Electrical and Controls Engineer

Electrical Engineer – Controls

Location: Richmond, IN

Work Setting: 100% onsite in a hands-on manufacturing and maintenance environment

Schedule: Monday–Friday, 7:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.

Compensation: Approximately $100,000 base salary

Compensation Flexibility: Exceptional candidates seeking approximately $105,000–$110,000 may be considered

Bonus: Quarterly incentive opportunity based on overall company and operational performance

Travel: Extremely rare

Position Summary

A well-established manufacturer of custom-engineered materials is seeking an Electrical Engineer – Controls to serve as the primary controls and automation resource at its Richmond, IN manufacturing facility.

Although the title is Electrical Engineer, this is a highly hands-on position that blends controls engineering, troubleshooting, electrical work, and maintenance support. The successful candidate will spend the majority of their time working directly with the maintenance team to diagnose equipment issues, troubleshoot PLC-controlled machinery, install and wire controls hardware, and improve equipment safety, reliability, quality, and efficiency.

This is not a desk-based engineering position focused primarily on designing or writing new PLC programs. Major PLC programming is expected to represent only a small portion of the role. The ideal candidate enjoys getting onto the production floor, opening control panels, reviewing existing programs, wiring sensors, troubleshooting equipment, and working side-by-side with maintenance technicians to solve real manufacturing problems.

What You'll Do

• Serve as the site's primary technical resource for industrial controls, automation, and PLC-related equipment issues

• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled manufacturing equipment by reviewing existing programs, electrical systems, instrumentation, sensors, and related hardware

• Work with Allen-Bradley PLC systems to monitor, interpret, troubleshoot, and modify existing control logic as needed

• Install and wire sensors, controls hardware, instrumentation, and other electrical components directly on manufacturing equipment

• Support immediate plant needs involving automation software, controls hardware, electrical systems, and instrumentation

• Add or modify sensors and controls functionality to improve product quality, employee safety, equipment reliability, and operating efficiency

• Support control-system hardware upgrades and improvements throughout the facility

• Analyze control-loop performance and assist with tuning, optimization, configuration, and documentation

• Partner closely with maintenance technicians to diagnose and correct electrical, instrumentation, and controls problems

• Develop and maintain drawings, documentation, and technical information related to equipment changes and controls improvements

• Work with production, maintenance, and engineering teams to develop and implement new control strategies

• Support automation requirements for new equipment, including hardware selection, controls integration, and programming as appropriate

• Monitor equipment alarms and help reduce nuisance alarms while improving visibility into legitimate process issues

• Support continuous-improvement projects and deferred automation initiatives

• Provide rare after-hours controls support when plant personnel encounter an issue that cannot be resolved internally

What You Bring

• Strong industrial controls experience with practical knowledge of PLC-controlled manufacturing equipment

• Working familiarity with Allen-Bradley PLCs

• Ability to enter, monitor, interpret, and troubleshoot existing PLC programs

• Hands-on electrical and controls capability, including personally installing and wiring sensors or other controls hardware

• Strong equipment troubleshooting and problem-solving skills

• Experience working within a manufacturing, maintenance, or industrial environment

• Ability to work effectively alongside electricians, maintenance technicians, operators, engineers, and production personnel

• Willingness to perform hands-on plant-floor work rather than delegating installation or troubleshooting activities to others

• Strong organization, prioritization, communication, and follow-through

• Ability to independently respond to controls issues while knowing when to involve other technical or leadership resources

• Reliable attendance and willingness to provide occasional after-hours support when an unusual controls emergency occurs

• Ability to work onsite in Richmond, IN on the established first-shift schedule

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as a Controls Engineer, Controls Technician, Electrical Controls Specialist, Automation Technician, or Maintenance Technician with significant controls responsibility

• Associate degree, two-year technical degree, or bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Automation, Electrical Technology, or a related field

• A bachelor's degree is welcome but is not required when the candidate brings strong directly relevant controls experience

• Strong Allen-Bradley experience, including PLC troubleshooting, logic review, online edits, drives, or HMIs

• Experience with Emerson controls or drives

• Experience with Parker Hannifin or Parker drives

• Experience with Indramat equipment

• Knowledge of instrumentation, sensors, control loops, alarm management, and automation hardware

• Experience within plastics, film, sheet, extrusion, converting, or another process-manufacturing environment

• Experience within steel or another complex industrial manufacturing environment may also translate well

• Exposure to Lean Six Sigma, 5S, and continuous-improvement methodologies

• Experience creating or maintaining technical drawings and controls documentation

Why This Opportunity

• Serve as the only dedicated controls specialist at the Richmond facility

• Take meaningful ownership of plant controls, troubleshooting, automation, and improvement projects

• Work across a broad range of controls responsibilities rather than being limited to programming from a desk

• Partner closely with an experienced maintenance team with strong electrical capabilities

• Make an immediate impact by helping reduce reliance on outside controls contractors

• Work on projects involving PLCs, sensors, drives, instrumentation, equipment upgrades, safety improvements, and quality improvements

• Gain significant visibility across Maintenance, Engineering, Production, and plant leadership

• Competitive base salary with flexibility for an exceptional candidate

• Quarterly company-performance incentive opportunity

• Potential long-term advancement within Maintenance, Engineering, or broader plant leadership as the organization continues to evolve