Controls System Engineer

Position: Controls System Engineer
Location: Fridley, MN (Onsite)

Role Description

This role serves as a systems-level technical facilitator and architecture coordinator for embedded control systems used in Cummins Power Generation products, including generator set and power system controllers.

The role is responsible for enabling structured, high-quality design decisions and system integration alignment across embedded software and control system features. The role operates at the intersection of embedded software, controls engineering, communications networks, and system-level validation, supporting the evolution of control platforms from RTOS-based systems to Embedded Linux environments.

The individual will work across architecture, controls, software, and validation teams to ensure cohesive system behavior, robust integration, and traceability from design through validation, with strong emphasis on documentation, testability, and cross-functional execution.

The role requires sufficient depth in embedded systems and software development to engage effectively with implementation teams, understand system behavior, and support integration, debugging, and validation of complex, networked control systems.

Key Responsibilities

•                 Facilitate and lead structured technical design discussions, driving clear decisions, trade-offs, and actionable outcomes across embedded control system features

•                 Ensure alignment of designs with system architecture principles, including both RTOS-based platforms and Embedded Linux systems

•                 Drive integration across hardware, software, firmware, and communication layers, ensuring coherent system-level behavior and interface alignment

•                 Define and maintain system interfaces and communication models, including data flow, timing behavior, and interactions across controllers, devices, and networked components

•                 Support design and integration of features interacting with power system controls, including generator, switchgear, and distributed energy system applications

•                 Facilitate alignment on communication architectures, including Ethernet-based systems and industrial communication frameworks such as OPC UA, DDS, or similar technologies

•                 Develop and maintain architecture artifacts including system diagrams, network representations, interface definitions, and decision logs, ensuring traceability across requirements, design, and validation

•                 Identify and resolve system-level ambiguities, architectural gaps, and integration risks, including failure modes, communication behaviors, and edge-case conditions

•                 Engage with software and platform teams to understand embedded system behavior, including interactions between application software, middleware, operating system, and hardware

•                 Support system-level debugging and integration analysis, including investigation of issues spanning embedded software, operating system behavior, networking, and hardware interactions

•                 Partner with validation teams to define system-level test strategies, including networked test environments, hardware-in-the-loop systems, and integration lab testing

•                 Support development of test setups and validation environments to evaluate reliability, startup behavior, communication stability, and recovery scenarios

•                 Ensure consistency between design intent, configuration artifacts, and validation outcomes, enabling traceable and repeatable system verification

•                 Support use of model-based, data-driven, or configuration-driven workflows, ensuring alignment between system definition and deployed behavior

•                 Act as a cross-functional integration leader, coordinating across global teams, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts to drive system readiness and resolve technical issues

•                 Track and drive closure of cross-team dependencies, design actions, and integration issues to ensure program progress

•                 Contribute to continuous improvement of engineering processes, documentation standards, validation infrastructure, and design governance practices

Required Skills and Experience

•                 Strong understanding of embedded systems and software architecture, including software layering (drivers, middleware, application), system services, and hardware interaction

•                 Working experience with Embedded Linux systems, including familiarity with system architecture, services, processes, networking, and runtime behavior in embedded environments

•                 Practical experience with embedded software or firmware development environments, including build systems, deployment workflows, and basic debugging approaches

•                 Understanding of RTOS-based systems and differences between RTOS and Linux-based control architectures

•                 Experience with embedded communications and networking, including Ethernet-based systems and distributed communication frameworks such as OPC UA, DDS, or similar

•                 Ability to analyze and troubleshoot system-level issues spanning software, operating system, networking, and hardware domains

•                 Familiarity with real-time and deterministic system constraints, including timing behavior, scheduling, communication latency, and system recovery

•                 Experience with system integration and validation, including development of test plans, test setups, and evaluation of integrated system behavior

•                 Familiarity with integration lab environments, networked test systems, or hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing approaches

•                 Understanding of configuration-driven or model-based development approaches and how they translate into deployed system behavior

•                 Demonstrated systems thinking capability, including evaluation of end-to-end system behavior, subsystem dependencies, and design trade-offs

•                 Proven ability to lead technical discussions and influence decisions without formal authority across architecture, software, controls, and validation teams

•                 Strong documentation skills, including development of architecture diagrams, interface definitions, validation documentation, and decision records

•                 Demonstrated ability to work across multiple technical domains simultaneously and integrate inputs into cohesive system-level outcomes

•                 Strong ownership mindset with the ability to drive ambiguous, cross-functional work to closure

Preferred Skills

•                 Strong understanding of power system controls concepts, including generator systems, switchgear interactions, and system-level control behavior

•                 Experience working directly on Embedded Linux-based control platforms such as Yocto or similar environments

•                 Experience in power generation, microgrid, or mission-critical power system applications

•                 Familiarity with distributed control architectures and networked system design

•                 Experience with model-based design tools such as Simulink or equivalent

•                 Experience with embedded software debugging tools, logging frameworks, or diagnostics in Linux or RTOS environments

•                 Experience with validation tools, data logging systems, or reliability tracking frameworks

•                 Experience supporting or leading system integration efforts or product demonstrations

•                 Familiarity with engineering tools and workflows such as Jira, Confluence, PGBST, or similar platforms