Instrumentation Engineer

Instrumentation and Controls Engineer

PLC | Manufacturing Equipment

Auburn, WA

$48.07 - $60.08/Hour

U.S. Citizenship is required by Federal Law

We are hiring an Automation & Controls Engineer to support aerospace manufacturing and production equipment through automated control systems, PLC programming, industrial networking, equipment cybersecurity, and hardware/software integration. This role supports production engineering by developing, implementing, troubleshooting, and improving automated manufacturing equipment using technologies such as Siemens, Rockwell, and Fanuc PLCs; C#, Java, and Visual Basic; CAD systems; Windows environments; industrial networks; and automated test equipment.

The engineer will work directly with manufacturing, design engineering, quality, safety, maintenance, metrology, suppliers, and other stakeholders to improve equipment reliability, safety, quality, and production efficiency.

Responsibilities:

• Gather production equipment requirements from Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Manufacturing, Maintenance, Metrology, Safety, and other project stakeholders.
• Develop project scopes, evaluate make-versus-buy alternatives, establish specifications, and manage equipment project budgets.
• Evaluate and down-select hardware and software for automated manufacturing and control systems.
• Implement, integrate, debug, and validate upgraded hardware and software within automated control systems.
• Develop and implement equipment safety solutions in compliance with applicable electrical, safety, and industry standards.
• Analyze equipment and production data to identify root causes of systemic quality, safety, reliability, and repeatability issues.
• Develop, test, evaluate, and document software and hardware changes for production equipment.
• Design, develop, and support equipment networking technologies and cybersecurity solutions.
• Collaborate with Operations to develop data collection strategies and maintain systems that monitor OEE, MTBF, MTTR, machine uptime, and other equipment performance metrics.
• Develop design improvements for new and existing production equipment to address systemic problems, reliability concerns, and obsolescence.
• Verify equipment designs, materials, hardware, and software meet production system requirements and equipment specifications.
• Troubleshoot automated production equipment and coordinate corrective actions with engineering, manufacturing, maintenance, safety, and other affected teams.
• Lead and support projects involving the acquisition, installation, modification, and improvement of production equipment.
• Develop and release equipment bid packages, technical specifications, and purchase specifications for suppliers and vendors.
• Generate system and equipment specifications from production system requirements.
• Analyze design/build concepts and alternative solutions to ensure equipment designs meet producibility requirements.
• Develop and maintain equipment hardware, software, configuration, and technical documentation.
• Use CAD systems as required to develop equipment specifications and designs.
• Collaborate across manufacturing, quality, safety, fabrication, purchasing, finance, operations, research and technology, suppliers, and vendors throughout equipment development and implementation.

Qualifications:

• US Citizenship Required
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited course of study in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline; ABET accreditation preferred but not required.
• 2+ years of related engineering work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 2+ years of experience working in a production or manufacturing environment.
• 2+ years of experience working with electrical and electronic systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline.
• Experience with system diagnostics, equipment troubleshooting, and root cause analysis.
• Knowledge of industrial networking, servers, and databases.
• Programming experience with C#, Java, Visual Basic, or similar programming languages.
• PLC programming experience with Siemens, Rockwell, Fanuc, or similar industrial automation platforms.
• Experience with Automated Test Equipment (ATE) and interfaces including PXI, PCI, VXI, IEEE-488, RS-485, and CAN bus.
• Experience with computer-aided design (CAD) software such as AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, or CATIA.
• Experience administering Microsoft Windows operating systems.
• Proficiency with Microsoft technologies and applications, including Windows, Office, Project, and Visual Studio.
• Experience managing engineering, manufacturing equipment, or automation projects.
• Ability to communicate technical information and collaborate within multidisciplinary engineering and manufacturing teams.