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Sr Control Systems Developer

interstates

Sioux Center, IA
Development

Job Score

80 pts
On-site model (+70) Development (+10)

Take Charge of Your Career at Interstates

At Interstates, we don’t just show up to work, we show up for each other. From our headquarters in Iowa to job sites across the country, we’re doing award-winning electrical, controls, automation, and OT work that powers industrial facilities for clients here in the U.S. and around the world. Whether you’re bending conduit, wiring panels, writing code, supporting projects, or helping things run behind the scenes, you’ll be part of a crew that works hard, shares laughs, and takes pride in doing quality work. We believe in building strong teams, doing the right thing, and making a difference in the communities where we live. If you want to grow and do meaningful work, you’ll feel at home here. 

Bring your controls expertise to complex projects where you’ll have the opportunity to design, program, test, and start up industrial control systems. As a Senior Control Systems Developer, you’ll take ownership of significant portions of control system projects with minimal supervision while partnering with project teams and customers to deliver reliable, effective automation solutions.

Responsibilities

  • Plan and design significant portions of control systems with minimal supervision
  • Work with project teams to define control system scope, functionality, reports, documentation, graphics, and startup support needs
  • Program, implement, test, document, install, and start up complex industrial control systems
  • Provide advanced programming expertise in at least two of the following areas: PLC, HMI/hardware setup, PC configuration, or database management
  • Configure, install, and troubleshoot PC/PLC hardware, software, and customer networks
  • Start up control systems at customer sites without direct supervision and provide after-hours or pager support as needed
  • Provide in-house and customer-site operator training on control systems
  • Develop programming standards and verify adherence across projects
  • Perform technical design reviews, code reviews, and assist with project estimating
  • Support training and technical development of other Interstates employees
  • Maintain confidentiality of sensitive customer information

Knowledge & Expertise

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field, or Associate’s degree in Instrumentation and Controls preferred
  • At least 3 years of experience as a Control Systems Developer or equivalent combination of education and experience
  • Industrial programming and control system implementation experience, including startup and commissioning
  • Strong programming knowledge with expert-level experience in at least two of the following: PLC, HMI/hardware setup, PC configuration, or database management
  • Experience troubleshooting industrial control systems, hardware, software, and customer networks
  • Ability to work independently on complex technical projects and communicate effectively with customers and project teams
  • Strong technical design, problem-solving, documentation, and communication skills
  • Ability to provide customer and employee training on control systems

Location

This position is based in Sioux Falls, SD; Sioux Center, IA; or Omaha, NE, with the preferred location determined by business needs. Hybrid flexibility may be considered for the right candidate based on experience and business needs.

Travel

Approximately 25–30% travel is expected to support training needs across Interstates locations.

 

Interstates. Let's Build Logo

What You Should Know Before You Apply

Interstates may collect personal information as part of your job application, such as your contact details, work history, education, and any information you provide. This information is used only for recruitment, to evaluate your candidacy, and to meet legal requirements. For details about our privacy practices and your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), please see our Privacy Policy. By applying, you acknowledge that you have reviewed this notice.

Interstates is an EEO provider and offers a drug-free workplace.  Employment at Interstates is at-will and may be terminated at any time with or without notice or cause, except as otherwise provided by law.

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About Software Development

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Career Guides

Technology Career Guide

Planning, skills, interviews, and professional growth in IT, Data Science, DevOps, and Product.

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Design Career Guide

UX/UI, Graphic Design, Product Design. Portfolio, tools, interviews, and growth in the Design field.

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Marketing Career Guide

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Finance Career Guide

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Communication Career Guide

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Administration Career Guide

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Data Career Guide

Data Science, Data Engineering, BI, Machine Learning, and AI. From training to the job market.

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Product Career Guide

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Tech & Remote Glossary

Stop getting lost in interviews and job descriptions

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🏢 Work Models & Routine

Async (Asynchronous Work)
A communication model where responses don't need to be immediate. Instead of back-to-back meetings, the team relies on well-structured documents, threads, and messages. It's the gold standard for global companies spanning multiple time zones.
Sync (Synchronous Work)
The opposite of Async. It requires the team to be online and available at the same time for meetings, live chats, and real-time collaboration.
Daily / Stand-up
A quick daily meeting (usually 15 minutes) common in Agile (Scrum) methodologies. The team answers three questions: What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? Are there any blockers?
All-Hands / Town Hall
A company-wide meeting involving all employees. Usually led by the founders (C-Levels) to present results, new goals, and answer team questions.
1:1 (One-on-One)
A recurring individual meeting between a professional and their direct manager. It is used for career alignment, feedback, and problem-solving, not just for project status updates.

