Controls Engineer

Manchester
3 months ago
Applications closed

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Controls Engineer

Controls Engineer

Controls Engineer

Controls Engineer

Controls Engineer

Controls Engineer

Job title: Controls Engineer

Location: Greater Manchester (predominantly office based; UK site travel for commissioning)

Salary: £55,000–£60,000 + accelerated overtime pay

About the role

A well-established, privately held engineering company specialising in bespoke automation and special-purpose machinery is recruiting a Controls Engineer to join a small, experienced controls team. The company delivers end-to-end automation (mechanical, electrical, controls, software and commissioning) across multiple industries and values hands-on problem solving, clear documentation and high quality commissioning.

What you’ll do

  • Design, develop and commission PLC and HMI software from scratch for bespoke machines and automated systems.

  • Lead motion control and servo programming tasks — select axes, tune loops and implement coordinated multi-axis motion profiles.

  • Work primarily with Siemens S7 / TIA Portal and Allen-Bradley (Studio 5000/RSLogix) environments.

  • Integrate PLC control with drives, servos, HMIs, I/O racks and field networks (Profinet, EtherNet/IP, etc.).

  • Collaborate with mechanical, electrical and robotics engineers to create robust integrated solutions.

  • Attend factory acceptance tests and perform on-site commissioning and customer handovers (UK travel required).

  • Produce and maintain documentation: I/O lists, functional descriptions, wiring interfaces and commissioning notes.

  • Provide technical support and troubleshooting during installation and post-install warranty period.

    Essential experience & skills

  • Strong, demonstrable experience programming Siemens S7 / TIA Portal and Allen-Bradley PLCs — able to build control systems from first principles.

  • Proven experience in motion control and servo programming (designing trajectories, tuning, homing, backlash compensation, following error management).

  • Excellent fault-finding, logical thinking and ladder/structured/textual programming skills.

  • Experience with HMIs (WinCC/FactoryTalk or similar) and panel design.

  • Comfortable with on-site commissioning and client-facing activities.

  • Good documentation skills and an organised approach to software versioning and backups.

  • Team player with strong verbal/written communication.

    Desirable (not essential)

  • Exposure to industrial robots (ABB / KUKA / Fanuc / Universal Robots) or robot integration projects.

  • Background in special-purpose machinery, machine tending, assembly lines or packaging equipment.

  • Familiarity with industrial networks (Profinet, EtherNet/IP) and drive brands (Siemens drives, Allen-Bradley Kinetix, Bosch Rexroth, SEW, Yaskawa, etc.).

  • Electrical wiring/termination experience and reading schematics.

    What’s on offer

  • Competitive salary: £55k–£60k (dependent on experience).

  • Accelerated overtime pay for extra hours (above standard working hours).

  • Varied, technically interesting projects across multiple industries.

  • Hands-on role with a senior engineering team and clear career progression.

  • Predominantly office-based with planned travel for commissioning and FATs

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