Control Systems Specialist

General Information

Centrally located in the heart of Iowa, Ames is a vibrant, progressive community with more than 66,000 residents providing an excellent quality of life. Home to Iowa State University, Ames offers year‑round recreation opportunities, diverse cultural offerings, a stable economy, safe neighborhoods, and a high‑achieving school district.

The City of Ames is conducting a recruitment to establish a Civil Service eligibility list for this classification. The list will be valid for up to one year from the date of certification by the Ames Civil Service Commission and may be used to fill one or more vacancies in this classification. In addition, City of Ames Civil Service employees who have previously held Civil Service status in this classification and are interested in voluntarily demoting or laterally transferring into the current vacancy must submit their application by the deadline.

Under the general supervision of the Assistant Director of Water and Pollution Control as part of the Administrative Division, this position performs specialized technical work involving the design, implementation, programming, maintenance, and troubleshooting of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Human‑Machine Interface (HMI), and telemetry systems. These systems serve the City’s water and wastewater utilities including treatment plants, wells, pump stations, elevated tanks, lift stations, and river and stream gauges.

This position will interact directly and coordinate with the Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents of the Water Treatment Plant and Water Pollution Control Facility. As a vital member of the Department’s technical support team, this position ensures the secure and efficient operation of critical infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on safeguarding SCADA systems from physical and cyber threats. Performs other duties as assigned.

Oversees the overall operations and maintenance of the SCADA systems for the Water Treatment Plant and Water Pollution Control Facility. Plans, designs, installs, configures, monitors, upgrades, and troubleshoots a variety of instrumentation and controls. Installs and configures new or relocated HMI workstations, thin client…

The City of Ames has a compensation philosophy for our merit salary ranges that provides growth for employees as they gain experience and expertise in their roles. The minimum pay of each range is intended to reflect an employee’s qualifications that meet the position’s minimum requirements. The median of any range is for an employee who can reasonably meet all expectations of the position responsibilities without initial or extensive training.

The City may consider a candidate’s education, experience, and skills that are above the minimum requirements when considering a salary closer to the median. The median salary for this position is $91,716.

Our comprehensive benefits package can be viewed at:
City of Ames Benefits. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program:
The PSLF Program is a federal program that is intended to encourage individuals to work in public service by forgiving the balance of their federal student loans. To qualify, the individual must have made 120 qualifying payments while employed by a qualifying employer. For more information, please visit: PSLF Program.

In order to be considered for this position, all applicants must submit their online application by the deadline listed on this posting. Your application includes complete responses to the supplemental questions. Please keep in mind that submission of a resume in lieu of work history on your application or answering the supplemental questions is not sufficient.