Controls Engineering Manager

Description

Job Title: Controls Engineering Manager

Reports to: VP of Engineering & Operations

Department: Engineering

Location: 808 Timberlake Road, Fairmont, MN 56031

Position Summary: The Controls Engineering Manager leads the controls engineering projects team and development teams to ensure the successful delivery of automation solutions that meet customer needs. They are also responsible for ensuring that the development of PLC and HMI programs is executed in a consistent and standardized manner, adhering to internal standards. Strong technical knowledge of controls systems, along with excellent people management skills, are essential for this position.

Additionally, the Manager acts as a substitute for the Controls Engineering Supervisor for Projects and the Controls Engineering Supervisor for Development.

Exhibit and promote the following values:

• Curious Attitude: An employee who is curious is motivated to take time to question and explore new things to find answers that will ensure the best outcomes for the organization.
• Focus on Quality: An employee who values quality has integrity and produces results that meet high standards set by the organization.
• Passion for Service: An employee who is service-oriented displays a positive behavior and responds to customers using good business practices to meet their needs and expectations.
• Dedicated Spirit: A dedicated employee is one who takes ownership of their role and the whole organization to ensure that goals are achieved.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties may be assigned:

Team Leadership

• Ensures that the goals of the controls engineering department align with the overall business objectives.
• Proficient in leading and motivating a team, collaborating with cross-functional departments, and conveying technical information to various stakeholders.
• Direct team activities by establishing priorities, assigning tasks to ensure efficient use of personnel and resources.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of control engineers.
• Analyze work issues, resolve problems, and guide team members through challenges.
• Evaluate departmental resource needs and advise senior leadership on appropriate staffing levels based on business demands.
• Advise senior leadership on potential technical risks and mitigation strategies.
• Leads a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging open feedback from cross-functional teams to identify control system problems, resolve recurring issues, and drive improvement initiatives.

Controls Engineering

• Manage the department and collaborate with other teams to deliver high-quality products and ensure successful project outcomes.
• Work collaboratively with various teams including product management, project management, electrical design, CAD, software engineering, and production.
• Be a resource for the team during complex problem-solving efforts; handle escalated incidents that cannot be resolved at other levels.
• Collaborate on high-impact or complex customer projects, especially where technical coordination is critical.
• Assist with the development and troubleshooting of PLC logic, HMI configuration, and communication setups.
• Review project deliverables to ensure quality, completeness, and consistency.
• Assist in estimating programming labor.
• Contribute to the creation of training materials and actively support technical knowledge-sharing sessions across teams as necessary.
• Serve as a technical liaison, ensuring Product Management and Training teams have the knowledge and resources needed to support and educate end users on our control systems.
• This Job description is not comprehensive, and all employees must be flexible, and willing to perform other duties as assigned by their supervisor.

Requirements

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Education/Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in controls engineering, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven ability to manage people, processes, and deliverables simultaneously.
• Experience in structured engineering environments using code libraries, standards, and agile/sprint methods.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficiency with Rockwell Studio 5000, FactoryTalk View SE/ME, and Ignition.
• Familiarity with EOS methodology and tools (L10s, Rocks, To-Dos, IDS).
• Experience conducting technical peer reviews and mentoring employees.
• Prior involvement with sprint planning or agile delivery in engineering settings.

Computer/Technical Skills:

• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools.
• Strong in PLC logic development, HMI/SCADA visualization, and industrial communication protocols.
• Familiar with managing shared code libraries, reusable components, and internal documentation tools.
• Ability to guide team members in debugging and testing across multiple automation platforms.

Reasoning Ability: Able to balance short-term project needs with long-term team and process development. Capable of identifying recurring issues or inefficiencies and driving resolution through people, process, or tooling improvements.

Math Ability: Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.

Language Ability: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees in the organization. Ability to read electrical schematics and familiar with piping and instrument drawing (PID) and product flow drawing (PFD).

Certificates and Licenses: Valid Driver's License

Travel: Occasional travel (approximately 2-5%) may be required but is not a regular or frequent part of this position. Travel may include destinations throughout North America by automobile, commercial airplane, or company airplane.

Work Environment and Physical Demands: The work environment characteristics and physical demands described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

The employee must regularly lift and /or move up to 25 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 100 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus, while performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; talk or hear and taste or smell. Must be able to accurately discriminate among colors.