{"id":3763873,"url":"https://alion.io/job/rfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer","title":"Automation Controls Engineer","company":{"id":4429061,"name":"RFA Engineering","domain":"rfamec.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/rfa-engineering","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"services","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"UltiPro","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":10,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":36,"computed_at":"2026-11-07T05:47:08Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Saint Paul, United States","Eden Prairie, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":90000,"max":130000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":130000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AutoCAD","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-04T17:40:26Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-04","last_verified_at":"2026-11-07T08:50:44Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":2,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":2},"description":"RFA Engineering (www.rfamec.com) is an engineering service provider dedicated to delivering our clients with timely engineering support and expertise. We are seeking experienced controls and automation engineers to join our engineering team. For this position RFA will be working in many functional areas supporting industrial automation, automated equipment, machine controls, material handling systems, and other complex engineered equipment across a variety of industries.\nAutomation Controls Engineer\nThe Automation Controls Engineer will support the design, programming, integration, checkout, and validation of automated machinery and assembly equipment. Work may span electrical controls design, PLC/HMI programming, machine integration, troubleshooting, commissioning, and Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT). Projects may support biomedical, life science, industrial automation, and other advanced manufacturing applications.\nResponsibilities\nDevelop electrical controls designs for automated machinery and assembly equipment.\nCreate electrical schematics, control panel layouts, I/O documentation, and bills of material.\nDevelop PLC software for automated equipment and machine-control applications.\nDevelop machine sequences, operating modes, permissives, interlocks, alarms, diagnostics, and recovery functions.\nDevelop HMI applications including operator screens, equipment status, alarms, and diagnostics.\nIntegrate PLCs, sensors, actuators, motors, drives, and other machine-control components.\nSupport electrical panel and machine assembly activities.\nPerform machine checkout, controls troubleshooting, and commissioning.\nDevelop and execute functional tests to verify machine and controls performance.\nSupport Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and equipment verification activities.\nInvestigate electrical, controls, and software issues and implement corrective actions.\nCollaborate with mechanical, electrical, software, manufacturing, and project engineering teams.\nIncorporate checkout and commissioning changes into final as-built electrical drawings and controls software.\nCreate and maintain technical documentation throughout the project lifecycle.\nRequirements\nBachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering Technology, Controls Engineering, Automation Engineering, or related technical discipline preferred.\nProfessional experience with industrial automation, controls engineering, automated machinery, or related equipment.\nExperience with PLC-based machine-control systems.\nAbility to read and understand electrical schematics and technical documentation.\nStrong electrical and controls troubleshooting skills.\nStrong analytical and problem-solving abilities.\nStrong written and verbal communication skills.\nAbility to work effectively with multidisciplinary engineering and manufacturing teams.\nDesired Attributes\n5+ years of relevant controls, automation, or machine-development experience preferred.\nExperience taking automated machinery from design through checkout, commissioning, and Factory Acceptance Testing.\nExperience with Rockwell PLCs and ladder logic.\nExperience with FactoryTalk View, Ignition, or similar HMI platforms.\nExperience with AutoCAD Electrical, EPLAN, or similar electrical design tools.\nExperience designing industrial control panels and machine electrical systems.\nExperience with sensors, actuators, motors, VFDs, servo drives, industrial communications, and machine-safety systems.\nExperience with automated assembly machinery, robotics, motion-control systems, or other industrial automation.\nExperience supporting biomedical, medical-device, life-science, or other controlled manufacturing applications.\nExperience creating and maintaining as-built electrical drawings and controls documentation.\nExperience with functional safety, safety-rated control systems, machine interlocks, or Safety Integrity Level (SIL) applications.\nExperience with SIL 1, SIL 2, or SIL 3 systems is beneficial.\nVisa sponsorship is NOT available for this position.\nPay Range: $90,000-$130,000 Commensurate with experience\nAbout RFA Engineering\nRFA Engineering has provided product development and engineering services to industry leading customers since 1943. Our primary focus is the development of off highway equipment including agricultural, construction, mining, recreational, industrial, and special machines. Our work includes concept development, product design, documentation, problem-solving, simulation, optimization, and testing of components, systems and complete machines. Our engineering staff is located at our Engineering Center in Minneapolis, branch office in Dubuque, IA, and at numerous customer sites throughout the U.S.\nCompetitive Benefits\nHealth and Dental Insurance\nTelaDoc Healthiest You\nSupplemental Vision Insurance\nCompany Paid Life Insurance\nCompany Paid Long-Term Disability\nShort-term Disability\nRetirement Savings Account (Traditional 401k & Roth 401k)\nFlexible Spending Plan Dependent Care\nHSA for Medical Expenses\nBonus Plan (Exempt Employees Only)\nPaid Time Off (PTO)\nPaid Holidays\nBereavement Leave\nEmployee Assistance Programs (EAP)\nEducation Assistance\nEqual Opportunity and Veteran Friendly","description_format":"text","description_chars":5188,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["401k plan","Dental insurance","Education assistance","Life insurance","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Embedded Software & RTOS","Embedded & Electronics Design","Engineering Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-04T19:24:53Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.632,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":36,"reasons":["conf:0","stale_co","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-07T05:47:08Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":130000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/rfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/rfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-07T11:38:48Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":12056,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-08T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4429061},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4429061"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Frfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Frfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Frfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/rfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Frfa-engineering-automation-controls-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3763873}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"rfamec.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3763873},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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