Instrument & Controls Technician

Job Description

Job Description

Position Summary None exempt: (overtime is paid with this role)

We are hiring an experienced Instrumentation & Electrical Controls Engineer to support the reliability, troubleshooting, maintenance, and continuous improvement of automated production and bottling equipment.

This position is ideal for someone with hands-on experience in Allen-Bradley PLCs, Rockwell Automation control systems, industrial instrumentation, SCADA, VFDs, servo drives, electrical troubleshooting, and process controls.

The engineer will work closely with maintenance, engineering, production, and operations teams to diagnose equipment problems, improve control systems, reduce downtime, optimize production performance, and support preventive maintenance activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Troubleshoot and interpret Allen-Bradley PLC code within the Rockwell Automation environment

• Diagnose, repair, test, calibrate, and adjust industrial instrumentation, electrical circuits, automation systems, and control equipment

• Support pressure, temperature, flow, level, proximity, and detection instrumentation

• Troubleshoot automated bottling and packaging equipment, including fillers, labelers, laser coders, conveyors, palletizers, label detection systems, sensors, and material-handling equipment

• Troubleshoot, tune, and optimize process control loops

• Support both batch and continuous manufacturing processes

• Identify and resolve electrical, instrumentation, processing, and production equipment problems

• Optimize SCADA, DCS, HMI, operator control screens, and production interfaces

• Troubleshoot Allen-Bradley VFDs, servo drives, motors, industrial networks, and remote I/O systems

• Read and interpret electrical schematics, instrumentation drawings, loop diagrams, P&IDs, logic diagrams, functional specifications, and control narratives

• Perform instrumentation and electrical preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, and asset-care activities

• Conduct root cause analysis and document corrective actions for equipment failures and recurring downtime

• Maintain accurate work orders, preventive maintenance records, equipment history, and parts usage within SAP PM or another CMMS

• Maintain electrical and instrumentation spare-parts inventories and assist with ordering critical replacement components

• Train maintenance technicians and production team members on controls, instrumentation, troubleshooting, and equipment operation

• Work collaboratively with maintenance technicians, engineers, operators, vendors, and cross-functional improvement teams

• Support continuous improvement projects focused on equipment reliability, yield improvement, waste reduction, quality, safety, and production efficiency

• Help the facility meet or exceed safety, reliability, quality, productivity, and operational performance KPIs

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Instrumentation, Automation, Mechatronics, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent technical work experience

• At least two years of industrial instrumentation, electrical maintenance, controls, or automation experience

• At least two years of experience working with Rockwell Automation or Allen-Bradley control systems

• Strong hands-on experience troubleshooting Allen-Bradley PLCs

• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot, calibrate, maintain, and repair industrial process instrumentation

• Experience working with SCADA, DCS, HMI, or industrial control systems

• Working knowledge of Allen-Bradley VFDs, servo drives, motors, sensors, and control components

• Ability to read and understand electrical schematics, P&IDs, instrumentation drawings, loop diagrams, and PLC logic

• Familiarity with industrial communication networks such as Ethernet/IP, Profibus, DeviceNet, ControlNet, DH+, and Remote I/O

• Knowledge of current electrical codes, regulations, lockout/tagout procedures, and safe electrical work practices

• Strong troubleshooting, root cause analysis, documentation, teamwork, and communication skills

• Ability to work safely and effectively in a fast-paced manufacturing environment

Preferred Experience

• SAP PM, SAP CMMS, or another computerized maintenance management system

• Bottling, beverage, food manufacturing, packaging, consumer products, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, or other high-speed automated manufacturing experience

• Control-loop tuning and process-control optimization

• Experience supporting fillers, labelers, coders, palletizers, conveyors, packaging machines, and automated production lines

• Experience training maintenance technicians or operators

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a hands-on controls, instrumentation, and electrical troubleshooting professional who can quickly diagnose production problems, interpret PLC logic, work safely around energized industrial equipment, and collaborate with maintenance and operations teams to improve equipment reliability.

Relevant job titles may include:

Instrumentation Engineer, Electrical Controls Engineer, Controls Engineer, Automation Engineer, Instrumentation and Controls Engineer, I&C Engineer, PLC Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Process Controls Engineer, Controls Specialist, Instrumentation Technician, Electrical and Instrumentation Technician, E&I Technician, or Industrial Automation Engineer.