Senior Automation Controls Engineer (Industrial Automation)

Location: Central Texas, United States. The role requires U.S. citizenship or nationality, permanent residency, refugee status, or asylum status.

Base pay for Colorado applicants: $181,626.00–$254,275.35 per year; other site ranges may differ.

Company

hirify.global develops reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems for human activity in space.

What you will do

• Design control system architectures covering network topology, I/O distribution, safety systems, and communication protocols.
• Lead the electrical and industrial controls design of custom automated manufacturing systems.
• Develop offline simulations and virtual commissioning for work cells and production lines.
• Program, debug, and commission PLC, HMI, robot, and related industrial control systems.
• Integrate auxiliary equipment, robots, material handling systems, CNC machines, and process tools.
• Lead system build, installation, start-up, factory acceptance testing, and production ramp-up.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Controls, or a related engineering field.
• At least 6 years of hands-on experience developing and integrating industrial controls and automation systems from scratch.
• Core experience with PLC and HMI programming, control architecture, industrial networks, safety systems, and multi-platform communications.
• Ability to interpret electrical and mechanical drawings and experience designing functional safety systems, safety PLCs, and safety-rated circuits.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, current Green Card holder, refugee, or asylee.

Nice to have

• Experience with IEC 61131, ANSI B11, NFPA 79, RIA R15.06, IEC 62061, ISO 13849, and formal risk assessments.
• Experience with Plant Simulation, Process Simulate, Visual Components, KUKA.Sim, RobotStudio, or similar tools.
• Machine vision experience, including Cognex and ML-based inspection or guidance solutions.
• Experience building and troubleshooting control panels and using AutoCAD Electrical, EPLAN, or similar tools.

Culture & Benefits

• Safety, collaboration, inclusion, and technical ownership are emphasized.
• Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, and paid parental leave.
• 401(k) with company matching of up to 5% and an Education Support Program.
• Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week.
• Up to four weeks of paid time off and up to 14 company-paid holidays.