Company Description

Critical Energy is an innovative, early-stage, venture-backed cleantech company on a mission to accelerate the global energy transition through abundant, low-cost clean energy. Founded by an ex-SpaceX engineer, Critical Energy designs and manufactures factory-built, modular power plants. These rapidly deployable systems convert heat into electricity using a closed-loop thermodynamic cycle and can be installed in just weeks.

Critical Energy’s technology delivers high-efficiency, 24/7 power for geothermal applications and waste heat recovery (including from data center gas turbines), making clean energy practical and cost-effective for demanding sectors like AI hyperscalers and data centers. Backed by top climate and technology investors, Critical Energy is scaling rapidly.

Our Mission

To build an abundant, low-cost, 100% clean energy future through groundbreaking geothermal innovation.

We are a team of passionate engineers, designers, and visionaries building cutting-edge solutions to meet the world’s energy needs with 100% clean energy. We are in the initial stages of development and building our team. This is your chance to join on the ground floor of something big! If you are ready to work at a fun, fast-paced, groundbreaking organization that is positioned to revolutionize geothermal energy, apply today!

About the Role

We are seeking Senior Controls Engineer to own the design, development, and deployment of the instrumentation and controls of our heat-to-electricity ORC products. You will collaborate closely with the systems and turbomachinery teams to translate CONOPS, safety, and system performance requirements into instrumentation hardware procurement decisions and software control schemes. This role will also be part of the commissioning team, including factory acceptance testing and onsite deployments at customer sites. This is a full-time, on-site position located in our Hawthorne, CA facility.

Responsibilities

Architect, develop, and commission PLC-based control systems for ORC power plant processes including working fluid pumps, air-cooled condensers, heat exchangers, and auxiliary systems

Design and implement HMI and SCADA applications providing operators with clear process visibility, alarm management, and control functionality

Develop control strategies for key process loops including pressure control, working fluid flow regulation, heat source management, and startup/shutdown sequencing

Specify, select, and integrate field instrumentation including pressure transmitters, flow meters, temperature transmitters, and level devices

Design and lay out industrial electrical control panels compliant with NEC, NFPA 79, and UL 508A, manage panel builds, field wiring, and loop checkout

Implement and maintain safety instrumented functions per IEC 61511 principles including SIL verification, cause and effect matrix development, and SIS logic implementation

Integrate plant devices across industrial communication protocols including EtherCAT, Modbus TCP, DNP3, and OPC-UA

Develop and maintain controls documentation including I/O lists, network architecture diagrams, functional descriptions, cause and effect matrices, and FAT/SAT procedures

Support factory acceptance testing and field commissioning of control systems for future plant deployments

Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and systems engineering teams to ensure controls architecture supports plant performance, safety, and reliability requirements

Contribute to development of controls standards, templates, and reusable code libraries to drive consistency across future plant designs

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or related field

5+ years of hands-on experience designing, programming, and commissioning industrial control systems

Demonstrated PLC programming experience: Beckhoff, Allen-Bradley or Siemens acceptable

Experience with Structured Text (ST) or similar IEC 61131-3 standard language

Experience developing HMI and SCADA applications from scratch with emphasis on operator usability and alarm rationalization