Principal Controls Engineer

Principal Controls Engineer About Oshkosh Aero Tech

Oshkosh Aero Tech is a leading provider of aviation ground support products, gate equipment and airport services to commercial airlines, airports, air‑freight carriers, ground handling and military customers. Oshkosh Aero Tech offers products that make a difference in people’s lives by supporting those in our communities who do some of the toughest work. They own many of the most trusted brands in the air transportation industry, including LEKTRO®, Jet Aire®, Jet Power®, Amp TekÔ, Jetway®, and more.

The Principal Controls Engineer works within engineering groups to support the development and implementation of control strategies and sub‑system requirements for advanced equipment control systems. This role supports a broad range of Ogden products including aircraft ground air conditioning equipment, aircraft ground power conversion equipment, load‑sharing systems, and military aircraft ground support systems.

• Component selection (electronic control modules, VFDs, motors, drives, engines, generators, energy storage cells, sensors, etc.)
• Embedded printed board systems or programmable logic controllers (Allen Bradley, Beckhoff, IFM)
• HMI design, integration development, programming, communications, and applications

This role supports both new product development and sustaining engineering efforts, including modernization of legacy systems due to component obsolescence, and requires strong ownership of PLC programming, operator interface development, and hands‑on troubleshooting support.

• Perform engineering calculations, investigations, and tasks supporting control system development and implementation
• Deliver results according to Oshkosh and general industry engineering standards and processes
• Support more senior engineers and product leads in preparation of plans, designs, computation methods, integration and reporting
• Support both new product development (NPD) and sustaining engineering efforts, including hardware and software obsolescence updates and system replication using modern components
• Design, develop, and program PLC‑based control systems and operator interfaces (HMIs), including creation of intuitive, user‑friendly displays, alarm handling and system feedback visualization, support integration of multiple control systems and communication across networks
• Provide hands‑on troubleshooting support for manufacturing and test cell operations, identifying root cause across software, hardware, and process‑related issues
• Support production implementation, field service support, and sustaining engineering activities across a wide variety of products
• Collaborate with software engineering, internal engineering groups, and external component suppliers
• Provide guidance or mentorship to entry level engineers, designers, or technicians
• Support equipment sub‑system controls research, development, verification and validation, testing, and production implementation
• Support development of requirements including resources, equipment, estimates, test plans, and milestones
• Develop and utilize test environments, including bench testing and simulated systems, to validate control strategies
• Work with internal and external teams (industry consortiums, universities) on advanced control development and component development efforts
• Read and interpret electrical wiring schematics, diagrams, wire tag tables, and P&IDs
• Generate Control Narratives with strong revision control documentation
• Other duties as assigned
• Regular attendance is required

• Accredited Bachelor's degree in mechanical/electrical Engineering or related field with five (5) or more years of related experience.

• Eight (8) or more years of experience in controls engineering, systems integration, or a related field
• Experience integrating multiple PLC‑controlled systems and enabling communication across networks (SCADA or similar environments)

• PLC programming (Allen Bradley, Beckhoff, IFM)
• Operator interface (HMI) development
• TwinCAT (2 and
  3) experience…