Sr Controls Engineer

Location: Lafayette, Colorado, United States of America

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on - 16 Oct 2026

Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first — developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72+ million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact.

A Day in the Life

The Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and Operations Sustaining team supports the development, launch, optimization, and long-term support of manufacturing systems used to produce medical technologies at the Boulder/Lafayette, Colorado manufacturing site. This team partners with Manufacturing, Quality, Operations, Research & Development, and external equipment suppliers to deliver scalable, reliable, and compliant automation solutions that support both new product introductions and existing production lines.

This position is based in Lafayette, Colorado and is an onsite role 5 days a week supporting manufacturing operations and engineering activities. Limited travel may be required to support equipment suppliers, acceptance testing, and project implementation activities.

The Senior Controls Engineer leads the design, development, integration, validation, and lifecycle support of automated manufacturing equipment and test systems. This role serves as a technical leader for controls architecture, industrial automation, machine safety, and equipment performance while collaborating with cross-functional teams and external suppliers to support manufacturing objectives and new product introduction initiatives.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead development, integration, and deployment of automated assembly and test equipment for new and existing manufacturing processes.
• Define equipment requirements, technical specifications, controls architecture, and project deliverables for automation projects.
• Program, troubleshoot, and optimize Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Human Machine Interfaces (HMI), vision systems, and data acquisition systems.
• Provide technical oversight of equipment suppliers, ensuring compliance with design requirements, project timelines, and performance specifications.
• Lead factory acceptance testing, site acceptance testing, equipment qualifications, and validation activities.
• Evaluate manufacturing equipment for compliance with applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) safety standards.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to improve equipment reliability, process capability, throughput, and product quality.
• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Operations, and Research & Development teams to resolve complex equipment and process issues.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 4+ years OR Master's degree and 2+ years OR PHD and 0 years of controls engineering, automation engineering, or manufacturing engineering experience.
• Experience programming and troubleshooting PLC-controlled manufacturing equipment.
• Experience with HMI development, industrial automation systems, and machine integration.
• Experience leading automation equipment projects from specification through validation and production release.
• Experience supporting regulated manufacturing environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with medical device manufacturing equipment and processes.
• Experience integrating machine vision and automated inspection systems.
• Experience performing Measurement System Analysis (MSA) and Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility (Gage R&R) studies.
• Knowledge of equipment validation, qualification protocols, and quality system requirements.
• Experience with machine safety risk assessments and ANSI/OSHA compliance requirements.