Job title: Controls Engineer
Location: Greater Manchester (predominantly office based; UK site travel for commissioning)
Salary: £55,000–£60,000 + accelerated overtime pay
About the role
A well-established, privately held engineering company specialising in bespoke automation and special-purpose machinery is recruiting a Controls Engineer to join a small, experienced controls team. The company delivers end-to-end automation (mechanical, electrical, controls, software and commissioning) across multiple industries and values hands-on problem solving, clear documentation and high quality commissioning.
What you’ll do
* Design, develop and commission PLC and HMI software from scratch for bespoke machines and automated systems.
* Lead motion control and servo programming tasks — select axes, tune loops and implement coordinated multi-axis motion profiles.
* Work primarily with Siemens S7 / TIA Portal and Allen-Bradley (Studio 5000/RSLogix) environments.
* Integrate PLC control with drives, servos, HMIs, I/O racks and field networks (Profinet, EtherNet/IP, etc.).
* Collaborate with mechanical, electrical and robotics engineers to create robust integrated solutions.
* Attend factory acceptance tests and perform on-site commissioning and customer handovers (UK travel required).
* Produce and maintain documentation: I/O lists, functional descriptions, wiring interfaces and commissioning notes.
* Provide technical support and troubleshooting during installation and post-install warranty period.
Essential experience & skills
* Strong, demonstrable experience programming Siemens S7 / TIA Portal and Allen-Bradley PLCs — able to build control systems from first principles.
* Proven experience in motion control and servo programming (designing trajectories, tuning, homing, backlash compensation, following error management).
* Excellent fault-finding, logical thinking and ladder/structured/textual programming skills.
* Experience with HMIs (WinCC/FactoryTalk or similar) and panel design.
* Comfortable with on-site commissioning and client-facing activities.
* Good documentation skills and an organised approach to software versioning and backups.
* Team player with strong verbal/written communication.
Desirable (not essential)
* Exposure to industrial robots (ABB / KUKA / Fanuc / Universal Robots) or robot integration projects.
* Background in special-purpose machinery, machine tending, assembly lines or packaging equipment.
* Familiarity with industrial networks (Profinet, EtherNet/IP) and drive brands (Siemens drives, Allen-Bradley Kinetix, Bosch Rexroth, SEW, Yaskawa, etc.).
* Electrical wiring/termination experience and reading schematics.
What’s on offer
* Competitive salary: £55k–£60k (dependent on experience).
* Accelerated overtime pay for extra hours (above standard working hours).
* Varied, technically interesting projects across multiple industries.
* Hands-on role with a senior engineering team and clear career progression.
* Predominantly office-based with planned travel for commissioning and FATs.