Principal Hardware Engineer

Principal Hardware Engineer

Contract- Hybrid Cranberry Twp & Warrendale, PA

No Sponsorship - US Citizen or Permanent Resident Required

This position is responsible for the design, integration, and documentation of Plant Control Computer Systems used in nuclear power plants.

The Plant Computer System group delivers systems comprised of Dell Servers, CISCO network switches, Emerson Process Management Ovation controllers & I/O and other 3rd party commercial off the shelf products. 

The principal hardware engineer overall responsibilities is to lead a team of engineers in relation to the delivery of the plant computer system:

• Create hardware related cost estimates (material and labor)
• Perform hardware procurement activities related to the assigned project.
• Participate in hardware scheduling activities to support overall project schedule.
• Create hardware drawings for manufacturing and installation related to assigned project.
• Support manufacturing/assembly (at manufacturer’s facility).
• Author/review hardware test procedures.
• Author/review design documentation (ex. hardware design specifications, power and heat calculations, center of gravity reports, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) analysis, I/O interface diagrams, spare parts lists).
• Support Factory Acceptance Testing.
• Participate installation and startup activities of delivered systems (at customer site).

This position requires multidisciplinary research and collaboration with hardware and software engineers in the planning, design, development, and utilization of electronic data processing systems for product and commercial software.

This position includes design of custom adapters/cabling and interfaces to transition existing plant equipment to new state of the art computer equipment.

This is a mobile position requiring you to work both remote and onsite

Your Day to Day

• Performs hardware design activities (system architecture drawings, network layout, cabinet design, system cabling interface, custom panel/subassembly and kit design, and cabinet power design).
• Performs data acquisition designs including interface cabling and custom adapter designs.
• Component selection to meet system needs and contract schedule deliverables.
• Participate in the set-up, system modification and system integration and testing, and delivery of our non-safety I&C system upgrade projects.
• Performs network switch configuration and documentation.
• Performs proposal development and establishing costs and budgets for hardware design efforts for system components.
• Understand and implement the quality standards applicable to the nuclear industry.
• Willing to travel and work with local and international customers and vendor suppliers.
• Make work assignments for less senior engineers.

Who are you:

The Successful candidate will bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Electrical Engineering / Mechanical Engineer or related) with applicable years of experience in hardware design and integration.
• Minimum 12 years of applicable experience required.
• Data acquisition hardware and software:
  • Knowledge of circuit designs to support custom cables and interfaces.
  • Knowledge of Data Acquisition systems consisting of servers, workstations, controllers, Input/Output modules and electronic boards.
  • Experience with Auto-CAD and 3D modeling or Microsoft Visio sketches.
  • Create design packages (drawing sketches) for review and approval.

Preferred (not required):

• Experience with Cisco switches.
• Experience with Emerson Ovation data acquisition systems.
• Experience with servers and workstations.