Controls Engineer

Location

South Carolina (On-site work required)

Full time

On-site

Engineering

Red Metals is rethinking the domestic copper supply chain at a pivotal moment in American industry.

Copper underpins electrification, data centers, and defense systems. U.S. demand already exceeds domestic supply, and the gap is widening as grid modernization, the energy transition, and buildout of AI infrastructure accelerate.

We are building a new model for this critical industrial layer in the United States.

We are looking for a Controls Engineer to design, build, and continuously improve the systems that run our first copper processing and refining line.

You will build the control stack from first principles, take it through commissioning, and own how the system learns and improves in production. The goal is a plant that gets smarter, faster, and more efficient over time.

• Architect the control stack, from sensors and edge systems to plant-level control and data infrastructure
• Design and implement control logic for process equipment
• Build a unified data layer across the plant to capture process, equipment, and quality data
• Integrate sensors and advanced instrumentation to enable real-time decision making
• Develop closed-loop control strategies that adapt to variable feedstock and operating conditions
• Work closely with process and mechanical engineers to translate physical systems into controllable, optimizable processes
• Lead commissioning end-to-end, including hands‑on debugging, tuning, and system bring‑up
• Use data, modeling, and AI/ML techniques to improve yield, quality, uptime, and throughput
• Build internal tools and automation to reduce manual intervention and accelerate learning
• Interface directly with vendors and integrators

• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Chemical Engineering or related field, or equivalent hands‑on experience demonstrating controls engineering capability
• 3-8+ years of experience in controls or instrumentation engineering
• Strong fundamentals in control systems, instrumentation, and electrical systems
• Proven ability to build and run real‑world control systems, from concept to production
• Hands‑on experience with PLCs and industrial control environments
• Experience working with real process data, including data collection, analysis, and using it to improve system performance
• Comfortable writing code and building tooling beyond ladder logic (Python or similar)
• Comfortable working on the plant floor in an industrial environment
• Ability to operate with incomplete information and make sound decisions quickly

• Background in metals, recycling, mining, or heavy industry
• Experience commissioning and scaling first‑of‑a‑kind or non‑standard systems
• Experience building data pipelines, monitoring, and internal tools for industrial environments
• Experience applying machine learning or AI tools to process optimization
• Startup or early‑stage experience

• Build a company from zero, not optimize an existing system
• Direct ownership of critical process and operational decisions
• Work on a problem that matters: rebuilding U.S. industrial capacity
• Small team, high trust, no bureaucracy