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PTO (Paid Time Off)
Instead of strict, categorized leave policies, modern US companies usually offer a flexible pool of days (e.g., 20 days of PTO, or even "Unlimited PTO") that you can use for vacations, sick days, or personal matters, while receiving your regular compensation.
Equity / Stock Options
Company ownership. The startup offers you the right to buy shares at a heavily discounted strike price in the future. If the company grows, goes public, or is acquired, these shares can be highly lucrative.
Vesting (Vesting Schedule)
The rule that controls your Equity. It usually lasts 4 years. You don't get all the shares on day one; you "earn" them gradually as you stay with the company. A "1-year Cliff" means you must stay for at least one year to receive your first batch of shares.
RSUs (Restricted Stock Units)
Unlike Stock Options (where you have the right to buy the stock), RSUs are actual shares the company grants you as a bonus or part of your compensation package, following a strict Vesting schedule.
Independent Contractor (1099 / B2B)
The most common international hiring model for global talent working for US companies. You act as a service provider (business-to-business), receiving the gross salary (often six-figure compensation) without standard local payroll tax deductions at the source.

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The "robot" that reads your resume. Software like Greenhouse, Ashby, and Workday are used to filter candidates by keywords before a human even looks at the document. (Pro tip: this is why your resume must be clean, semantic, and have the right keywords).
JD (Job Description)
The document that lists the responsibilities, technical requirements, and benefits of the open position.
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The interview stage that evaluates if your core values, communication style, and worldview align with the company's culture. This is the ultimate test of your Soft Skills.
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The integration process. It's the period of your first few weeks at the company, where you get your access credentials, learn about the culture, study the internal documentation, and understand how the product works.

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Expert Tip

The Back-End Development Market

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Behind every brilliant application, revolutionary artificial intelligence, or successful fintech, there is an invisible and robust ecosystem. Welcome to the Back-End universe.

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Entering Back-End development today requires overcoming technical barriers that go far beyond mastering a programming language (like Java, C#, Go, or Python). Key barriers include:

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For those who overcome these barriers, the market is a blue ocean of opportunities, especially for US/Global Remote work.

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True Back-End engineering shines when solving impossible problems. Let's look at real-market examples:

The Discord Case (Migration to Rust): Discord faced latency spikes in its core Read States service, originally written in Go. Because Go's Garbage Collector caused critical millisecond freezes, the team rewrote the service in Rust, completely eliminating latency spikes and supporting trillions of messages with absurd efficiency. This proved the value of choosing the right tool for performance limits.

The Netflix Case (Pioneering Microservices): Netflix transformed a monolithic system that broke under pressure into an architecture of thousands of independently managed microservices. They pioneered the concept of Chaos Engineering, purposely shutting down production servers to ensure their Back-End was resilient to failure.

Practical Tips: How to Land Premium Global Jobs

  1. Master the Fundamentals: Before learning the trendy framework of the month, study data structures, algorithms, and time complexity (Big-O Notation). This is exactly what will be tested in high-level technical interviews (Whiteboard interviews).
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  3. Study Real Cloud Architecture: Get solutions-based certifications (like AWS Certified Developer or Solutions Architect). These serve as a "Seal of Approval" to bypass strict Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) like Greenhouse or Ashby.
  4. Flawless Technical Communication: According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, the highest-paying roles require asynchronous global collaboration. Your code documentation, commit messages, and PR reviews must be pristine and professional.

Verdict: Is a Career in Back-End Worth It?

Absolutely. If you are an analytical person who loves solving complex puzzles and cares about the security and efficiency of things no one sees, the Back-End is your place.

It is a career virtually immune to visual fads. While Front-End libraries change every few years, the fundamentals of relational databases, networks, and operating systems remain the same. It is a rock-solid foundation for a highly lucrative and globalized career.

Read full article →

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