Senior Controls Engineer

Industrial power turbines haven't seen meaningful innovation in over a century. We believe that the modern world should not be limited by energy. Lazarus is a team with over 50 years of turbomachinery analysis, design, and testing experience. We are building the next generation of power conversion technologies that will solve today’s power demands and tomorrow’s renewable energy future. This is a rare chance to help define a new era of hardware energy products by leading core technology development from concept to test and production. Lazarus is post-stealth and pre-series A. We are moving incredibly fast with a talented team in place, hardware in the door, and active testing underway. We are currently building a MW-class system to fire with natural gas and then integrate with nuclear heat before the end of 2027.

Role Overview This role owns the controls, software, and data acquisition for our MW-class machine. You will be building the brain that runs our system and proves it out. Working directly with the founding team, you’ll architect and write the control system, the trip and protection logic, and the DAQ from the ground up. This will encompass how the machine starts, runs, stays safe, and gets shut down. The role blends real-time controls and software with hands-on commissioning on aggressive timelines.

Responsibilities

• Own the control system for the MW machine, including the controller / PLC, safety-system architecture, the I/O list, and the software that runs on it

• Design and implement closed-loop control of the machine including start-up, steady state, and shutdown sequencing

• Own the trip and protection logic for overspeed, surge, loss of load, etc.

• Write and test the real-time, safety-critical control software, using bench and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing to prove out the control and trip logic against a simulated machine before it ever runs the real one.

• Own the machine’s DAQ and operational instrumentation, including sensor selection, signal chains, sample rates, logging, etc. You will do this while coordinating with the Test Engineer who owns the test-stand DAQ and test infrastructure

• Support bring-up, commissioning, and test campaigns with hands on tuning, debugging, and anything else required to get the machine up and running

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in controls, electrical, mechanical, aerospace, software, or similar engineering.

• Experience designing and implementing real-time control systems for physical hardware (PLC, cRIO/PXI, or equivalent).

• Strong controls fundamentals including closed-loop control, sequencing, and machine protection / trip logic.

• Ability to write and debug the control and safety software yourself (e.g., LabVIEW, Python, C/C++, or equivalent real-time environments).

• DAQ and instrumentation fundamentals like sensorselection, signal conditioning, and logging

• Working understanding of the physical systems being controlled (thermal-fluid behavior or rotating machinery)

• Excellent communication and leadership skills and a willingness to learn / teach

Preferred Experiences

• Controls for rotating machinery, turbomachinery, or energetic / high-pressure systems.

• Knowledge of industrial and real-time communication protocols (CAN, EtherCAT, Modbus, or similar) for interfacing drives, sensors, and actuators.

• Safety-critical / functional-safety software practices.

• Standing up DAQ for a new test stand.

• Early stage or start-up experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• US salary range: $150,000 - $220,000

• Meaningful equity ownership

• Company wide medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Fully stocked kitchen with snacks, coffee, and lunch

Think this is your kind of work? We move fast and we build real things. If that's the work you're after, send us your application.

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