Sr. SCADA/Controls Engineer

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence, and Integrity. 

As the SCADA/Controls Engineer you will technically lead the selection of the SCADA, historian, and visualization stack - then own the selected platform end to end - for a massive 1 million square foot manufacturing facility  expansion. You will author platform-neutral standards (tag/UDT structures, alarm philosophy, HMI style guide) ahead of the platform decision, design the supervisory architecture across a redundant server core and distributed plant network, and hold acceptance authority over every OEM- and integrator-delivered display. This is a high-impact, high-ownership architecture role. 

This role begins in Durham, NC and is expected to move to Benson, NC upon completion of new facility.

Responsibilities  

• Configure and maintain communications between PLCs/HMIs and higher level systems (MES/SCADA). Own tag/UDT standards, alarm configuration, historian data acquisition, faceplates, and store-and-forward reliability on the selected platform. Supporting SCADA tags, transactions, alarming, and data acquisition as required. 
• Hold screen and configuration acceptance authority for every OEM and integrator-delivered HMI/SCADA deliverable, verified at Factory and Site Acceptance Tests. 
• Serve as a senior-level escalation point for diagnosing complex SCADA, historian, and plant-data acquisition issues. 
• Design and maintain OEE, downtime data, and SCADA/Plant status interfaces increase visibility and actionable decision-making throughput, safety, and reliability. Own alarm management per ISA-18.2: philosophy authorship, the rationalization program run jointly with operations, and alarm performance KPI reporting. 
• Technically lead the SCADA/batch/historian platform evaluation - requirements, weighted criteria, structured proofs-of-concept on pilot infrastructure, and a defensible decision record  
• Stand up SCADA/historian environments ahead of site acceptance testing and direct system-integrator surge staff executing configuration under your standards. 
• Define historian collection standards with the Manufacturing Data & MES Engineering so contextualization needs drive collection design. 

Deliverables You Will Develop, Review, or Support 

• Integration of all manufacturing equipment, building management, utility systems, and QC lab interfaces to the selected SCADA system 
• HMI screens, vision inspection programs, tag databases, MES/SCADA transaction lists, network IP lists, password inventories, and system backups. 
• Platform evaluation decision record, tag/UDT standard, alarm philosophy, HMI style guide, tag databases, and system backups. 
• Supervisory server topology and redundancy design, historian pipeline architecture, and screen acceptance records. 

Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business 

Qualifications  

• Bachelor’s or Masters degree in electrical engineering, Automation Engineering, Mechatronics, or related field with 7+ years of direct industrial automation and SCADA/HMI engineering experience. 
• Strong hands on experience programming and commissioning Siemens, Allen Bradley/Rockwell, Ignition HMIs and/or PLCs 
• Architecture-level ownership (not screen-building alone) on at least one major platform - Ignition, FactoryTalk View/Optix, AVEVA System Platform, or comparable-plus platform-evaluation judgment: licensing models, redundancy architectures, and openness of data access assessed on evidence rather than familiarity. 
• ISA-18.2 alarm management (philosophy authorship, rationalization facilitation, performance metrics) and high-performance HMI design practice. 
• Proficiency with Ethernet/IP, Profinet, EtherCAT, OPCUA, and similar industrial communication standards. Emphasis on OPC UA and MQTT/Sparkplug plant-data interfaces and historian/time-series collection at scale. 

Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities 

Preferred Skills

• Experience in heavy industrial, greenfield, chemical, or metallurgical manufacturing environments. 
• Hands-on depth across two or more major SCADA platforms in production, and prior platform selection, migration, or consolidation leadership. 
• Redundant / high-availability SCADA deployment in a 24/7 manufacturing environment. 
• Familiarity with Python, C++, or other high level languages for automation or data analytics. 
• Familiarity with REST APIs or other enterprise software level integration methods. 
• Experience in regulated industries such as Defense, Aerospace, or Automotive. 

Physical and Environmental Requirements

The position requires regular presence on the production floor and the ability to navigate all areas of the facility. Candidates must be able to climb stairs, stand and walk for extended periods, and work in environments that may be hot, humid, or noisy. The role also requires the use of personal protective equipment, including respirators, and adherence to all applicable safety policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements. Employees must be able to complete required fit testing, wear appropriate PPE for the duration of assigned tasks, and respond safely to changing conditions within the production environment.