Sr. / Lead - Controls Engineer – Libraries & Standards

Xylem is a Fortune 500 global water solutions company dedicated to advancing sustainable impact and empowering the people who make water work every day. As a leading water technology company with 23,000 employees operating in over 150 countries, Xylem is at the forefront of addressing the world's most critical water challenges. We invite passionate individuals to join our team, dedicated to exceeding customer expectations through innovative and sustainable solutions.

Role: Sr. / Lead - Controls Engineer – Libraries & Standards

Location: Vadodara / Chennai (Global collaboration)

Function: Controls / Industrial Automation

Type: Technical Role
Travel: Up to 15 percent (Domestic and International)

About the Role

Xylem is a Fortune 500 global water solutions company operating in over 150 countries. This role is a senior technical leadership position responsible for defining and governing standardized PLC software libraries used across global platforms.

The candidate assists the Global Technical Leader (Chief Engineer) with the architecture, development, governance, and lifecycle management of reusable PLC libraries and HMI standards across Rockwell and Siemens ecosystems. The role ensures consistency, quality, backward compatibility, and global adoption across regional engineering teams.

Must Have Skills and Responsibilities

Global Collaboration and Technical Leadership

• Collaborate with global technical leaders and business units to execute standardization roadmaps for PLC / HMI / VFD / SCADA / Industrial Edge & Intelligence / Sensors & Networking.
• Drive consolidation of control strategies and templates across regions and product lines.
• Evaluate and introduce new tools and practices such as simulation, elite coding techniques, documentation tooling, and PLC-oriented CI/CD where applicable.
• Participate in management of Supplier relationships, including enforcement of negotiated corporate pricing.
• Influence and guide teams through technical leadership rather than direct authority.

Automation Library Architecture and Lifecycle Ownership

• Architect, develop, and maintain standardized PLC & HMI libraries (AOIs / FBs, UDTs, Faceplates / Global Objects) for global reuse.
• Lead / guide adoption of PLC / HMI libraries by our global Business Units, often helping them to restructure their legacy code into our library format.
• Define and enforce software architecture standards, including naming conventions, parameter models, diagnostics, error handling, scalability, and performance.
• Own versioning and release governance, including semantic versioning, backward compatibility, deprecation policies, and release documentation.
• Manage defect and enhancement backlogs with structured triage, prioritization, and regression testing.
• Experience applying ISA and IEC standards to control system design and documentation.
• Familiarity with PLC testing approaches including simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and structured regression testing.
• Experience developing HMI or SCADA standards aligned with PLC libraries, including faceplates, alarms, diagnostics, and navigation patterns.

Standards, Tooling, and Best Practices

• Establish PLC coding guidelines and development workflows, including branching strategies, code reviews, testing approaches, and release gates.
• Develop reusable utilities and accelerators such as starter projects, simulation stubs, test harnesses, and example implementations.
• Promote modular and maintainable design aligned with ISA and IEC principles.

Enablement, Documentation, and Mentorship

• Maintain preferred parts lists and guidance to foster staff creation of appropriate Bill-of-Materials
• Create high-quality technical documentation, including application notes, integration guides, interface definitions, and troubleshooting playbooks.
• Develop enablement and training assets such as quick-start guides, sample projects, and instructional material.
• Provide technical mentorship and remote support to global engineering teams adopting the standards.

Good to Have (Preferred)

• Exposure to scripting or tooling languages such as Python, C, SQL, or Excel VBA for automation, testing, or documentation.
• Exposure to IEC 62443-aligned OT cybersecurity practices, including network segmentation, zone and conduit concepts, asset management, and industrial firewalls.
• Experience with IT–OT convergence architectures using DMZs, VLANs, and industrial gateways such as OPC UA or MQTT.
• Familiarity with IIoT, smart manufacturing, and digital transformation initiatives.
• Understanding of industrial data historians and visualization tools such as OSIsoft or AVEVA PI System and PI Vision.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Instrumentation and Controls, Automation Engineering, or equivalent.
• 8-12 Years of PLC software development experience with strong focus on modular and reusable architectures.

Tools and Platforms

• Rockwell Studio 5000 / Logix Designer, FactoryTalk View SE and ME
• Siemens TIA Portal, WinCC, WinCC Unified
• Version control systems (Git-based workflows)
• Defect tracking, requirements management, and documentation tools

Guidance of Others

This role provides technical guidance, mentorship, and indirect leadership to global control system engineering teams. Strong communication skills and the ability to influence and guide others are essential.

Why Xylem

This role offers the opportunity to shape global control software standards at scale, improving reliability, consistency, and time-to-market for solutions that address critical water challenges worldwide. Xylem values inclusion, collaboration, and technical excellence in delivering sustainable impact.

Join the global Xylem team to be a part of innovative technology solutions transforming water usage, conservation, and re-use. Our products impact public utilities, industrial sectors, residential areas, and commercial buildings, with a commitment to providing smart metering, network technologies, and advanced analytics for water, electric, and gas utilities. Partner with us in creating a world where water challenges are met with ingenuity and dedication; where we recognize the power of inclusion and belonging in driving innovation and allowing us to compete more effectively around the world.