Automation and Controls Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: Los Angeles - Greater Area

Compensation: $140K – $170K • Offers Equity

Employment Type: FullTime

About Vital Lyfe

Vital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation, creating a new category of personal water making technology built to scale where infrastructure can’t.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, commission, and manage automation and controls projects for manufacturing, product testing, reliability testing, and end-of-line validation.

• Help define Vital Lyfe’s controls strategy, including what PLC, HMI, SCADA, data acquisition, fieldbus, and factory software systems we should standardize on as we scale.

• Architect, write, and debug PLC and controls code that is organized, documented, maintainable, reusable, and appropriate for high-volume manufacturing.

• Design and commission automated equipment and test systems involving pumps, motors, valves, sensors, pressure, flow, thermal systems, and electrical instrumentation.

• Keep our factory safe and reliable by implementing compliant safety systems for automated equipment, motion systems, pressure systems, and electro-mechanical assemblies.

• Generate simple HMI screens, electrical designs, documentation, schedules, and budgets that help teams operate, troubleshoot, and scale factory systems.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, computer science, or a related technical discipline.

• 5+ years of experience in industrial automation, factory automation, automated test systems, or controls system design and implementation.

• Comfort working in ambiguity and making tradeoffs with incomplete information.

• Bias toward action, ownership, and practical engineering solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to help select the right automation architecture, controls platform, and factory software tools for a fast-moving manufacturing environment.

• Experience with electromechanical systems, automated test stands, manufacturing equipment, reliability rigs, or end-of-line test systems.

• Electrical sizing of motors, cables, circuit protection, VFDs, motor starters, drives, and other motion systems.

• Design of fail-safe electrical circuits using safety PLCs, safety-rated relays, interlocks, e-stops, and other machine safety devices.

• Hands-on troubleshooting experience using tools such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, EMI probes, and industrial network diagnostic tools.

• Proficiency understanding and creating electrical schematics, panel layouts, wiring diagrams, I/O lists, and single-line diagrams.

• Experience with fieldbus networks, serial communication, Ethernet communication, and industrial protocols such as EtherCAT, Profinet, Ethernet/IP, Modbus, or CAN.

• Hands-on experience designing and commissioning high-quality electrical panels and electro-mechanical systems.

• Knowledge of NEC, NFPA, OSHA, UL508A, and related control system safety standards.

• PLC programming experience; Beckhoff TwinCAT, Rockwell, Siemens, Codesys, Omron, or similar experience is valuable.

• Experience with HMI, SCADA, MQTT, OPC-UA, Ignition, SQL databases, machine health monitoring, and factory data systems.

• Experience applying industrial software to mechanical assemblies, electrical systems, sensors, pneumatics, hydraulics, pumps, valves, and instrumentation.

• Ability to safely check out interdisciplinary systems prior to production implementation.

• Startup, pilot-line, or high-rate manufacturing experience preferred.

Physical Job Requirements - Essential Functions

• Hands on work on development hardware.

• Long periods of standing, crouching, walking.

• Lifting up to 50 lbs.

Why Join Vital Lyfe?

• Work on high-impact problems with global relevance

• Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience

• Early ownership in a high growth, engineering led startup

• Join a tight knit, mission driven team in a fast-paced environment

• Build long term career equity as we grow

Location Requirement: Ability to work 100% onsite in Torrance, CA (remote or hybrid work will not be considered)

Vital Lyfe is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vital Lyfe is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.