Senior Controls Engineer

Senior Controls Engineer

European Air-Cooled Chiller Engineering  |  Dublin, Ireland

What you will do

Johnson Controls has an exciting Senior Controls Engineer opportunity based at our Dublin, Ireland location, supporting our new European air-cooled chiller engineering organization. If you enjoy owning control strategy, leading model-based design, and proving control performance on real machines in the laboratory, this could be the right position for you.

In this senior role you will own the control system design and performance of air-cooled chillers engineered for the European market, working under minimal supervision to drive control solutions into the product from concept through release. You will be responsible for the sequences that determine how a chiller starts, stages, protects itself, and holds leaving water temperature, and for the software qualities that keep it safe, efficient, secure, and compliant with European requirements. You will support the sustaining of released products – including initiating and executing control software changes – mentor less-experienced engineers, and take the technical lead on controls within new product development programs.

Dublin is where European chiller controls work comes together. You will lead controls development and validation on units in our own laboratory alongside mechanical, electrical, and test engineers on site, and act as the Dublin controls point of contact for the global controls, software, and connected equipment teams in York (PA), Wuxi, and Izmir. This role will report into the global controls team in York (PA) but will work out of the Dublin office.

How you will do it

• Maintains a deep understanding of control theory and of the thermal, refrigeration, and electrical behaviour of air-cooled chillers that the control system has to manage

• Works under minimal supervision, independently determining the approach to control system design and applying defined development processes to design, implement, test, and document control software for European air-cooled chiller platforms

• Defines, plans, and promotes controls project work; owns the control strategy and software for one or more features or products from concept through release, including scoping and estimating the controls effort and setting its technical direction

• Leads the development of control algorithms using MATLAB / Simulink and model-based design methods for embedded controllers, defines the model architecture for the features they own, and drives their integration, verification, and release onto the chiller control platform

• Owns the design and tuning of capacity control and staging logic: compressor staging and unloading, variable speed drive operation, condenser fan speed and head pressure control, expansion valve control, and leaving water temperature regulation

• Defines, implements, and verifies machine protection logic including pressure and temperature limits, freeze protection, low and high ambient operation, motor and drive protection, and safe shutdown and restart behaviour

• Applies European machinery and electrical safety requirements to control system design, including the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 that replaces it from 20 January 2027, and EN 60204-1; leads the functional safety assessment of safety-related control functions to EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061 as applicable, from required PL / SIL determination through verification and validation

• Defines and implements refrigerant safety and leak mitigation control functions required by EN 378 and EN IEC 60335-2-40 for A2L and A3 refrigerants – refrigerant detection interfaces, alarm handling, forced fan and ventilation operation, and isolation valve control – and leads the controls input to the associated risk assessment, as applicable

• Leads controls product cybersecurity work under the EU Cyber Resilience Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/2847: drives secure-by-design and secure update practice, access control and credential handling, software bill of materials, and the vulnerability handling and reporting processes now in force ahead of full application in December 2027; owns the controls cybersecurity content of the technical file supporting CE marking

• Owns the part-load control behaviour that determines seasonal efficiency under EN 14825, working with the ratings and product engineering team to correlate control behaviour against rated SEER, SEPR, and ηs,c performance and Ecodesign / ErP compliance, and identifying control strategy improvements that raise seasonal efficiency

• Defines the requirements for the building management and communication interfaces used in Europe – BACnet/IP and BACnet MS/TP, Modbus RTU and TCP, and Johnson Controls connected equipment platforms – and leads their implementation, testing, and integration with Metasys and third-party building management systems

• Works with electrical engineering to ensure electrical and electromagnetic compliance of the control system, covering the EMC Directive 2014/30/EU, the Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU, and the Radio Equipment Directive where wireless connectivity is fitted

• Defines and leads laboratory and field validation of control performance: develops test strategies and plans, coordinates and executes testing on the Dublin test stands, analyses recorded data, and leads the resolution of complex control, stability, and reliability issues

• Defines specifications for control features and products, and owns engineering deliverables including control specifications, sequence of operation documents, parameter and setpoint definitions, test reports, and software release documentation; reviews the technical documentation of other engineers

• Serves as the escalation point for controls support to application engineers, factory operations, commissioning teams, and product technical service across Europe, and initiates and executes control software changes to sustain released products

• Guides and mentors less-experienced controls engineers, conducts design and code reviews, and represents the controls team within Engineering – able to speak for the team technically, with excellent written and verbal communication

• Collaborates with mechanical, electrical, test, and product engineers through all phases of product development, and coordinates controls work with the global controls and software teams in York (PA), Wuxi, and Izmir

• Contributes to the accurate and on-time completion of programs and regularly reports on the status of controls project work

• Continuously increases expertise across chiller design, controls, operation, and applications; leads technical reviews and drives continuous improvement of controls development practice

• Adheres to the Company's Code of Conduct and Business Ethics standards

What we look for

Required

• BS in Electrical, Mechanical, Software, Systems, or a related engineering discipline; MS preferred

• Minimum 4 years of controls, automation, embedded systems, or related engineering experience, including ownership of control features or products through release

• Proven experience developing and releasing control algorithms and software using MATLAB / Simulink

• Strong knowledge of model-based design principles for embedded systems, including model architecture, verification, and code generation

• Strong understanding of control system fundamentals: feedback control and loop tuning, plant modelling, simulation, and data analysis

• Proficient at reading and reviewing embedded C / C++ code and at using scripting tools such as Python or MATLAB for analysis and automation

• Experience leading product development, validation testing, and troubleshooting, including hands-on work with equipment in a laboratory environment

• Working knowledge of European machinery, electrical, and refrigeration safety requirements as they apply to control systems (Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation, EN 60204-1, EN 378)

• Proficient at organizing and processing large amounts of test and field data

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent the team technically

• Experience guiding or mentoring less-experienced engineers

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, schedule-driven, team-oriented environment

• Ability to travel up to 10%, primarily within Europe

Preferred

• Experience with HVAC&R or chiller controls: compressor staging and unloading, variable speed drives, expansion valve control, and chilled water temperature control

• Experience applying product cybersecurity practice under the EU Cyber Resilience Act, including secure development lifecycle, secure update, software bill of materials, and IEC 62443-4-1 and 62443-4-2

• Experience performing functional safety assessment for machinery control systems, including performance level and SIL determination to EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061

• Experience defining A2L or A3 refrigerant safety and leak mitigation control strategies under EN 378 and EN IEC 60335-2-40

• Experience with BACnet, Modbus, or other building management protocols, and with connected or remotely monitored equipment

• Experience applying EN 14511 and EN 14825, and with how control strategy affects seasonal efficiency and Ecodesign / ErP compliance

• Experience with variable speed drives, inverter-driven compressors, and motor control

• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop simulation and automated test

• Experience with configuration management, version control, and structured software release processes, including defining them for a team

• Experience with EMC testing and troubleshooting of electrical and electronic assemblies

• Experience with product development and sustaining of configurable products in engineer-to-order, applied, or made-to-order environments

• Experience leading technical work across globally distributed engineering teams

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