Staff Controls & Automation Engineer

About Us

We are Sila, a next-generation battery materials company. Our mission is to power the world’s transition to clean energy. To create this future, our team is building a better lithium-ion battery from the inside out today. We engineer and manufacture ground-breaking battery materials that significantly increase the energy density of batteries, while reducing their size and weight. The result? Smaller more powerful batteries that can unlock innovation in consumer devices and accelerate the mass adoption of electric cars to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. We're tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time every day, and together we're redefining what's possible. Are you ready to be a part of a team committed to changing the world?

Who You Are

You are a highly motivated, creative, detailed technical contributor with an interest in learning new things and developing big, complex machines. In your work at Sila, you will architect, specify, design, and deploy industrial machine control software and electronics that are reliable, expandable, deterministic, and extraordinarily well-documented. You have excellent communication skills to harmoniously collaborate with a wide range of skill sets: from scientists conducting research to technicians and engineers who interact with the machines daily.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Working collaboratively with other teams, design robust, modular, well documented machine control code and electrical subsystems for production-scale synthesis tools.
• Turn these designs into hardware and deployable code, either in-house or with outside vendors.
• Engage successfully with a range of outside vendors for both componentry and electrical/instrumentation subsystems.
• Assist in bringing online hardware and code.
• Develop meaningful, robust unit tests for machines and document them rigorously.
• Improve and debug hardware and equipment-driving software throughout the company.
• Capture feedback from end-users of your work and distill into significant modifications. Iterate.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

• Experience writing Structured Text and familiarity with other IEC 61131-3 languages.
• Experience designing HMIs and writing the underlying code.
• Knowledge of best practices for safety systems and controls.
• Electronics and wiring knowledge (analog signals, AC and DC power fundamentals, control wiring, and diagnostic tools).
• Experience generating electrical schematics, including wiring diagrams, network architecture, control panel design, and power distribution. As well as documentation for both hardware and software.
• Demonstrated the ability to generate and deploy code and hardware for complex, critically important capital equipment that is both robust and reliable.
• Experience with industrial Fieldbus communication protocols (EtherCAT, Profinet, EthernetIP, Modbus, etc.) and equipment validation documents (FAT, SAT, etc.)
• Familiar with manufacturing software, SCADA (Ignition preferred) and MES software, is a plus.
• Experience in fields with relevant technical risk and scientific depth (e.g., extreme temperatures, extreme pressures, unforgiving chemistry, critical flows and fields, high uptime requirements) would be nice.

Working at Sila

We believe that building a diverse team at Sila helps us amplify our individual talents. We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to creating an inclusive environment where good ideas are free to come from anyone. We are proud to celebrate diversity and all qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, national origin, or any other status protected by law.

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