Controls Engineer

The Marzetti Company (Nasdaq: MZTI) manufactures and sells specialty food products. Our retail brands include Marzetti® dressings and dips, New York Bakery™ garlic breads, and Sister Schubert’s® dinner rolls, in addition to exclusive license agreements for Olive Garden® dressings, Chick-fil-A® sauces and dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings® sauces, Arby’s® sauces, Subway® sauces, and Texas Roadhouse® steak sauces and frozen rolls. Our food service business supplies sauces, dressings, breads, and pasta to many of the top restaurant chains in the United States.

At Marzetti, our mission is to make every meal better through high-quality, flavorful food. Led by our purpose, to nourish growth with all that we do, our team members are dedicated to creating great tasting food and cultivating deep and lasting relationships.

The Controls Engineer plays a key role in ensuring safe, reliable, and efficient operations within our food manufacturing facility. Working with minimal supervision, this position is responsible for reviewing, maintaining, and improving automation & controls systems across the plant. This role supports safe, reliable, and efficient plant operations by providing technical expertise in PLCs, SCADA, safety systems and automation while partnering closely with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, and Continuous Improvement teams to support day-to-day production needs.

This is a full-time 1st shift position.

• Automation & Controls
  • Troubleshoot, maintain, and improve PLC-based controls systems using Allen-Bradley, Bosch Rexroth, and Siemens platforms.
  • Support and improve SCADA systems utilizing Ignition and supporting MES software
  • Identify and implement PLC and HMI improvements, upgrades, migrations, and standardization initiatives across the facility.
  • Maintain accurate and up-to-date controls documentation, I/O lists, network diagrams, wiring schematics, and advising operations on operating procedures.
• Maintenance & Operational Support
  • Provide technical support to Maintenance and Operations teams to quickly diagnose and resolve control-related issues impacting production.
  • Troubleshoot servo drives, VFDs, instruments, Fanuc robots, and PLC communication.
  • Participate in root cause analysis (RCA) to identify issues, validate proper machine operation, support corrective actions and drive long-term system improvements.
  • Interface with outside Machine / Control Vendors for the purpose of defining, designing, implementing, troubleshooting and redefining processes.
  • Provide on-going maintenance support and resolution of control system problems, including taking ownership of such problems to completion.
• Continuous Improvement & Projects
  • Lead or support automation projects to enhance safety, reliability, throughput, quality, ergonomics, and operator experience.
  • Identify opportunities to optimize controls strategies, reduce downtime, and enhance system performance.
  • Support capital projects including equipment installations, line upgrades, and process improvements.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure controls solutions meet food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.
• Compliance & Standards
  • Ensure automation systems comply with food manufacturing regulations, internal standards, and cybersecurity best practices.
  • Support change-management processes for control system modifications.
  • Contribute to the development and enforcement of automation and controls standards.

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience in a manufacturing environment, preferably food or consumer packaged goods (CPG).
• Hands-on experience with:
  Allen-Bradley PLCs (Control Logix, Compact Logix)
• Knowledge of industrial instrumentation, VFDs, and motion control.
• Strong troubleshooting skills in industrial automation and controls.

Preferred

• Experience supporting both maintenance activities and capital/improvement projects.
• Experience in Siemens PLCs, Micro Masters, & Profibus (S7)
• Experience in IO-Link technology.
• SCADA systems, with strong preference for Ignition
• Familiarity with industrial networks (Ether Net/IP, Profibus, etc.).
• Experience with food safety standards (GMPs, FDA, USDA, or similar).
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, 24/7 manufacturing environment.