Freese and Nichols is seeking an
Instrumentation and Controls Engineer for
Orlando or Tampa, Florida. As Instrumentation and Controls Engineer, you will serve as a senior technical authority for complex instrumentation, controls, SCADA, and OT work across water and wastewater projects while helping define technical direction, quality expectations, and risk-informed delivery. Based on the source position description, this role is intended for the firm's most complex and highest-risk I&C work.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Provide firm-level technical leadership for critical I&C, SCADA, OT, control-system architecture, modernization, commissioning, resilience, and risk decisions
- Define technical direction for the I&C Team, including standards, design frameworks, reference architectures, specification strategy, review expectations, and governance methods
- Guide critical design, integration, commissioning, cutover, startup, and turnover approaches for high-risk water and wastewater projects
- Advise project managers, discipline leaders, client-service leaders, and executive leadership on technical strategy, risk posture, staffing approach, fee assumptions, and recovery actions
- Serve as a senior advisor to clients, owners, project partners, contractors, vendors, and firm leadership on complex technical issues, disputes, claims support, and failure investigations
- Establish QA/QC expectations for I&C deliverables, technical reviews, standards application, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and lessons learned
- Lead coordination across I&C, process, electrical, mechanical, civil, structural, operations, IT/OT, cybersecurity, vendor, contractor, and owner stakeholders on major projects
- Represent the firm externally through industry leadership, committees, technical guidance, publications, presentations, and client forums
Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, or another engineering discipline relevant to instrumentation and controls design from an ABET-accredited program
- Active Professional Engineer license (P.E.)
- 15+ years of relevant experience in instrumentation and controls, SCADA, OT systems, automation, utilities, industrial facilities, infrastructure, or related technical design work
- Recognized technical authority with significant impact on standards, quality, governance, risk controls, and complex I&C/SCADA decisions
- Advanced knowledge of engineering drawings, specifications, P&IDs, instrument indexes, I/O lists, loop diagrams, control narratives, control architecture, instrumentation, electrical interfaces, SCADA/OT systems, commissioning, and construction documentation
- Experience defining process control and SCADA strategy for modernization, migration planning, alarms and interlocks, redundancy, telemetry, HMI requirements, cybersecurity coordination, resilience, and operational readiness
- Experience establishing QA/QC expectations, technical review practices, standards application, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and quality improvement
- Executive-level communication skills with clients, leadership, project teams, contractors, vendors, and interdisciplinary stakeholders
Preferred
- PE licensure in multiple jurisdictions served by the firm
- Experience serving as responsible licensed engineer or engineer of record for critical or high-risk I&C scope
- Experience establishing I&C standards, governance, reference architectures, specification strategy, QA/QC systems, risk controls, training, and reusable delivery frameworks
- Leadership in SCADA modernization, HMI/PLC/RTU platforms, telemetry, OT networking, virtualization, historians, remote access, backup and recovery, cybersecurity coordination, commissioning, or control system resilience
- Working knowledge of standards such as ISA-5.1, NFPA 70, NFPA 70E, UL 508A, AWWA, WEF, and NIST cybersecurity guidance
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