Controls Engineer

About the Role

General Motors is building a pipeline of Controls Engineers to support the design, integration, launch, production, and continuous improvement of advanced manufacturing systems. Opportunities may exist across various manufacturing engineering organizations.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, integrate, commission, validate, and sustain industrial controls and automation systems.
• Translate manufacturing, equipment, safety, quality, delivery, and production requirements into practical controls solutions.
• Develop or review controls hardware and software designs, including PLCs, HMIs, robots, drives, safety systems, industrial networks, machine vision, error proofing, and plant-floor interfaces.
• Support equipment and process development from concept through production launch and steady-state support.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering, Product Engineering, plant operations, maintenance, quality, safety, information technology, suppliers, and other cross-functional teams.
• Troubleshoot complex equipment and process issues, perform root-cause analysis, and drive corrective actions.
• Review supplier deliverables and support equipment buyoffs, system integration, reverification, acceptance testing, and production readiness activities.
• Apply GM standards, templates, engineering tools, and standardized work to improve safety, quality, cost, timing, maintainability, and commonality.
• Coordinate project scope, timing, risks, issues, technical deliverables, and stakeholder communications.
• Document designs, decisions, lessons learned, and standardized work; share knowledge with engineers, suppliers, and plant teams.
• Contribute to continuous improvement, technology development, emulation, simulation, digital manufacturing, and factory-of-the-future initiatives.
• Provide technical direction, mentoring, training, or work coordination for less-experienced engineers and project resources.

Areas of Opportunity

Controls Engineering opportunities may support one or more of the following:

• Vehicle assembly, body, paint, general assembly, stamping, and conveyance
• Powertrain, engine, transmission, propulsion, and electric motor manufacturing
• Battery cells, battery systems, energy storage, and electrification manufacturing
• Casting, components, material handling, automated storage, and logistics systems
• Robotics, machine vision, error proofing, plant-floor systems, and manufacturing applications
• Manufacturing networks, industrial controls infrastructure, and related cybersecurity initiatives
• Automation standards, emulation, simulation, virtual manufacturing, and advanced technology development

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Experience with industrial controls, automation, manufacturing equipment, systems integration, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, controls architecture, equipment layouts, and related technical documentation.
• Demonstrated analytical, troubleshooting, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, suppliers, plant personnel, and geographically distributed engineering organizations.
• Strong written and verbal communication, organization, planning, and project execution skills.
• Commitment to a safe, inclusive, and collaborative work environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with automotive, battery, powertrain, aerospace, consumer products, logistics, or other high-volume manufacturing environments.
• Experience with PLC, HMI, robot, drive, safety, industrial Ethernet, fieldbus, machine vision, MES, error proofing, or plant-floor systems.
• Experience with Rockwell/Allen-Bradley, Siemens, or comparable controls platforms.
• Experience with controls hardware and software design, supplier management, equipment build, offline testing, commissioning, production launch, or plant support.
• Familiarity with manufacturing engineering standards, common controls architectures, structured troubleshooting, and change management.
• Experience with emulation, simulation, digital manufacturing, programming, scripting, data interfaces, or engineering automation tools.
• Project management experience, including scope, schedule, risk, issue, budget, and stakeholder management.
• Professional Engineer license, advanced degree, technical certification, or demonstrated leadership of engineering work.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, Automation Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered where applicable.