Position summary

The Controls, Applications Engineer owns the controls scope and its price.

Every system we sell has an electrical and controls scope: panels, drives, devices, network, safety and the installation labor behind them. The Controls, Applications Engineer designs that architecture at concept level, prices it, and documents the basis well enough that it can be reviewed and then built.

The role works alongside the Application Engineer on the mechanical scope and the Solutions Engineer on the operational flow the controls have to serve. Where the requirement cannot be satisfied by application of standard architecture, the answer is escalation, not invention.
Essential duties & responsibilities

Solution development
• Decide how Fives equipment answers the requirement, and size and select it to hit throughput, product profile and operating hours at a price that wins.
• Own the electrical and controls architecture: panels, I/O, network and safety.

Estimating & cost
• Build the complete electrical estimate for the scope: panels, devices and installation labor.
• Develop the bill of material.
• Document cost drivers, assumptions, exclusions and risk allowances well enough that another engineer can review the estimate without rebuilding it.

Customer & supply
• Obtain and evaluate vendor and subcontractor pricing, and recommend selection.

Execution & turnover
• Hand execution a package they can build from: the reasoning and assumptions, not only the drawings.

Contributes to
• Reviewing the RFP, contract and statement of work for risk
• The bid/no-bid technical recommendation
• Process and material flow design across functional areas
• Block-level layout and technology class per area
• Third-party and partner selection
• Layout drawings
• The manifest and equipment list
• Technology feasibility evaluation
• Standard-hours and cost-data studies
• Estimating tool and SAP improvement
• CRD authorship
• Technical writing, description of operation and scope
• Specification compliance and acceptance criteria
• Risk assessment
• Customer meetings with Sales
• The technical basis for acceptance criteria and test procedures
• Technical support to the Project Manager in early phases
• The standardization program and product classification

Working with the rest of the team
PartnerThey bringYou keepApplication EngineerThe mechanical scope, equipment selection, detailed layout and manifestThe electrical and controls architecture and its estimateSolutions EngineerThe operational flow, rates and decision pointsThe controls architecture that serves themSenior Controls Application EngineerThe electrical estimating standard and sign-offThe estimate on your bidOffering ManagerProposal schedule, vendor RFQ packages, workload prioritizationThe electrical content and its qualityOperations / detailed engineeringDetailed design and field executionThe handoff package and the reasoning inside it
Qualifications

Education and experience
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5 to 8 years in electrical design, controls engineering or electrical estimating for industrial systems.
• Required: demonstrated ownership of an electrical estimate, including panels, devices and installation labor.
• Required: working knowledge of PLC and controls architecture, I/O counts, network topology and machine safety.
• Preferred, not required: material handling, conveyor or sortation experience. Candidates from adjacent industrial-automation sectors are expressly welcome.
• Familiarity with applicable electrical codes and standards. AutoCAD Electrical or equivalent. Strong Excel; SAP exposure a plus.
Skills

Language. Reads and interprets electrical specifications, codes, single-line diagrams, contracts and statements of work. Explains a controls architecture to a mechanical audience and to a customer. Mathematical. Load, power and I/O calculations. Applies ratios, percentages and proportions to practical cost problems. Reasoning. Defines problems, collects data, establishes facts, and draws valid conclusions from incomplete information, stating the assumptions used to get there.
Travel

Travel to customer offices, vendor plants and job sites, typically under 25%.
Progression

The Controls, Application Engineer role has three levels: Junior Controls Application Engineer, Controls Application Engineer and Senior Controls Application Engineer. There is no Principal level here; cross-discipline authority sits with the Principal Application Engineer. Senior comes from owning complete electrical estimates without correction and passing the discipline's method review, and carries the electrical estimating standard, sign-off on others' work, and coaching. Line management is a separate route, through Supervisor, Manager and Director of Applications Engineering, open by choice rather than by seniority.
Physical demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus. Travel via automobile and/or commercial airline to customer offices for meetings, vendor's plants, and job site to coordinate the conveyors or equipment with the building and installers.
Work environment

The work environment characteristics 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 the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts, outside weather conditions, risk of electrical shock, and risk of radiation. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate, unless performing work in shop or field conditions.