Senior Control Systems Lead – Real-Time & Lab Automation

Thea Energy Inc.; Kearny (NJ); On-site; USD 150,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Equity stock options

PTO 20 days

Job summary

Thea Energy Inc. in New Jersey seeks a Control Systems Manager to lead the day-to-day development, integration, and maintenance of control systems for its fusion energy programs.

You will oversee a multidisciplinary team of engineers and technicians, translating program requirements into safe, reliable data systems and controls. This leadership role combines people management, systems engineering, and hands-on work in lab and field environments, with responsibility for schedules, budgets, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical/controls engineering or related field or equivalent practical experience.
• Six or more years of relevant engineering experience in integrated control systems, industrial automation, instrumentation, fast data acquisition, real-time systems, embedded systems, or test facility engineering.
• Three or more years of experience directly supervising engineers or serving as an engineering team lead with responsibility for work assignment, coaching, performance feedback, and team delivery.
• Demonstrated delivery of complex controls or test systems from requirements and design through implementation, validation, commissioning, and operational support.
• Strong systems engineering practice including requirements management, interface definition, verification planning, design reviews, configuration control, and technical documentation.
• Strong foundation in machine protection and high-reliability design, including interlocks, alarms, permissives, fail-safe behavior, fault recovery, and disciplined testing.
• Working knowledge of instrumentation and electrical controls, including sensors, signal conditioning, grounding, shielding, isolation, calibration, and noise mitigation.
• Experience managing schedules, risks, resources, approved supplier work, and competing priorities across several development efforts.
• Ability to communicate technical decisions clearly across physics, mechanical, electrical, software, safety, operations, and program teams.
• Willingness and ability to work directly with equipment in laboratory and field environments during integration, commissioning, and troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Direct team leadership. Manage and mentor a team of controls engineers, including work allocation, technical coaching, performance management, and hiring as the team grows.
• Program execution. Own detailed controls plans and delivery for assigned technology development programs and test facilities. Maintain schedules, milestones, risks, dependencies, and status; provide resource estimates and accelerate conflicts that require changes to portfolio priorities or staffing allocations.
• System design within approved architecture. Develop customized designs for supervisory control, industrial automation, real-time control, data acquisition, timing, embedded systems, data management, and operator interfaces. Apply department standards and submit new architectural patterns, platform changes, and exceptions to the Director for approval.
• Requirements and interface. Translate experimental, equipment, and facility needs into control system requirements, interface definitions, acceptance criteria, and verification plans. Coordinate interfaces with magnet, power, cryogenic, vacuum, mechanical, electrical, safety, and test teams.
• Instrumentation engineering. Guide sensor selection, signal conditioning, isolation, grounding, shielding, channel protection, calibration, and signal segregation for noisy, high-power test environments. Ensure that instrumentation supports safe operation and traceable test results.
• Controls software and data. Oversee LabVIEW, PLC, embedded, middleware, and data system development using approved source control, configuration management, testing, release, and documentation practices.
• Integration and commissioning. Lead design reviews for assigned systems, bench testing, factory and site acceptance testing, installation support, commissioning, troubleshooting, and operational readiness. Coordinate hands-on debug with engineers, technicians, test operators, and equipment owners.
• Reliability and maintenance. Establish calibration, preventive maintenance, backup and recovery, spare parts, obsolescence, and change control for assigned systems. Resolve recurring failures and improve availability and maintainability.
• Vendors and collaborators. Manage day-to-day technical execution of work packages for assigned systems, including submittal review, interface coordination, test witnessing, and acceptance evidence.
• Engineering evidence. Maintain requirements, architecture descriptions, interface control documents, I/O lists, electrical drawings, cable schedules, test and operating procedures, source and configuration baselines, and acceptance records for assigned systems.
• Field leadership. Plan and coordinate controls work in laboratories and industrial spaces. Model safe work practices around energized equipment, strong magnetic fields, cryogenic systems, pressure systems, and other facility hazards.

Skills

Team leadership

Controls engineering

Instrumentation

LabVIEW

Embedded systems

Data management

Real-time systems

Test facilities

Communication

Project planning

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or related field

Six+ years engineering experience

Three+ years supervisory experience

Tools

LabVIEW

SCADA

Industrial controls

OPC UA

PXI/PXIe

IEEE 1588

Job description

Thea Energy Inc. in New Jersey seeks a Control Systems Manager to lead the day-to-day development, integration, and maintenance of control systems for its fusion energy programs.

You will oversee a multidisciplinary team of engineers and technicians, translating program requirements into safe, reliable data systems and controls. This leadership role combines people management, systems engineering, and hands-on work in lab and field environments, with responsibility for schedules, budgets, and