Senior Controls Engineer: Precision Automation Expert

Connect Force; West Bloomfield Charter Township (MI); On-site; USD 115,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Connect Force Recruiting is seeking a Senior Controls Engineer in Farmington Hills, MI to design, program, troubleshoot, startup, and optimize advanced industrial machinery and automation systems. This hands-on role requires strong PLC, HMI, electrical controls, and machine commissioning experience and collaboration with mechanical, software, service, and customer teams.

Experience with Siemens platforms, European engineering standards, and field installations is highly valued.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 6 years of controls engineering, automation, machine controls, or related industrial equipment experience.
• Strong PLC programming and troubleshooting experience.
• Experience with HMI development, machine software support, and electrical controls troubleshooting.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics and technical documentation.
• Experience supporting industrial machinery, automation systems, machine tools, or custom equipment.
• Strong hands-on troubleshooting ability in shop-floor, machine build, or field-service environments.
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with engineering, service, production, and customer teams.
• Strong communication skills and ability to explain technical issues clearly.
• Safety-focused, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple technical priorities.

Responsibilities

• Develop, modify, troubleshoot, and support PLC and HMI programs for advanced industrial machinery.
• Support controls engineering activities for custom machine builds, retrofits, upgrades, and customer-specific projects.
• Troubleshoot electrical, software, automation, and machine-control issues during build, startup, commissioning, and service.
• Work with PLCs, HMIs, drives, sensors, motion systems, safety circuits, and industrial communication networks.
• Read and interpret electrical schematics, controls drawings, machine layouts, and technical documentation.
• Support machine startup, debug, validation, customer acceptance, and field commissioning activities.
• Collaborate with mechanical engineering, electrical design, service, production, and international technical teams.
• Provide technical support for customers, internal service teams, and production personnel.
• Assist with controls standards, documentation, process improvements, and troubleshooting best practices.
• Maintain a strong focus on machine safety, quality, reliability, and long-term equipment performance.

Skills

PLC programming

HMI development

Electrical controls troubleshooting

Schematic reading

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Safety-focused

Tools

Siemens PLCs

Siemens HMIs

TIA Portal

Profinet

Ethernet/IP

Job description

Connect Force Recruiting is seeking a Senior Controls Engineer in Farmington Hills, MI to design, program, troubleshoot, startup, and optimize advanced industrial machinery and automation systems. This hands-on role requires strong PLC, HMI, electrical controls, and machine commissioning experience and collaboration with mechanical, software, service, and customer teams.

Experience with Siemens platforms, European engineering standards, and field installations is highly valued.