Job Title
Electrical Engineer - Controls & Automation
Location
Norfolk, VA 23324 US (Primary)
Category
Research, Development, and Engineering
Job Type
Full-Time
Career Level
Staff
Education
Bachelor's Degree
Travel
Up to 50%
Security Clearance Required
Secret
Job Description
Prescient Edge is seeking a
Electrical Engineer - Controls & Automation to support a Federal Government client.
Benefits & Compensation:At
Prescient Edge, we believe that acting with integrity and serving our employees is the key to everyone's success. To that end, we provide employees with a best-in-class benefits package that includes:
- A competitive salary with performance bonus opportunities.
- Comprehensive healthcare benefits, including medical, vision, dental, and orthodontia coverage.
- A substantial retirement plan with no vesting schedule. Career development opportunities, including on-the-job training, tuition reimbursement, and networking.
- A positive work environment where employees are respected, supported, and engaged.
- Salary Range: $100,000-$117,000. Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant internal equity, and alignment with market data.
Position OverviewPrescient Edge is seeking an Electrical Engineer to support U.S. Navy Craft Automation & Controls Systems (CACS) development for autonomous Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) in the Norfolk, Virginia area. The position supports requirements analysis, control-system design, laboratory integration, and on-water troubleshooting and assessment. The ideal candidate brings hands-on industrial automation and electrical-controls experience with PLCs, sensors, actuators, machinery control systems, power systems, and integrated hardware/software in dynamic test environments.
Key Responsibilities:Controls System Architecture & Requirements - Evaluate technical and project requirements and translate them into practical craft automation and control-system architectures for autonomous USV applications.
- Select and integrate appropriate control hardware, sensors, actuators, computers, PLCs, and third-party control system components.
- Determine interface requirements for sensors, engines, actuators, hydraulic components, and third-party controls using technical documentation, vendor/OEM information, and Government/engineering collaboration.
- Develop control algorithms and state-machine logic based on complex system, safety, and operational requirements.
PLC / Automation Software & HMI Development • Design, program, integrate, and troubleshoot PLC-based industrial or machinery control systems.
- Interface PLCs with sensors, computers, actuators, and other PLCs using analog, digital, PWM, CANBus, and other applicable communications/interfaces.
- Develop intuitive Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) and Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) for operator control, monitoring, status, and troubleshooting.
- Support software function documentation, version control, configuration management, and controlled software deployment.
Electrical, Power & Motion-Control Integration - Design and integrate hydraulic and electromechanical motion-control systems, including electronic valve interfaces and linear or rotary actuators.
- Support design and integration of AC and DC power distribution networks, electronic power controls, and power storage, generation, and distribution systems.
- Perform power-load calculations and support management of system electrical budgets.
- Apply grounding, shielding, signal-isolation, and related techniques to mitigate electrical noise in high-power environments.
- Develop or update electrical schematics, control-panel/electronics-enclosure layouts, component spacing, penetrations, wire routing, and wiring diagrams using AutoCAD, SolidWorks Electrical, or similar CAD tools.
Troubleshooting, Test & Marine Integration - Debug and troubleshoot integrated hardware/software control-system issues using oscilloscopes, multimeters, network analyzers, and other appropriate diagnostic tools.
- Support in-lab integration, checkout, test, and assessment of CACS hardware, software, controls, interfaces, and associated USV subsystems.
- Support on-water troubleshooting, test execution, and technical assessment aboard or alongside marine platforms as required.
- Identify root causes, document technical issues, coordinate corrective actions, and support verification of implemented solutions.
Documentation & Team Integration - Develop and maintain clear engineering documentation for software functions, control logic, system interfaces, schematics, configurations, test results, and troubleshooting activities.
- Coordinate closely with Government engineers, autonomy/software personnel, electrical and mechanical engineers, operators, vendors/OEMs, and other technical stakeholders.
- Communicate technical issues early, work effectively in changing schedules and test conditions, and help drive actions through resolution.
Job Requirements
Required Qualifications - Education: Bachelor's-level degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering.
- Experience: Minimum three (3) years of professional electrical/electronics engineering experience.
- Hands-on experience with industrial automation, machinery control systems, PLC design/programming, or comparable controls engineering.
- Strong analytical ability to diagnose hardware/software integration problems and troubleshoot electrical, controls, communications, or interface issues.
- Experience with state-machine logic, control algorithms, PLC I/O, and integrated sensor/actuator systems.
- Working knowledge of electrical/electronic interfaces and communications used in control systems, including analog, digital, PWM, and CANBus.
- Ability to read, develop, or modify electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, panel layouts, and related engineering documentation.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work effectively within an integrated Governmentcontractor-engineering team.
- Ability to work hands-on in laboratory, waterfront, vessel, and other dynamic test environments, including getting underway on marine platforms for hours at a time.
- Ability to meet applicable SECRET clearance, safety, security, site-access, and physical requirements.
Preferred Qualifications - Experience supporting autonomous or unmanned vehicles, USVs, marine automation, robotics, or comparable complex mobile platforms.
- Experience with safety-critical or fail-safe control-system design, interlocks, permissives, or machinery protection logic.
- Practical understanding of PID controllers, including their application within machinery or motion-control systems.
- Familiarity with permissive-bit logic and common PLC input/output types and their use in safe control-system operation.
- Experience with HMI/GUI development for industrial, machinery, vessel, or operator-control applications.
- Experience designing or integrating hydraulic controls, actuators, engines, sensors, or third-party machinery control systems.
- Experience with AC/DC power distribution, power-generation or energy-storage integration, grounding, shielding, and electrical-noise mitigation.
- Prior U.S. Navy, DoD contractor, maritime, shipboard, test-and-evaluation, or waterfront engineering experience.
Travel / Work Environment- Approximately 25-50% travel is expected, depending on test schedules, operational requirements, and mission needs. Travel may include multi-day or extended support at customer, waterfront, shipboard, remote, and operational test locations. The position primarily supports hands-on electrical engineering, installation verification, troubleshooting, inspection, integration, and test activities in laboratory, pier-side, shipboard, industrial, field, and outdoor maritime environments. Candidates must be comfortable with periodic travel, changing schedules, adverse weather, and supporting vessel operations and test events as required.
