Senior Control & Automation Engineer

Senior Control & Automation Engineer

Final date to receive applications: 30 June 2026

Department: Engineering

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Bristol

Compensation: £49,410 - £71,370 / year

Do you want to help build a company with the capacity to disrupt whole industries and take on environmental issues on a global scale? Do you want to join a purpose‑driven engineering team tackling some of the world’s most critical challenges? Matter. is a VC‑backed cleantech scale‑up and has an opportunity for a Senior Control & Automation Engineer to establish and lead internal capability across industrial control systems, instrumentation, and data‑driven product development.

This is a senior, hands‑on engineering role, combining technical leadership with practical delivery. The role is based in Bristol, UK, with occasional travel to industrial customer sites for commissioning and support.

Industrial Controls & Automation

• Lead development and evolution of industrial control system architectures for modular skid‑based systems
• Own review and improvement of PLC control logic, safety requirements, and HMI systems
• Define control philosophy, system behaviour, and fault handling strategies
• Undertake PLC programming for internal prototyping and development systems
• Lead fault finding and optimisation during commissioning, factory acceptance testing (FAT) and site installations
• Ensure effective integration of control systems with customer environments, including MES interfaces and site utilities

Hardware & Instrumentation

• Own specification and review of control system hardware (e.g. PLCs, I/O, instrumentation, comms, networks, motors, drives)
• Lead control panel concept design with suppliers
• Own instrumentation selection and sizing strategy (e.g. flow meters, pressure sensors, pumps, motors, drives)
• Ensure alignment between mechanical design, instrumentation, and control strategies

Data Acquisition & Performance

• Define and implement data acquisition strategies to support product validation, customer ROI and product reliability and predictive maintenance
• Establish communications architecture for remote connectivity including security requirements to IEC 62443 standards
• Extract and analyse operational data from systems (e.g. via PLCs or gateways)
• Conduct hands‑on analysis (e.g. Excel, Python, or similar) to identify performance trends and issues
• Develop dashboards and reporting tools (e.g. Grafana)

Supplier & Contractor Management

• Act as technical owner and interface for all controls and automation suppliers
• Define requirements, scope work, and lead design reviews
• Direct and challenge suppliers to improve quality, cost, and delivery
• Expand and optimise the supplier base

Product Development & Continuous Improvement

• Identify and drive technical improvements across control systems and instrumentation
• Lead value engineering and cost reduction
• Feed data‑driven insights into product reliability, predictive maintenance, product evolution and next‑generation systems
• Drive transition to standardised, scalable product architectures

Your essential experience

• 8 or more years experience in industrial automation, process control systems, or mechatronics engineering
• Practical experience with PLC‑based control systems (e.g. Siemens, Allen‑Bradley, Beckhoff, or similar)
• Experience writing, reviewing and modifying existing PLC code and control logic in IEC 61131‑3, Codesys etc
• Knowledge of control system architecture and control philosophy development
• Hands‑on experience with industrial systems, installations, or commissioning
• Strong understanding of industrial instrumentation and control (sensors, actuators, motors, drives, industry 4.0)
• Experience working with external suppliers or contractors in a technical capacity
• Ability to analyse operational data to support engineering decisions
• Comfortable working in a multidisciplinary team alongside mechanical engineers
• Experience with HMI or SCADA systems
• Experience with data analysis tools (e.g. Python, or similar) and dashboarding
• Familiarity with industrial communication protocols
• Experience specifying or reviewing control system hardware and panel designs
• Exposure…