Senior Control & Automation Engineer
Location: Bristol, UK (Hybrid)
Employment Type: Permanent
Salary: GBP 49,410 - 71,370 per annum
Application Deadline: 30 June 2026
Matter is a VC‑backed cleantech scale‑up focused on water filtration. The Senior Control & Automation Engineer will establish and lead internal capability across industrial control systems, instrumentation, and data‑driven product development.
The Opportunity
This role is based in Bristol and involves occasional travel to industrial customer sites for commissioning and support. You will play a key part in the development, delivery, and support of complex engineering systems, managing external contractors and suppliers while building internal capability.
Key Responsibilities
Industrial Controls & Automation
- Lead development and evolution of industrial control system architectures for modular skid‑based systems.
- Own review and improvement of PLC control logic, safety requirements, and HMI systems.
- Define control philosophy, system behaviour, and fault handling strategies.
- Undertake PLC programming for internal prototyping and development systems.
- Lead fault finding and optimisation during commissioning, factory acceptance testing (FAT) and site installations.
- Ensure effective integration of control systems with customer environments, including MES interfaces and site utilities.
Hardware & Instrumentation
- Own specification and review of control system hardware (e.g. PLCs, I/O, instrumentation, comms, networks, motors, drives).
- Lead control panel concept design with suppliers.
- Own instrumentation selection and sizing strategy (e.g. flow meters, pressure sensors, pumps, motors, drives).
- Ensure alignment between mechanical design, instrumentation, and control strategies.
Data Acquisition & Performance
- Define and implement data acquisition strategies to support product validation, customer ROI and product reliability and predictive maintenance.
- Establish communications architecture for remote connectivity including security requirements to IEC 62443 standards.
- Extract and analyse operational data from systems (e.g. via PLCs or gateways).
- Conduct hands‑on analysis (e.g. Excel, Python, or similar) to identify performance trends and issues.
- Develop dashboards and reporting tools (e.g. Grafana).
Supplier & Contractor Management
- Act as technical owner and interface for all controls and automation suppliers.
- Define requirements, scope work, and lead design reviews.
- Direct and challenge suppliers to improve quality, cost and delivery.
- Expand and optimise the supplier base.
Product Development & Continuous Improvement
- Identify and drive technical improvements across control systems and instrumentation.
- Lead value engineering and cost reduction.
- Feed data‑driven insights into product reliability, predictive maintenance, product evolution and next‑generation systems.
- Drive transition to standardised, scalable product architectures.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
Your essential experience
- 8 or more years experience in industrial automation, process control systems or mechatronics engineering.
- Practical experience with PLC‑based control systems (e.g. Siemens, Allen‑Bradley, Beckhoff, or similar).
- Experience writing, reviewing and modifying existing PLC code and control logic in IEC 61131‑3, Codesys etc.
- Knowledge of control system architecture and control philosophy development.
- Hands‑on experience with industrial systems, installations or commissioning.
- Strong understanding of industrial instrumentation and control (sensors, actuators, motors, drives, Industry 4.0).
- Experience working with external suppliers or contractors in a technical capacity.
- Ability to analyse operational data to support engineering decisions.
- Comfortable working in a multidisciplinary team alongside mechanical engineers.
- Experience with HMI or SCADA systems.
- Experience with data analysis tools (e.g. Python, or similar) and dashboarding.
- Familiarity with industrial communication protocols.
- Experience specifying or reviewing control system hardware and panel designs.
- Exposure to functional safety concepts and safe‑state design.
- Knowledge of industrial electrical systems (e.g. three‑phase equipment).
Your desirable experience
- Experience in water treatment or similar industry.
- Working in international locations with knowledge of regional electrical requirements and standards.
- Application and requirements of control systems in external environments.
- 18th Edition certified.
Benefits
- Flexible working environment, core hours 09:30‑16:00 and hybrid working at central Bristol HQ.
- Annual Leave – 26 days + public holidays, increasing to 32 days with length of service (1 day for every year up to 32 days). One extra day off on your birthday.
- Ability to swap up to 3 Bank Holidays for days of cultural or religious significance.
- Enhanced family leave (maternity & paternity) – 13 weeks full pay (maternity) or 4 weeks full pay (paternity) for workers with 26+ weeks continuous service at end of Qualifying Week.
- Sick Pay – Short‑Term sickness full pay for 10 days per 12‑month period; long‑term sickness full pay for any instance longer than a week up to 13 weeks.
- Pension scheme (Aviva) – 5% employer contribution.
- Private Medical Insurance (BUPA) – Level 1 cover for you and family.
- Medical Cash Plan (SimplyHealth) – Level 1 cover.
- Critical Illness Cover (Zurich) – 75% of wages after 13 weeks of illness up to 5 years.
- Dental Plan (BUPA) – Level 1 cover.
- Life Assurance (Zurich) – one‑off payment of 2× annual salary to next of kin.
- Virtual GP, Employee Assistance Programme.
- Onsite kitchen, dining, breakout areas and healthy snacks.
- Monthly lunch clubs, regular team events and parties.
- On‑site parking for bicycles and cars.
- Cycle to work scheme, ethical discounts through Lumina.
- Training & Development support – 5% of contractual hours for self‑development.
- Professional membership – one per year where relevant to role.
The global mission to achieve cleaner water can’t wait, so neither should you! Apply today!
What to expect – after acknowledging your application we will update you on the next stage of your hiring journey within 48 hrs.
At Matter, we believe that representation is crucial and are committed to creating a more inclusive organisation. We encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates to ensure everyone has a voice.
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