Senior Electrical Automation Design Engineer

Senior Electrical Automation Design Engineer

Location: Charlotte, NC, USA

Employment Type: Full-Time, Direct Hire, Salaried with Benefits

Work Arrangement: Fully Onsite

About the Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Senior Electrical Automation Design Engineer to own the electrical hardware design of sophisticated industrial machinery and process equipment.

This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who understands how industrial equipment is designed, built, tested and commissioned. You will develop electrical systems from initial requirements through released design documentation while collaborating closely with mechanical engineering, automation, manufacturing and other technical teams.

The ideal candidate comes from an industrial machinery, custom equipment, automation equipment, process equipment or capital-equipment environment and has personally owned electrical designs—not simply programmed or commissioned systems designed by others.

What You'll Do

• Own electrical hardware design for industrial machinery and equipment from concept through manufacturing, testing and commissioning.
• Develop electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, panel/enclosure layouts, cable routing and supporting design documentation.
• Design AC and DC electrical systems, including approximately 120–600 VAC and 24–60 VDC applications.
• Select and specify components including circuit breakers, fuses, relays, contactors, transformers, power supplies, motors, drives, heaters, SCRs, sensors and related electrical hardware.
• Develop and maintain BOMs, terminal layouts, grounding plans, component specifications and manufacturing documentation.
• Apply applicable electrical and machine-safety requirements, including NEC, NFPA 70, NFPA 79 and UL 508A, as well as relevant CE/ISO standards.
• Partner with mechanical engineers, automation engineers, manufacturing personnel and suppliers to integrate electrical systems into complete equipment designs.
• Provide hands-on engineering support during equipment assembly, shop-floor checkout, testing, troubleshooting, startup and commissioning.
• Review designs for safety, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability and compliance.
• Troubleshoot electrical hardware and system-integration issues and develop practical engineering solutions.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of electrical design standards, documentation and engineering practices.

What We're Looking For

• Significant professional experience designing electrical systems for industrial machinery, capital equipment, automation equipment, process equipment or similarly complex engineered systems.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop electrical hardware designs and complete drawing/documentation packages.
• Strong understanding of industrial power distribution, control panels, circuit protection, component selection, wiring and machine electrical integration.
• Hands-on experience supporting equipment through manufacturing, testing, installation and/or commissioning.
• Working knowledge of applicable industrial electrical codes and machine-safety standards.
• Experience with professional electrical-design software such as EPLAN Electric P8, AutoCAD Electrical, SolidWorks Electrical, SEE Electrical, E3 or a comparable platform.
• Engineering degree, Engineering Technology degree, or an equivalent combination of relevant technical education and substantial practical experience.

Highly Valued Experience

Experience with EPLAN Electric P8 is highly valued but is not required for an otherwise accomplished industrial electrical-design engineer.

Additional relevant experience may include industrial furnaces, ovens or kilns; thermal-processing or vacuum systems; heaters, SCRs and transformers; process equipment; packaging or material-handling machinery; robotics; automated equipment; machine tools; 480 VAC/three-phase systems; UL 508A panel design; Siemens or Rockwell/Allen-Bradley environments; and FAT/SAT or field commissioning.

Important Role Distinction

This position is centered on electrical hardware and equipment design.

PLC/HMI and industrial-automation experience can be valuable, but this is not primarily a PLC programming position. The strongest candidates will have personally designed electrical systems involving schematics, panels, power distribution, protection, component selection and manufacturing documentation.