Controls Engineer
Posted Apr 3, 2025 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a control algorithm you implemented in software. What was it controlling, and how did you tune it on the real machine?
What they are checking: Whether their algorithm experience comes from commissioning real equipment or only from simulation and textbook examples.
Tell me about a time a mechanical or electrical designer handed you something that made the controls work harder. How did you sort it out?
What they are checking: How they collaborate across disciplines on an OEM team where controls often absorbs other groups' compromises.
What would you do
A machine is in our Phillips shop for testing and a servo axis keeps faulting intermittently. How do you go about finding the cause?
What they are checking: A disciplined troubleshooting method that separates wiring, tuning, mechanical and code causes instead of guessing.
A customer wants a feature added to a machine that is already half built. How do you respond?
What they are checking: Whether they can weigh schedule, cost and risk and push back clearly while still serving the customer.
About the work
BW Papersystems builds corrugating and sheeting machines for customers all over the world. Walk me through how you would structure the PLC program for a new machine section so another engineer could pick it up later.
What they are checking: Whether they write control software as a maintainable product rather than a one-off that only its author can support.
How do you set up data file structures in a PLC so recipes, alarms and machine settings stay organized as the program grows?
What they are checking: Whether they plan data layout up front, which decides how painful every later change and customer modification becomes.
What makes a good operator screen on an HMI, and what is one mistake you see often in terminal display design?
What they are checking: Whether they design screens for the person running the line at 2 a.m. rather than for the engineer who built them.
Explain how you would handle data transmission between a machine PLC and a customer's plant system. What protocols have you used and what went wrong?
What they are checking: Real hands-on experience with industrial networks, including the failures that only show up once equipment is on site.
How do you build safety into a control design, from e-stops and guarding to safety-rated logic?
What they are checking: Whether they treat machine safety as a design requirement with standards behind it, not a box checked at the end.
How do you document and version your control code so the field service team can support it years from now?
What they are checking: Whether they think about the long service life of capital equipment and the people who will maintain it.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Barry-Wehmiller.