Controls Engineer, Heavy Industrial Manufacturing (Allen-Bradley PLC, SCADA), Full Site Ownership - Job ID 3584530

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This is a newly created role on a stable maintenance and engineering team at an established heavy-industrial chemical plant. You report to the Engineering Manager and act as the automation lead for the site: PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, and the industrial control networks that keep production running.

Pave Talent is hiring on behalf of our client, an established chemical manufacturer running a single, tight-knit US production site (roughly 64 on-site staff, a 6-person craft team in the department). It is part of a much larger global organization, so you get the stability and benefits of a major company with the hands-on feel and visibility of a small plant.

- Generalists with breadth across PLCs, HMI, SCADA, and controls troubleshooting, not deep specialists in only one of them

- People who like full ownership of a project and finding their own resources, rather than waiting for a big support bench

- Builders comfortable splitting their week roughly in thirds: project work, floor troubleshooting, and ad hoc wherever the plant needs them

- Strong communicators who can scope a problem, then coordinate contractors and specialists to execute it

If you want to sit at a desk and program in a corner all day, or you need a large team with a specialist for every task, this is not the role. The hiring manager put it plainly: the person who wants to program and sit in a corner is not their person.

You will report to the Engineering Manager and sit within the maintenance department, on the floor and in the office both. No direct reports, but you will lead project teams, contractors, and collaborative groups. Expect about a third project work (controls improvements, line and equipment upgrades), a third troubleshooting and backfilling the manager's floor coverage, and a third ad hoc as a small-site engineer who stretches into whatever comes up.

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- Modify, maintain, and troubleshoot control systems: programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and industrial control networks

- Work predominantly in Allen-Bradley, with FactoryTalk, Wonderware, and InTouch on the HMI and visualization side

- Diagnose automation and controls issues to cut downtime and improve equipment reliability

- Support information technology and operational technology (IT/OT) networks, including network segmentation and operational cybersecurity

- Serve as automation lead on system upgrades, new line installations, and equipment integrations

- Run root cause analysis with maintenance, operations, and engineering, then implement long-term fixes

- Manage controls vendors and system integrators, and handle parts selection and quoting

- Keep work compliant with safety standards, electrical codes, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements

You do not have to be a heads-down programmer. You build the logic, scope what needs to be done on the electrical and controls side, and coordinate specialists to execute. Hands-on programming ability is a bonus, not a requirement, but you need enough working knowledge to direct the work credibly.

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- Bachelor of Science in Industrial Controls, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline, completed at a US institution

- 4+ years of controls or automation experience, ideally in a manufacturing environment, with solid tenure (this is not a fit for frequent job changers; it takes 18 to 24 months to get fully up to speed here)

- Hands-on Allen-Bradley PLC experience

- Breadth across PLCs, HMI, SCADA, and controls troubleshooting, with the ability to work independently

- Unrestricted right to work in the US (no sponsorship)

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- Background in chemicals, paper, food processing, or other heavy-industrial automation environments

- Experience supporting IT/OT integration and industrial cybersecurity

- Prior experience leading automation-related capital or improvement projects - Vendor management and system integrator coordination

: competitive per year, based on experience

: 6% annual target

(): Company contributes 6% of eligible pay automatically regardless of what you put in, plus a dollar-for-dollar match up to another 4%

: Medical, dental, and vision, effective Day One

: Vacation plus an additional week of paid time off

: Monday through Friday, on-site. Core hours flex with project needs, with some rotating on-call; most on-call is technical guidance you can give from home, not a drive-in

: A competitive relocation package is available for the right candidate

This is a single-site role, so you will not have the deep specialist bench of a giant plant. Everything is transparent and you own your projects end to end; nobody else plays in your sandbox, but nobody is doing your part for you either. People who like running their own show in a dynamic, hands-on plant love this. People who want a large support structure around them do not.

Interested? Apply via LinkedIn and we'll be in touch. Confidential search; your application is fully private.

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