Controls Engineer - Growth, Great Benefits, & Travel

SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIES · Shelton, WA

Apply on SIERRA ↗

Level: Engineer
Team: Controls
Travel: Includes overnights
Degree: Required (or equivalent experience)
Industry: Industrial
Posted: Recently

The role in 30 seconds

An engineer-level controls role at SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIES (industrial) in Shelton, WA.

They ask for: degree required (or equivalent experience)
Tools it names: PLC, AutoCAD
Day to day: some off-shift / weekend coverage · overnight travel

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026

Controls Engineer roles in Washington: typical posted base $100k–$122k.

Median of the low and high ends of 5 live postings that list pay, out of 13 controls engineer openings in Washington, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

Washington plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 12 other live controls postings in Washington.

Base pay: Not listed in this posting
Experience asked: Not stated

Skills these teams ask for most

✓ PLC 85%
Automation 85%
Robotics 62%
✓ Team leadership 46%
✓ AutoCAD 38%
Injection molding 31%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

At a glance

Off-shift / weekend coveragePromotion path mentionedOvernight travel

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

1
Pick 2–3 people on the Controls team at SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIES
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How does off-shift and weekend coverage work?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

Full description from SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIESAs posted on their careers site.Show

Qualifications

✓Related Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience
✓Strong working knowledge of motion controllers, PLCs, servo systems, and HMIs
✓Experience with servo and hydraulic motion control and tuning preferred
✓Experience with Allen Bradley Control Logix and Kinetix systems preferred
✓Machine vision experience a plus
✓Ability to manage time and priorities under demanding circumstances
✓Excellent communication, listening, and reasoning skills
✓AutoCAD proficiency a plus
✓Strong math skills

Why Join Our Team?

Because this is more than an invitation, it's a commitment to offer opportunities for personal and professional growth to everyone! We ask people to grow with us and make the company even better.

We provide an excellent benefit package including a full Health Benefits Plan (including medical, dental, and vision) with low-cost premiums, a 401(k) with Company Match, additional Retirement Contributions , and company-paid Life Insurance.

How to Apply

If you are qualified and would like to join our team,

Show full description ↓

We train and promote from within

Excellent low-cost health benefits

Retirement plan with employer-paid contributions

Paid vacation and 10 holidays

At Sierra Pacific Industries , we understand our greatest strength is the people who choose to build a career with us. We are a fourth-generation family-owned company that has grown to be one of the largest lumber and millwork producers in the United States. Our more than 6,000 employees are proud to work at our state-of-the-art sawmills and other facilities, including: manufacturing, custom wood-framed windows, fabrication, millwork, veneer, cogeneration, trucking, forestry, and other operations.

Currently, we are seeking a qualified Controls Engineer to work collaboratively with our fabrication shop in Shelton, Washington .

About the Position

•Program and tune multiple axis of motion control
•Program and debug PLCs and HMIs
•Design control systems used in high-performance machinery
•Plan and coordinate new equipment installations
•Supervise installation and optimization of machinery
•Identify and implement process improvements
•Administer modifications of existing PLC programs in conjunction with mill personnel
•Efficiently manage multiple projects and processes across a large scope of work, simultaneously gauging task priority
•Train personnel in maintenance and operation of equipment
•Some overnight travel to divisions within California and Washington
•Provide phone support for division technicians for troubleshooting

please send a cover letter referencing this position and a resume to

Sierra Pacific Industries

Human Resources

421 South Front Street

Shelton, WA 98584

(360) 427-8201

or apply online and view all our career opportunities at: spi.careers

The general wage range for this position at Sierra Pacific Industries is from $75,000 and $105,000 per year, and is dependent upon a number of factors, including, but not limited to: relevant work experience, skill, knowledge, and/or education.

About Our Company

Sierra Pacific Industries is a fourth-generation family-owned company based in Northern California that started in 1949 and has grown to be one of the largest lumber and millwork producers in the U.S., employing around 6,500 crew members. Sierra Pacific continues to be a company where its employees are proud to work at state-of-the-art facilities and others strive to become part of the team.

We own and sustainably manage more than 2.4 million acres of timberland in California, Oregon, and Washington. Our forests are sustainably managed under a 100-year plan by Registered Professional Foresters, Wildlife Biologists, Botanists, and other professionals. We are growing forests for our future, planting over 6 million new trees every year. In Spring 2024, we planted our 300 millionth seedling on our timberlands. This milestone was decades in the making, reflecting our commitment to sustainable forest management and ensuring we have forests not just for today, but for generations to come.

Sierra Pacific effectively uses nearly 100% of every piece of wood we bring to our facilities. In fact, any small amount that isn't turned into hand-crafted doors and windows, millwork, lumber, or landscaping material is actually converted into electricity in our eight biomass-fueled power plants.

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