Senior Software Engineer – Equipment Controls

Location: Wilmington, MA Type of Role: Contract to Hire (6-month contract, then conversion)

Overview: Looking for a talented and self-motivated Senior Software Engineer to develop, maintain, troubleshoot, and extend machine-control software for novel electro‑mechanical additive manufacturing systems. The ideal candidate has strong C++ and C# experience, is comfortable working close to hardware, and can debug complex real‑time equipment behavior from software, controls, electrical, process, and operator‑facing symptoms.

Key Responsibilities: Design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot real‑time C++ machine‑control software for complex control systems, including gas flow control, motion systems, timing and communication systems. Develop and maintain C#/.NET HMI, backend, configuration, setup‑wizard, and diagnostics software for complex equipment operation. Integrate and debug industrial automation hardware including EtherCAT I/O, safety interfaces, PMAC/Delta Tau motion systems, PLC interactions, sensors, actuators, lasers, and related machine peripherals. Support machine bring‑up, commissioning, production troubleshooting, and root‑cause analysis using logs, database telemetry, diagnostics, simulator behavior, and direct machine testing. Work with controls, electrical, mechanical, process, optics, manufacturing, and field teams to turn machine behavior requirements into robust software and controls implementations. Improve fault handling, fail‑safe behavior, operator messaging, configuration persistence, diagnostics, and recovery workflows for production equipment. Maintain and extend shared software libraries and deployment support for multiple machine projects. Document designs, handoff notes, test plans, commissioning procedures, and troubleshooting guidance for systems that must be maintained by a broader engineering team. Participate in code reviews, enforce practical testing discipline, and mentor less experienced engineers. Required Experience & SkillsBS degree in Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.7+ years of relevant professional experience developing software for industrial automation, equipment controls, embedded systems, real‑time systems, robotics, motion systems, or similar hardware‑integrated products. Object‑oriented design and analysis (OOA/OOD) with demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous machine requirements into maintainable software designs. Strong professional experience with modern C++ in equipment, embedded, real‑time, or other hardware‑adjacent software environments. Strong professional experience with C#/.NET for HMI, tooling, configuration, diagnostics, or backend equipment software. Ability to independently debug complex software and machine behavior across C++, C#, real‑time systems, industrial I/O, hardware interfaces, logs, and operator workflows. Working understanding of industrial automation concepts such as communication buses, sensors, actuators, motion, PLC/safety interaction, interlocks, fault handling, real‑time constraints, and fail‑safe behavior. Experience designing or maintaining GUI/HMI systems for complex control systems or production equipment. Comfort working directly with machines in a lab or factory environment, including bring‑up, commissioning, issue reproduction, and validation testing. Experience with source control, issue tracking, code reviews, and practical test planning for software that interacts with hardware. Experience using AI tooling to effectively and safely assist in software development, such as Codex / Claude / Copilot. Strong analytical, written, and verbal communication skills; must be able to work effectively across software, controls, electrical, mechanical, process, and manufacturing teams.