Controls & Startup Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Seven Seas Water Group

Seven Seas Water Group ( is a portfolio company owned by investment funds managed by EQT. Headquartered in Tampa, with operations across the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America, Seven Seas Water Group (SSWG) delivers annually over 20 billion gallons of water to industrial, commercial, governmental, municipal, and hospitality customers. SSWG designs, builds, owns, and operates, delivers new facilities, or acquires and upgrades existing facilities, with the goal of optimizing project risk transfer between the public and private sectors. We have more than 200 water and wastewater treatment plants in operations throughout the United States, Caribbean, and Latin America. With an outstanding reputation for decentralized water and wastewater treatment solutions, the SSWG “Water-as-a-Service®” approach seeks to help solve global water and wastewater infrastructure challenges.

SSWG operates two businesses within the water infrastructure space. Seven Seas Water, which provides water treatment and desalination for governmental, hospitality and industrial customers in United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the AUC Group ( which provides decentralized water and wastewater treatment plants for industrial and municipal customers in the United States. 

EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization focused on active ownership strategies. With a Nordic heritage and a global mindset, EQT has a track record of more than three decades of developing companies across multiple geographies, sectors, and strategies. EQT has investment strategies covering all phases of a business’ development, from start-up to maturity. EQT has EUR 273 billion in total assets under management (EUR 141 billion in fee-generating assets under management) as of 30 June 2025, within two business segments – Private Capital and Real Assets.

With its roots in the Wallenberg family’s entrepreneurial mindset and philosophy of long-term ownership, EQT is guided by a set of strong values and a distinct corporate culture. EQT manages and advises funds and vehicles that invest across the world with the mission to future-proof companies, generate attractive returns and make a positive impact with everything EQT does.

The EQT AB Group comprises EQT AB (publ) and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, which include general partners and fund managers of EQT funds as well as entities advising EQT funds. EQT has offices in more than 25 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas and has more than 1,900 employees.

Seven Seas Water Group is a portfolio company of EQT AB (together with its subsidiaries, "EQT"), a purpose-driven global investment organization that partners with companies worldwide through its Private Capital and Real Assets strategies. Founded in 1994, EQT is a leading active ownership firm that has more than EUR 273 billion in total assets under management across nearly 50 active funds. EQT is committed to investing behind essential infrastructure, partnering with established platforms that deliver sustainable, mission critical services aligned with global needs for resource efficiency. 

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The Role:

This is a high-travel field engineering role — expect up to 75% travel to project sites and operating plants in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America, often for consecutive weeks at a time. The role is fully remote when not traveling; however, candidates must reside in the Eastern or Central time zone and within reasonable proximity to a major airport to support site schedules and travel logistics.

The Controls & Startup Engineer is the hands-on automation lead in the field for the commissioning, startup, and ongoing support of Seven Seas Water’s water treatment and desalination plants. This is not a troubleshoot-only position: the successful candidate writes, modifies, and commissions PLC and HMI code — authoring new routines, restructuring logic, and building operator screens — in addition to diagnosing and resolving electrical, controls, instrumentation, and network issues on live plants.

The ideal candidate is a jack-of-all-trades field engineer: comfortable going online with a running PLC one hour and pulling wire diagrams, landing terminations, or configuring a managed switch the next. Experience in seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) or brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) desalination is a plus, but not required.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• PLC programming: Program, modify, commission, and troubleshoot Allen-Bradley Logix PLC systems using Studio 5000, including authoring new routines, Add-On Instructions, and device logic — not limited to online monitoring or forcing.

• HMI/SCADA: Develop, modify, and commission FactoryTalk View SE/ME applications, including displays, alarms, and tag structures; support Wonderware/AVEVA and other legacy HMI platforms encountered in the installed fleet.

• Startup and commissioning: Lead the electrical and controls portions of plant startups: point-to-point I/O checkout, loop checks, instrument calibration verification, motor bumps, VFD configuration and tuning (Allen-Bradley PowerFlex, Square D Altivar), interlock and permissive verification, and functional testing through wet commissioning and performance testing.

