Controls System Engineer, NA Field Engineering

About the role

The Controls System Engineer supports the Amazon Logistics North America (AMZL NA) Engineering team, part of Amazon’s Last Mile organization. The Last Mile team helps get customer packages from delivery stations to a customer’s doorstep. This role involves challenging current processes, equipment, procedures, and electrical/controls specifications in our delivery stations to improve process improvement initiatives with a focus on AB PLC/HMI, ignition, and vision systems continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Dive deep and works to help solve critical design issues involving algorithm, develop hardware/firmware interfaces, IoT interfaces, etc
• Participate in design reviews for complex control systems, simulations, algorithms and software development owned by your team, partner teams and vendors
• Influences within your team and partner teams to help drive and develop the technical implementation for overall system designs
• Identify and implement process improvements which improve your team’s agility. This may include improvements to design, automation, development, test or operations
• Simultaneously manage multiple high-visibility projects and tasks while effectively influencing, negotiating, and communicating with internal and external business partners, contractors and vendors
• Review new, advanced technology being introduced for MHE systems with a focus on machine software including electrical and controls interfacing requirements
• Provide technical guidance and decision making for collaboration projects or initiatives with other Amazon teams, being a key stakeholder in supporting technical and major network support requests
• Understand control systems for material handling, including Allen Bradley PLCs, IPCs, barcode scanners and industrial networks such as Ethernet, safety over ethernet IP
• Apply Subject Matter Expertise (SME) on troubleshooting and dive deeps for engineering issues, supporting local teams to investigate the root cause and planning actions to eliminate/mitigate the downtime of critical assets
• Able to travel up to 80%

Key job responsibilities

• Troubleshoot and resolve PLC, HMI, SCADA, and industrial network issues across delivery station material handling equipment (MHE), driving root cause analysis and corrective actions to minimize asset downtime
• Program and maintain Allen Bradley PLC/HMI applications, supporting continuous improvement of control system logic, alarm management, and visualization interfaces
• Execute controls integration for new equipment installations and retrofits, including PLC/SCADA commissioning, I/O checkout, sensor calibration, and network validation
• Create and maintain electrical and controls documentation including wiring diagrams, P&IDs, network architecture drawings, and standard operating procedures
• Collaborate cross-functionally with field engineering, operations, and vendor teams to deliver scalable automation solutions that improve delivery station throughput and reliability
• Support design reviews for control systems, simulations, and software development, providing technical input on electrical/controls interfacing requirements
• Create and maintain automated alarms, reports, and KPI dashboards to enable data-driven decision-making for site and regional leadership
• Identify and implement process improvements across design, automation, testing, and operations that increase team agility and system performance
• Ensure compliance with functional safety standards (IEC 62061, IEC 13849, IEC 61508) and Amazon electrical/controls specifications

Qualifications

• 2+ years of PLC programming experience
• 3+ years of industrial controls and automation experience
• 2+ years of PLC/SCADA integration experience
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical engineering, automation engineering, or equivalent, or 5+ years of professional or military experience
• Work a flexible schedule/shift/work area, including weekends, nights, and/or holidays
• Travel up to 80% of the time

Preferred qualifications

• Master's degree, or Six Sigma Black Belt certification
• Experience with creating automated alarms, reports and KPI metrics for plant management
• Experience using relational databases (SQL experience)
• Experience leading controls in manufacturing or complex industrial environments
• Experience identifying, maintaining, troubleshooting, and modifying Motor Controls including motor starters, Variable Frequency Drives, DC drives, and standard electrical components
• Experience interpreting and modifying mechanical and electrical drawings