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Working/Functional Title

Controls Engineer III

Position Summary

Michigan State University (MSU) operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. FRIB provides researchers with one of the most advanced tools of modern science to study rare isotopes, or short-lived nuclei not normally found on Earth. Hosting what is designed to be the most powerful heavy-ion accelerator, FRIB enables scientists to make discoveries about the properties of rare isotopes, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and applications for society, including in medicine, homeland security, and industry. User facility operation is supported by the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics as one of 28 DOE-SC user facilities. MSU's nuclear physics graduate program is a top-ranked program nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report.

This position affords an exciting opportunity to become part of the world-class FRIB Laboratory that enables unique discovery opportunities in nuclear science.

*Purpose: *

The Control Engineer III will lead the design, development, documentation, deployment and support of the FRIB EPICS/PLC-based control system, as well as required instrumentation and motor controls, supporting commissioning and operation.                                                                                                                  

*Major Duties/Responsibilities: *

• Lead the design, documentation, programming, and installation of EPICS/PLC-based control systems.
• Interface with operations and commissioning teams to provide prompt support.
• Collaborate with EPICS/PLC community to keep FRIB control system up-to-date.
• Manage the preventive maintenance, repair and parts management for assigned equipment, keeping records of maintenance tasks and results.
• Determine ways to optimize logic or systems balanced against system maintainability.
• Foresee any potential problem areas and notify line manager.
• Continually strive to improve productivity, efficiency, quality, and uniformity.
• Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties in this job classification.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• Thorough knowledge of PLC-based controls system, associated hardware/software, and implementation guidelines
• Ability and skill to program, test, and troubleshoot complex PLC programs for Allen Bradley ControlLogix, GuardLogix, CompactLogix, and/or CompactGuardLogix including the ones for specialty controls (i.e., motion controls, robotic controls, safety controls, HMI programing)
• Skill to develop and maintain electrical drawing with AutoCAD to current electrical code requirements
• Ability to lead engineers or technicians to fabricate, install, test, and troubleshoot electronic systems
• Ability to communicate with stakeholders to understand and document requirements
• Ability to develop a large-scale PLC-based controls system from end-to-end (from design to test) leading a team of engineers and/or technicians
• Excellent communication skills to communicate effectively and credibly, both verbally and in writing with all audiences.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suites.

Unit Specific Education/Experience/Skills

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Physics; five to eight years of related and progressively more responsible or expansive work experience in physics, electronics, mechanical and/or electrical drafting, fabrication techniques, heat transfer, cryogenics and computer systems; and may require experience in the use of CAD and/or related engineering systems, including file transf