Senior Controls​/Plant Automation Engineer

We're seeking Senior Controls / Plant Automation Engineers for an onsite contract assignment at a highly automated manufacturing facility in Southwestern Kansas. This position requires at least 7 years of relevant controls or automation engineering experience.

• Location:
  
  Southwestern Kansas - Onsite
• Duration:
  Initial 12-month contract with potential extension
• Openings:
  Up to 2
• Industry: Large-scale process manufacturing
• Work Environment:
  Highly automated manufacturing facility
• Experience:
  
  Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience
• Compensation:
  Competitive hourly rate, depending on experience (DOE)

In this role, you will provide hands-on engineering and troubleshooting support within a large, highly automated process manufacturing facility.

The plant is managing a significant volume of controls, automation, material-handling, equipment, maintenance, and modernization activities. The existing technical team requires additional senior-level engineering capacity to address ongoing production issues, automation backlogs, upgrades, and troubleshooting needs.

This is a hands-on plant-floor position, not primarily a controls-design or desk-based engineering role. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working directly in an operating manufacturing environment, independently troubleshooting automation problems, modifying existing control logic, supporting production equipment, and resolving issues with minimal supervision.

The facility operates a combination of legacy and modern automation technologies. Successful engineers must be able to quickly understand existing systems and troubleshoot across multiple generations of controls equipment.

The following approved project-related expenses will be paid or reimbursed:

• Travel:
  Travel to and from the project location
• Lodging:
  Accommodations during the assignment
• Transportation:
  Approved local transportation
• Meals:
  Meals or a daily meal allowance
• Additional Expenses:
  Other approved project-related expenses

• Troubleshoot, maintain, modify, and support PLC-based industrial control systems.
• Provide hands-on support for Schneider Electric and Modicon PLCs, including legacy and newer systems.
• Troubleshoot and support GE/Proficy iFIX HMI and SCADA environments.
• Diagnose plant-floor automation issues involving PLCs, HMI and SCADA systems, industrial communication networks, sensors and field devices, scanners and identification systems, and production machinery.
• Troubleshoot automated conveyor and material-handling systems involving equipment sequencing, sensors and photo eyes, interlocks, motors and drives, and material-handling equipment.
• Troubleshoot and integrate industrial barcode, scanning, identification, and vision systems, including Keyence, Cognex, and SICK technologies.
• Diagnose communication issues between PLCs, HMIs, scanners, field devices, and other plant-floor systems.
• Perform root-cause analysis on controls, automation, electrical, communication, and equipment failures.
• Modify PLC logic and control-system configurations as required to resolve production issues.
• Support controls upgrades, automation modernization, and legacy-system replacement initiatives.
• Work closely with Plant Engineering, Maintenance, Operations, and Technical teams to minimize production downtime.
• Provide additional engineering capacity for existing automation, maintenance troubleshooting, project, and upgrade backlogs.
• Document system modifications, troubleshooting activities, and controls changes.
• Follow established plant controls, safety, documentation, and change-management procedures.

• Experience:
  
  Minimum of 7 years of relevant controls, automation, or plant-floor engineering experience.
• Professional Background:
  Significant hands-on experience as a Controls Engineer, Automation Engineer, Plant Controls Engineer, Industrial Controls Engineer, or similar professional.
• PLC Expertise:
  Strong experience with industrial PLC programming and troubleshooting.
• Plant-Floor Automation:
  Proven experience supporting plant-floor controls and automation systems.
• Modicon
  
  Experience:
  
  Hands-on experience with Schneider Electric and Modicon PLCs.
• HMI/SCADA:
  Experience supporting and troubleshooting HMI and SCADA systems.
• Industrial Communications:
  Strong understanding of industrial communications and control networks.
• Material Handling:
  Experience troubleshooting automated conveyor and material-handling systems.
• Field Devices:
  Experience with sensors, photo eyes,…