Senior Electrical Controls Engineer - On-Site, Equity

Critical Energy; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity options

Medical (100% company‑covered Platinum

Dental and vision (100% covered)

FSA

401k retirement options

Lunch served daily

EV charging on site

Team outings

Job summary

Critical Energy seeks a Senior Electrical Engineer, Controls to lead instrumentation and controls for our ORC power plants. You will translate CONOPS and safety requirements into hardware procurement decisions and control software, working with systems and turbomachinery teams.

You will join commissioning activities, FAT, and on‑site deployments at customer sites in Hawthorne, CA. As part of a fast-paced startup, you will design PLC-based control architectures, develop SCADA/HMI interfaces, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field
• 5+ years of hands‑on experience designing, programming, and commissioning industrial control systems
• Beckhoff, Allen‑Bradley or Siemens PLC programming experience
• Experience with Structured Text (ST) or IEC 61131‑3
• Experience developing HMI/SCADA applications from scratch with emphasis on usability
• Proficiency reading electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and P&IDs
• Experience with EtherCAT, Modbus TCP, OPC‑UA or equivalent
• Familiarity with NEC, NFPA 79, and UL 508A for panel design
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills across mechanical/electrical/software domains
• Self‑motivated with startup environment discipline

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and commission PLC-based control systems for ORC power plant processes
• Design and implement HMI and SCADA applications for operator visibility and alarms
• Develop control strategies for process loops: pressure, flow, heat source, startup/shutdown
• Specify, select, and integrate field instrumentation (pressure, flow, temperature, level)
• Design and lay out industrial control panels compliant with NEC/NFPA/UL 508A
• Implement safety instrumented functions per IEC 61511 including SIL verification
• Integrate plant devices across EtherCAT, Modbus TCP, OPC‑UA
• Maintain controls docs: I/O lists, network diagrams, C&E matrices, FAT/SAT
• Support factory acceptance testing and field commissioning
• Collaborate across electrical, mechanical, and systems teams for reliability
• Contribute to standards, templates, reusable code libraries

Skills

PLC programming

HMI/SCADA development

Electrical schematics

Industrial control systems

IEC 61131-3 (ST)

EtherCAT Modbus OPC-UA

Panel design NEC NFPA UL508A

SIL safety knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Mechatronics or related field

Tools

AutoCAD Electrical

EPLAN

Job description

Critical Energy seeks a Senior Electrical Engineer, Controls to lead instrumentation and controls for our ORC power plants. You will translate CONOPS and safety requirements into hardware procurement decisions and control software, working with systems and turbomachinery teams.

You will join commissioning activities, FAT, and on‑site deployments at customer sites in Hawthorne, CA. As part of a fast-paced startup, you will design PLC-based control architectures, develop SCADA/HMI interfaces, and