Principal Engineer, Instrumentation & Controls

Key Responsibilities

• Demonstrates our core competencies: Action oriented, change champion, customer-focused, developing self & others, and ownership
• Serve as senior technical mentor for instrumentation and controls engineers
• Lead technical reviews and design governance processes
• Interface with existing instrumentation suppliers and help develop/validate new suppliers
• Represent the company in customer and regulatory technical discussions
• Define and maintain design standards for all gas turbine instrumentation
• Specify and standardize critical turbine instrumentation (speed probes, vibration monitoring, thermocouples, pressure transmitters, fuel flow measurement, etc.)
• Define hazardous area classifications and compliance requirements
• Review instrumentation layouts, impulse tubing design, and package wiring
• Lead specification and performance requirements for critical control valves including:
• Fuel gas control and Shutoff valves
• Bleed valves and anti-surge valves
• Turbine Bypass Valves
• Define valve sizing criteria, Cv calculations, response time requirements, rangeability, and dynamic performance
• Provide technical leadership for new product development programs
• Support validation testing, FAT, dynamic response testing, and valve characterization
• Lead root cause analysis for valve failures, control instability, and reliability events
• Support supplier qualification and technical evaluation of valve manufacturers
• Ensure compliance with applicable standards including:
• International Society of Automation (ISA)
• International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
• American Petroleum Institute (API)
• Support functional safety programs (SIL, SIS, HAZOP, LOPA)
• Ensure compliance with global emissions, hazardous area, and grid interconnection requirements
• Help lead the development and review of turbine control logic
• Oversee implementation of sequencing, interlocks, permissives, alarm strategies, and trip logic
• Ensure proper integration of instrumentation inputs into control and protection algorithms
• Validate voting schemes (e.g., 2oo3, 1oo2) and redundancy strategies
• Support simulation, FAT, dynamic testing, and logic validation activities
• Drive continuous improvement of control algorithms for performance, emissions, and reliability
• Lead development and ownership of detailed I/O lists for turbine packages
• Define signal types (AI, AO, DI, DO, RTD, TC, pulse, vibration, speed) and scaling requirements
• Assign I/O to control panels, remote I/O racks, and protection systems
• Ensure proper segregation of safety, control, and monitoring circuits
• Maintain configuration control of I/O databases throughout product lifecycle

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Computer or Chemical)
• 15+ years of experience, with significant gas turbine or rotating equipment exposure
• Strong experience with control valve sizing, specification, and commissioning
• Deep expertise in industrial instrumentation selection, integration, and performance optimization
• Demonstrated experience developing control narratives and implementing control logic
• Strong understanding of turbine protection systems and redundancy strategies
• Experience with commissioning, dynamic testing, and field troubleshooting
• Exceptional communication, strategic thinking, and organizational skills.
• Ability to travel 5-10%