Develop, review, and troubleshoot PLC applications, SCADA/HMI systems, industrial networks, telemetry, instrumentation, and associated interfaces according to area of expertise.
• Mentor Automation Engineers and Junior Engineers through real project work, design/code review, FAT, troubleshooting, and field commissioning.
• Own difficult technical decisions and clearly communicate assumptions, risks, standards, and unresolved issues to the Project Manager and project team.
• Support estimating and proposal development for technically complex scopes by applying actual project knowledge and productivity experience.
• Participate in FAT, startup, commissioning, root-cause analysis, and lessons-learned activities; feed recurring issues into standards and reusable design content.
• Participate in regular shop walks and personally interface with production whenever responsible for panels in manufacturing.

What you bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls/Automation Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, Mechanical Engineering with controls emphasis, or related discipline; equivalent exceptional industry experience may be considered.
• Typically 8+ years of industrial controls / systems-integration experience with clear evidence of advanced technical capability and successful project execution.
• Expert-level capability in at least one major discipline - panel/electrical design, PLC, SCADA/HMI, industrial networking/telemetry, or systems architecture - plus working capability across adjacent disciplines.
• Strong panel-design fundamentals including power/control distribution, I/O, instrumentation interfaces, motor controls, VFDs, circuit protection, grounding, SCCR awareness, environmental/thermal considerations, wire routing, service clearances, and maintainability.
• Working knowledge of UL 508A and familiarity with UL 891 / UL 845 equipment and manufacturing constraints.
• Experience with typical controls platforms such as Rockwell/Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Schneider Electric, and comparable owner-standard platforms; advanced proficiency in at least one relevant programming ecosystem.
• Experience with SCADA/HMI systems such as Ignition, AVEVA/Wonderware, VTScada, FactoryTalk, GE Digital, or comparable platforms as appropriate to specialization.
• Practical knowledge of EtherNet/IP, Modbus, DNP3, OPC UA and related industrial protocols, managed Ethernet, fiber, serial, radio/cellular telemetry, and field troubleshooting as appropriate to specialization.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical work through design, FAT, field startup, and customer acceptance without relying on formal supervisory authority.

Pay offered will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, and geographic location. We may pay more or less than the range based on the person's qualifications. In good faith we believe the range is what we will pay for this role at the time of the posting and may change in the future

Join our team to innovate the future of water and wastewater. You'll collaborate with coworkers who are the best and the brightest, challenge yourself on exciting work, and help build the best water and wastewater platform company in the U.S.

Tesco Controls is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. TESCO provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, or genetic information. (Compliant with the new VEVRAA and Section 503 rules)