Network Controls Engineer

Network & Controls Engineer

The Network & Controls Engineer designs, deploys, and supports the communication paths that connect fleet devices and control systems to customer networks, enabling secure and reliable connectivity for operating solar plants. This role works across VPNs, firewalls, routers, and industrial protocols to ensure robust site connectivity and effective integration with SCADA and control systems.

Responsibilities:

• Design and review site connectivity for new and existing solar plant locations, including routers, firewalls, VPNs, and cellular or leased‑line links.
• Assist in developing network topologies that align with customer standards and site requirements, focusing on IP addressing schemes, routing, and segmentation between operational technology and IT networks.
• Prepare clear connectivity and configuration packages, including IP plans, port requirements, and firewall rules, for internal stakeholders and customer review.
• Implement and test VPN tunnels, firewall rules, and routing policies to provide secure remote access to fleet devices and control systems.
• Support the configuration of on‑site network equipment such as routers, switches, and cellular gateways using established templates and guidelines.
• Coordinate closely with customer IT and operations teams to satisfy security and connectivity requirements while maintaining operational reliability.
• Monitor connectivity to field sites and help triage network issues such as packet loss, latency, routing problems, and firewall blocks.
• Use logs, trace routes, packet captures, and monitoring dashboards to diagnose and resolve network incidents in a structured and timely manner.
• Collaborate with Technical Services, firmware, and applications teams to distinguish network‑related issues from device or application problems.
• Support reliable transport of SCADA and industrial protocols, including Modbus, OPC‑UA, DNP3, and similar standards, between site equipment and control centers.
• Assist in validating that required data points and control paths are available, accurate, and behaving as expected after network or configuration changes.
• Help document standard patterns and best practices for connecting to customer SCADA and historian systems.
• Apply secure‑by‑default practices to site connectivity, including least‑privilege access, restricted ports, use of jump hosts, and multi‑factor authentication where applicable.
• Follow defined change‑management processes, including submitting requests, obtaining approvals, adhering to maintenance windows, and documenting changes.
• Contribute to standard runbooks, templates, and procedures for common network changes and site onboarding activities.
• Maintain accurate records of site network designs, configurations, and changes in internal tools and repositories.
• Provide concise status updates on ongoing work, risks, and completed changes to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Identify recurring issues and propose improvements to templates, monitoring capabilities, or automation to enhance reliability and efficiency.

Essential

Skills:

• 1–2 years of experience in network engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Electronics & Communications with a strong networking focus, including internships and project work.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Communications, Computer Engineering, Network Engineering, or a closely related field is preferred.
• Solid understanding of core networking concepts, including IP addressing and subnetting, routing, VPNs, firewalls, NAT, and DNS.
• Experience configuring or supporting network devices such as routers, firewalls, switches, and cellular gateways in production or lab environments.
• Exposure to SCADA systems and industrial protocols such as Modbus, OPC‑UA, DNP3, or similar power‑industry standards is strongly preferred.
• Ability to use basic network diagnostic tools, including ping, trace route, netstat, and packet capture utilities, and to interpret their results effectively.
• Ability to read and work from network diagrams and to document network designs and changes clearly for both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Comfort collaborating with customer IT,…