Senior Control Systems Software Engineer

Requisition Id 14935 

 

Overview:

The Diagnostics & Control (D&C) Group within the Burning Plasma Foundations (BPF) Section of the Fusion Energy Division (FED) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) seeks applications for a Senior Control Systems Software Engineer with experience in distributed control systems to support installation and operations of the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX).  The D&C group carries out experiment-based research and development work in support of ongoing science and technology research for the U.S. DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Program.

 

This position offers the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge fusion energy research at ORNL, supporting critical experimental infrastructure in collaboration with leading scientists and engineers.

 

Key Responsibilities:

• Participate in the design, development, implementation and maintenance of user interfaces and data acquisition system software applications.

• Develop, test, and verify software drivers for integrating new equipment.

• Evaluate designs for reliability, availability, quality, maintainability and safety.

• Develop and maintain system software applications for integration with the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS).

• Demonstrate quality assurance requirements for software processes align with the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate software quality assurance program.

• Collaborate with technical system experts to review and track design changes.

• Create documentation including requirements, specification, interface control, design, installation and test plans.  Something else about user training.   

• Work with a multidisciplinary team of research scientists and engineers in the areas of fusion energy research to maintain a high level of scientific productivity.

• Provide operational support for plasma device control systems. The position is typical office hours, but some off-hours and weekend support are required to support the 24/7 operational needs of MPEX.

• Ensure a safe and efficient work environment and compliance with ESH&Q procedures and programs.

• Maintain a strong commitment to the implementation and perpetuation of professional values and ethics.

 

Required Qualifications:

• BS degree in computer science, engineering or related field with at least 8 years of applicable experience; master’s degree with at least 7 years of applicable experience; or PhD with at least 4 years of applicable experience. 

• A strong working knowledge of multithreaded and network programming. 

• Experience with basic communication protocols UDP/IP, TCP/IP, Modbus/IP, as well as high-level protocols. 

• Demonstrated knowledge of computer, networking, and distributed control system architecture.

• The ability to translate system performance and operational specifications into software design requirements and test specifications. 

• Proficiency in Linux environments and debugging tools. 

• Proficiency in C, C++, Java, MATLAB, Git, and scripting languages. 

 

Preferred Qualifications:

• An understanding of system design tradeoffs for architecture partitioning with embedded processing and real-time system control. 

• Device driver development. 

• The ability to translate customer’s problems into best-fit architectures, as well as generate customer confidence through presentations and targeted demonstrations that show solution feasibility.  <