• Industrial networking: Configure and troubleshoot plant control networks — EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, managed switches, VLANs, firewalls, and remote-access/VPN connections supporting Seven Seas remote monitoring of plants.

• Panel modifications: Perform and supervise field modifications to industrial control panels: adding I/O, rewiring circuits, replacing components, and redlining schematics, maintaining compliance with UL 508A practices and NFPA 70 (NEC).

• Electrical maintenance: Safely maintain, troubleshoot, and repair plant electrical equipment (480 V and below) including MCCs, VFDs, motor circuits, distribution panels, and control power systems, in accordance with NFPA 70E electrically safe work practices, arc flash requirements, and lockout/tagout procedures.

• Troubleshooting: Diagnose electrical, controls, instrumentation, and communication failures on operating plants — on-site and remotely — and implement corrective actions that prevent recurrence.

• Documentation: Redline drawings in the field and return accurate as-built markups (schematics, loop diagrams, panel layouts, network diagrams) to the engineering office; document work performed in service reports.

• Remote support: Provide remote troubleshooting support to plant operations teams and participate in an informal on-call rotation for critical plant issues.

• Operator training: Train plant operators and technicians on control system operation, alarm response, and safe equipment usage.

• Contractor coordination: Work directly with electrical contractors, OEM service technicians, and customer personnel during installation and startup; coordinate and supervise contractor work scopes in the field.

• Continuous improvement: Feed field lessons learned back to the engineering team, including suggested design and standards improvements.

•  Other related duties may be assigned as required.

Required Qualifications:

• Hands-on PLC programming: Demonstrated ability to write PLC programs from scratch — candidates should be prepared to walk through programs they have personally authored, including program structure, I/O handling, and sequence logic.

• 5+ years of industrial controls experience in field service, commissioning, startup, or plant support roles.

• Experience with Allen-Bradley Logix platforms (Studio 5000 / RSLogix 5000) and FactoryTalk View, or equivalent depth on Siemens/Schneider platforms with willingness to become the in-house Allen-Bradley expert.

• Working knowledge of industrial networking: EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, IP addressing, managed switches, and secure remote access.

• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, P&IDs, loop diagrams, and panel layouts — and to redline them accurately.

• Experience safely working on energized and de-energized industrial electrical equipment (480 V and below) under NFPA 70E and lockout/tagout programs.

• Strong instrumentation fundamentals: 4–20 mA loops, transmitters, control valves, and analytical instruments.

• Travel: Willing and able to travel up to 75%, including international travel to the Caribbean and Latin America for consecutive weeks; valid U.S. passport (or ability to obtain one) and ability to qualify for corporate travel.

• Location: Must reside in the U.S. Eastern or Central time zone, within reasonable proximity to a major airport.

• Self-directed and resourceful — able to represent the company alone on a remote site, make sound field decisions, and know when to phone home.

• Strong communication skills with operators, contractors, customers, and engineers at all levels.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Water or wastewater treatment experience; SWRO/BWRO desalination experience a strong plus.

• Startup or field service background with an OEM, systems integrator, or startup-stage company — comfort wearing multiple hats in lean, fast-moving project environments.

• VFD configuration and drive tuning experience (Allen-Bradley PowerFlex, Square D Altivar).

• UL 508A panel design or modification experience.

• Supervisory experience coordinating electricians or electrical contractors in the field.

• OSHA 30, NFPA 70E training, or equivalent electrical safety certifications.

• Spanish as a second language.

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls/Automation, or a related technical field preferred; equivalent technical training and directly related field experience will be considered.

• 5+ years of directly related industrial controls and field experience required. Water industry experience preferred.

How to Apply

We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. In accordance with applicable law, we make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as any mental health or physical disability needs.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veterans. Applicant will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.