Controls Engineer

Join a team of innovators on a mission to develop novel pollen collection, preservation, and application technologies needed to make major advances in agricultural production, sustainability, and profitability.  At PowerPollen^®our pollination technologies are aimed at revolutionizing the sustainable production of food, feed, fuel for the future. 

The Controls Engineer will be responsible for leading controls design and programming efforts for the development of products and enablement of service delivery and technology transfer in a production agriculture setting.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Utilize up-to-date engineering control technologies, tools and practices to facilitate delivery of products as well as bringing the designs from small scale prototypes to large scale production environments.
• Participate in multi-disciplinary collaboration with equipment designers, fabricators and soft/hardware engineers, and others to pursue and achieve business objectives, on time, at cost with optimal quality.
• Assist in establishing R&D protocols and participate in product qualification, and production-based support documentation.
• Participate in overall systems design, development and integration of mechanical and structural systems. Progress designs all the way through detailed design, drawing generation, parts procurement, hands-on assembly, integration and testing.
• Design and determine proper embedded systems for controlling laboratory and field environments. Ensure the designs/controls have been validated and thoroughly documented prior to production release.
• Have familiarity with PLC and single board computer programming, as well as, embedded controllers.
• Be knowledgeable in Python and C family of coding. CAN bus communication experience is also preferred.
• Experience in User Interface (UI) development in various platforms.
• Ensure understandable and continuous technical communication with internal and external stakeholders. Present material in a concise and professional manner to a wide variety of individuals including customers, leadership team, co-workers, other internal or external stakeholders as needed.
• Gather information and data from equipment and field processes to collaborate with cross functional teams.
• Work collaboratively with strategic equipment partners, other engineering partners and with customers and their technical field teams.
• Understand and conform to relevant industry, customer and PowerPollen safety standards.
• Stay up-to-date regarding your field of engineering and technology relative to agriculture, the production seed industry and PowerPollen.
• Support timely, controlled, and compliant program changes.

Required Skills, Knowledge:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics/Robotics, or like majors
• 2+ years experience preferred in a technical or engineering related role, preferably in agriculture or agricultural services industry.
• Hands-on mentality with a mechanical aptitude.
• Working knowledge of electrical systems (including software).
• Experience developing, simulating and validating systems.
• Aptitude for innovation and trouble-shooting using basic electrical test equipment.
• Ability to organize and prioritize work assignments to complete assignments/tasks on time.
• Ability to apply creative approaches and ideas to solve problems, maximizing the effective use of resources.
• Action-oriented, flexible, objective and an excellent communicator able to work effectively in both a team setting and individually with limited oversight.
• Available to travel up to 30% of time including domestic and international travel.
• Ability to learn data systems and work remotely using mobile devices.
• Agricultural/farm background favorable.

Working Conditions:

Primarily a field or fabrication shop-based role with frequent interactions occurring in, stationary and mobile labs, outdoor agricultural field environments and office settings.

Physical Requirements:

The position involves physical activity including lifting objects up to 50 pounds, walking on uneven terrain, ability to tolerate heat and humid conditions typical of agricultural outdoor field work in summer, with seasonal extended hours that will vary with crop development in different locales.

All applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, or status with regard to public assistance. Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status)