Senior Controls Engineer

Senior Controls Engineer II

European Air-Cooled Chiller Engineering | Dublin, Ireland

What you will do

Johnson Controls has an exciting Controls Engineer II opportunity based at our Dublin, Ireland location, supporting our new European air-cooled chiller engineering organization. If you enjoy control algorithm development, model-based design, and proving control performance on real machines in the laboratory, this could be the right position for you.

In this role you will support the design, development, testing, and release of control system software for air-cooled chillers engineered for the European market, working under general supervision. You will work on the sequences that determine how a chiller starts, stages, protects itself, and holds leaving water temperature, and on the software qualities that keep it safe, efficient, secure, and compliant with European requirements.

Dublin is where European chiller controls work comes together. You will develop software and validate on units in our own laboratory alongside mechanical, electrical, and test engineers on site, and work with the global controls, software, and connected equipment teams in York (PA), Wuxi, and Izmir. This role will report into the global controls team in York (PA) but will work out of the Dublin office.

How you will do it

• Develops and applies an understanding of control theory and of the thermal, refrigeration, and electrical behaviour of air-cooled chillers that the control system has to manage

• Works under general supervision, following defined development processes to design, implement, test, and document control software for European air-cooled chiller platforms

• Develops control algorithms using MATLAB / Simulink and model-based design methods for embedded controllers, and supports their integration, verification, and release onto the chiller control platform

• Develops and tunes capacity control and staging logic: compressor staging and unloading, variable speed drive operation, condenser fan speed and head pressure control, expansion valve control, and leaving water temperature regulation

• Implements and verifies machine protection logic including pressure and temperature limits, freeze protection, low and high ambient operation, motor and drive protection, and safe shutdown and restart behaviour

• Applies European machinery and electrical safety requirements to control system design, including the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 that replaces it from 20 January 2027, EN 60204-1, and functional safety assessment of safety-related control functions to EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061 as applicable

• Implements refrigerant safety and leak mitigation control functions required by EN 378 and EN IEC 60335-2-40 for A2L and A3 refrigerants - refrigerant detection interfaces, alarm handling, forced fan and ventilation operation, and isolation valve control - and supports the associated risk assessment, as applicable

• Supports product cybersecurity work under the EU Cyber Resilience Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/2847: secure-by-design and secure update practice, access control and credential handling, software bill of materials, and the vulnerability handling and reporting processes now in force ahead of full application in December 2027; contributes to the cybersecurity content of the technical file supporting CE marking

• Develops and verifies the part-load control behaviour that determines seasonal efficiency under EN 14825, working with the ratings and product engineering team to correlate control behaviour against rated SEER, SEPR, and ηs,c performance and Ecodesign / ErP compliance

• Implements and tests the building management and communication interfaces used in Europe - BACnet/IP and BACnet MS/TP, Modbus RTU and TCP, and Johnson Controls connected equipment platforms - and supports integration with Metasys and third-party building management systems

• Supports electrical and electromagnetic compliance of the control system together with electrical engineering, covering the EMC Directive 2014/30/EU, the Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU, and the Radio Equipment Directive where wireless connectivity is fitted

• Plans and executes laboratory and field validation of control performance: prepares test plans, runs units on the Dublin test stands, analyses recorded data, and troubleshoots control, stability, and reliability issues

• Responsible for engineering deliverables including control specifications, sequence of operation documents, parameter and setpoint definitions, test reports, and software release documentation

• Provides controls support to application engineers, factory operations, commissioning teams, and product technical service across Europe, and can mentor new hires at the Engineer I level

• Collaborates with mechanical, electrical, test, and product engineers through all phases of product development, and with the global controls and software teams in York (PA), Wuxi, and Izmir

• Reports the status of own work to the project team, with good written and verbal communication, and contributes to the accurate and on-time completion of projects

• Continuously increases expertise across chiller design, controls, operation, and applications; supports technical reviews and participates in continuous improvement of controls development practice

• Adheres to the Company's Code of Conduct and Business Ethics standards

What we look for

Required

• BS in Electrical, Mechanical, Software, Systems, or a related engineering discipline; MS preferred

• Minimum 5 years of controls, automation, embedded systems, or related engineering experience, or an MS degree with relevant industry experience

• Experience developing control algorithms and software using MATLAB / Simulink

• Working knowledge of model-based design principles for embedded systems

• Familiarity with control system fundamentals: feedback control and loop tuning, modelling, simulation, and data analysis

• Working ability to read and understand embedded C / C++ code and to use scripting tools such as Python or MATLAB

• Experience supporting product development, validation testing, and troubleshooting, including hands-on work with equipment in a laboratory environment

• Awareness of European machinery, electrical, and refrigeration safety requirements as they apply to control systems (Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation, EN 60204-1, EN 378)

• Good written and verbal communication skills

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, schedule-driven, team-oriented environment

• Ability to travel up to 10%, primarily within Europe

Preferred

• Experience with HVAC&R or chiller controls: compressor staging and unloading, variable speed drives, expansion valve control, and chilled water temperature control

• Familiarity with product cybersecurity practice and the EU Cyber Resilience Act, including secure development lifecycle, secure update, software bill of materials, and IEC 62443-4-1 and 62443-4-2

• Familiarity with functional safety for machinery control systems, including performance level and SIL determination to EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061

• Experience with A2L or A3 refrigerant safety and leak mitigation control strategies under EN 378 and EN IEC 60335-2-40

• Experience with BACnet, Modbus, or other building management protocols, and with connected or remotely monitored equipment

• Familiarity with EN 14511 and EN 14825 and with how control strategy affects seasonal efficiency and Ecodesign / ErP compliance

• Experience with variable speed drives, inverter-driven compressors, and motor control

• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop simulation and automated test

• Experience with configuration management, version control, and structured software release processes

• Experience with EMC testing and troubleshooting of electrical and electronic assemblies

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