Senior Controls Engineer | $121K-$130K

Purple Cow Recruiting; Albuquerque (NM); On-site; USD 121,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance: No

Visa sponsorship: No

Job summary

Purple Cow Recruiting is seeking a Senior Controls Engineer in Albuquerque, NM, onsite. The role focuses on hands-on controls engineering, automation system design, and technical leadership across diverse industrial settings.

You will lead projects involving PLC, DCS, HMI, and SCADA, collaborating with customers and engineering teams to define requirements, develop specifications, and implement, test, and qualify solutions on site.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical/Control Engineering or related field required.
• 10+ years of controls engineer experience required.
• Local to Albuquerque or strong ties to the area required.
• Experience with Ethernet/IP, Profinet, and Modbus protocols required.
• Ladder, Sequential Function Chart, and Structured Text programming required.
• VBA, .NET and SQL for HMI/SCADA development required.
• Technical leadership on graphics, alarming and scale-up design standards required.
• Experience with SQL, .NET, Power BI, Grafana and APIs required.

Responsibilities

• Lead automation projects using PLC, DCS, HMI and SCADA platforms.
• Design, program, test, and commission automation solutions at customer sites.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor junior engineers and technicians.
• Develop project execution plans, manage budgets and time tracking.
• Interact directly with customers to gather requirements and deliver results.

Skills

Controls engineering

PLC programming

Industrial networking

Project leadership

Customer interaction

HMI/SCADA

SQL/Power BI

Education

BS Electrical/Control Eng

Tools

Rockwell Automation

Siemens

Modicon

ICONICS Genesis64

Wonderware ArchestrA

GE CIMPLICITY

GE iFIX

FactoryTalk View

Power BI

Grafana

SQL

VBA/.NET

Job description

Senior Controls Engineer | $121K-$130K

Albuquerque, NM | Onsite | Industrial Automation

This senior-level position combines hands‑on controls engineering, automation system design, technical leadership, customer interaction and project execution across a variety of industrial environments.

The Senior Controls Engineer will lead automation projects involving PLC, DCS, HMI and SCADA platforms while working directly with customers and engineering teams to identify requirements, develop specifications, design and program systems, and implement, test, commission and qualify automation solutions.

COMPENSATION

• $121,000-$130,000
• Relocation Assistance: No
• Visa Sponsorship: No

CONTROL SYSTEM ENGINEERING

• Conceptualize, detail and implement control systems for industrial processes and machinery
• Develop control system architecture
• Select system components
• Develop schematic diagrams and system documentation
• Program PLC, DCS and RTU controllers
• Develop HMI / SCADA process visualization
• Develop databases for archiving and displaying historical system data
• Implement and commission control systems at customer facilities

PROGRAMMING & AUTOMATION

• Work with controller programming languages including Ladder, Sequential Function Chart and Structured Text
• Work with standard programming technologies including VBA, .NET and SQL for HMI / SCADA development
• Work with SQL, .NET, Power BI, Grafana and APIs
• Support web-based data integrations for monitoring and troubleshooting
• Develop processes to automate template and instance development within system platforms

PLC / HMI / SCADA

• Work with PLC platforms including Rockwell Automation, Siemens and Modicon
• Work with HMI / SCADA platforms including ICONICS Genesis64, Wonderware ArchestrA System Platform, GE CIMPLICITY, GE iFIX, Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk View, Schneider and Siemens
• Provide technical leadership around graphics, alarming and scale-up design standards

INDUSTRIAL NETWORKING

• Design, detail and implement fiber, wired and wireless systems
• Work with industrial protocols including Ethernet/IP, Profinet and Modbus
• Connect control system components and instrumentation across industrial automation environments

TECHNICAL & PROJECT LEADERSHIP

• Act as technical lead on projects
• Lead and support engineering teams
• Guide and mentor less experienced engineers and technicians
• Develop project execution plans and work breakdown structures
• Support project budgets, scheduling, task prioritization and time tracking
• Support financial tracking and reporting
• Identify project issues early and support conflict resolution
• Oversee daily operations and activities on projects up to $1M
• Support overall project profitability
• May act as Project Manager on smaller projects

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

• Interact directly with customers
• Identify customer requirements
• Develop specifications and automation solutions
• Build strong customer partnerships
• Support repeat work with new and existing customers

INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENTS

Experience may include industrial environments such as semiconductor chip fabrication, Life Sciences, Building Automation, Food and Beverage, Oil & Gas, Mining, and Water / Wastewater.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT

• Standard office environment
• Onsite office environment
• Diverse industrial environments
• Frequent computer and office equipment use
• Position includes driving, lifting, pushing, pulling and mounting / dismounting equipment

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical/Control Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering or Computer Science REQUIRED
• 10+ years of Controls Engineer experience REQUIRED
• Must be local to Albuquerque or have established ties to the Albuquerque area REQUIRED
• Experience designing, detailing and implementing fiber, wired and wireless systems using industrial protocols including Ethernet/IP, Profinet and Modbus REQUIRED
• Experience with controller programming languages including Ladder, Sequential Function Chart and Structured Text REQUIRED
• Experience with VBA, .NET and SQL for HMI/SCADA system development REQUIRED
• Experience providing technical leadership on design standards around graphics, alarming and scale-up REQUIRED
• Experience with SQL, .NET, Power BI, Grafana and APIs REQUIRED
• Experience with PLC hardware/software platforms such as Rockwell Automation, Siemens and Modicon REQUIRED
• Experience with HMI/SCADA platforms such as ICONICS Genesis64, Wonderware ArchestrA System Platform, GE CIMPLICITY, GE iFIX, Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk View, Schneider and Siemens REQUIRED
• Experience with field device/equipment troubleshooting REQUIRED
• Job estimating experience REQUIRED

PREFERRED

• DCS hardware/software experience such as Emerson DeltaV or similar
• Rockwell and CIMPLICITY experience
• AutoCAD experience
• Industrial networking experience connecting control system components and instrumentation