Control Systems Engineer (m/f/d)

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Controls Systems Engineer with deep expertise in the design, development, and deployment of real-time, time-critical, and safety-critical control systems. This role is responsible for creating advanced closed-loop control solutions for precision motion and tracking applications, including stabilization, target tracking, actuator control, and real-time system integration. The successful candidate will lead the development of robust control architectures that deliver high performance, reliability, and deterministic behaviour in demanding operating environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and optimize closed-loop control algorithms, including PID, state-space, and advanced control methods such as LQR and Model Predictive Control (MPC).
• Develop stabilization systems that compensate for vibration, motion disturbances, environmental influences, and other dynamic operating conditions.
• Create and maintain real-time tracking and positioning control loops, converting sensor-derived state information into precise actuator commands with minimal latency and overshoot.
• Define data interfaces between sensing, estimation, and control subsystems, ensuring accurate synchronization, coordinate transformation, data integrity, and fault handling.
• Model, simulate, and validate dynamic system behaviour, actuator performance, and control-loop stability prior to deployment.
• Design and implement deterministic real-time control software on embedded platforms, RTOS environments, or bare-metal hardware.
• Establish and manage timing budgets across sensing, computation, communication, and actuation functions to meet strict performance requirements.
• Apply safety-critical engineering principles, including redundancy, watchdog mechanisms, fault detection, protective limits, graceful degradation, and fail-safe operation.
• Support system integration, calibration, commissioning, and performance validation activities.
• Develop fault-management strategies and fallback operating modes for sensor failures, communication interruptions, loss of feedback, or actuator malfunctions.
• Perform control-system verification through simulation, laboratory testing, field validation, and performance analysis.
• Produce and maintain technical documentation covering system architecture, control strategies, tuning methodologies, performance metrics, timing analysis, and validation results.

Requirements

• Strong proficiency in C/C++ development for embedded and real-time systems, with extensive hands-on software engineering experience.
• Advanced knowledge of classical and modern control theory, including PID control, state-space modelling, system identification, and frequency-domain analysis.
• Proven experience designing and implementing real-time control systems with deterministic execution, latency control, jitter management, and timing analysis.
• Demonstrated expertise in safety-critical system development, including fault tolerance, redundancy strategies, watchdog implementation, and protection mechanisms.
• Strong understanding of motion-control systems, servo drives, actuators, sensors, feedback systems, and control-loop integration.
• Experience with software development tools and methodologies, including version control, build systems, automated testing, and debugging environments.
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems such as VxWorks, QNX, FreeRTOS, or equivalent platforms.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with a structured engineering approach.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary engineering stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly.
• Prior experience delivering real-time control solutions from concept through deployment is highly desirable.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Control Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of 6 years of experience in closed-loop, real-time, and safety-critical control system design and implementation.
• Demonstrated experience with motion-control systems, stabilization platforms, precision pointing mechanisms, robotics, automation systems, or other advanced control applications.
• Strong understanding of control-system architectures, embedded computing platforms, real-time communications, and system-level integration.