Automation and Controls Engineer

CompanyFederal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) delivers a suite of payments services to financial institutions via FedLine® Solutions, Fedwire®, National Settlement Service (NSS), FedCash®, FedACH® (Automated Clearing House), Check Services, and the FedNow® Service. In 2020, we undertook a strategic effort to transform FRFS from a product and support office framework to a national, enterprise-focused organization. The enterprise structure integrated the prior retail, wholesale, cash, and customer relations product and support offices into a new organization, which was further joined by the FedNow team in early 2024. Our North Star strategy, with the new structure, is to offer a fully integrated product suite that provides speed, resilience, and choice in meeting the payments needs of financial institutions across the United States. Through our evolved structure, we will meet the needs of the marketplace for new products and services more quickly, seek to provide a more robust and unified customer experience across our financial service offerings, and create new career growth opportunities for FRFS staff.
We are seeking leaders to set the vision, strategy, values, and priorities that enable FRFS to achieve its mission. Our leaders must demonstrate a strategic, action-oriented mindset focused on intellectual curiosity, agility, accountability, and the ability to drive innovation through experimentation. To achieve our vision for a people-focused organization with a strong collaborative and innovative culture, we expect our leaders to champion an inclusive environment and demonstrate our values in how we work and interact with each other and our broader community.

The Transition Management team is seeking an Automation and Controls Engineer (ACE) to join their team. The ACE will support an automated material handling system which includes a multitude of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), several Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), and a third-party vendor supplied proprietary software application, that work together to manage automation, inventory, and workflow in the vault.

Additionally, the ACE will: participate in key national projects including automation efforts, collaborate with project leader and/or facilitate team efforts on highly complex system and local projects, communicate and collaborate across system resources and department functions to resolve complex business and/or technical issues, and provide high-level expertise on automation and technological issues. The level of work required is considered advanced and highly technical and the ACE must be able to work under moderate supervision, while assisting outside contractors and vendors when work is performed in the Cash operations.

What You Will Do:

• Provide high level expertise on automation and technological components, working with our automated material handling external vendors, business stakeholders, application development teams, and team members to develop a strategy which delivers projects that provide exceptional business value to the Cash community.
• Provide internal presence and oversight from mechanical, software, and operational adherence to standards and procedures:
  • Explore opportunities for continued innovation and evolution of vault automation systems.
  • Conduct comprehensive evaluations of current material handling systems.
  • Act as a trusted partner for internal operations.
  • Develop new standards and qualifications to support and maintain the vault automation architecture.
  • Monitor and evaluate the performance of material handling systems to identify opportunities for optimization and cost reduction.
• Support, consult, and collaborate on projects and initiatives for the FRB vault automation system, an automated material handling system for storing and retrieving containers in a warehouse-type racking system:
  • Produce technical system documentation, including business requirements, functional specifications, user requirements, traceability matrix, risks, project schedules, and implementation plans.
  • Manage project execution (i.e., budget, schedule, risks, quality, meeting minutes, deliverables, etc.) of one or more project management processes to deliver the desired outcome to stakeholders.

• Lead Cash offices and support representatives through trouble calls (e.g., AGV/SRM/vault software/PLC troubleshooting), serving as tertiary contact for issue diagnosis and resolution, remotely and on-site, which may include hands-on equipment maintenance or repair. 

• Measure vault data and system performance and create program metrics and dashboards based on trend analysis to communicate value, impact, and outcomes.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science / Technical Diploma - Mechanical / Electrical / Control Engineering/Mechatronics, or equivalent experience. (Preferred)
• At least three years’ experience is required, five is preferred, working with an automated vault management system and with industrial electronics (i.e., AC/DC drives, Programmable Logic Controllers, etc.)
• Experience with maintaining or managing Automated Material Handling (AMH) systems. (Required)
• Experience in Cash facilities is preferred.
• Able to read and evaluate technical schematics and logical diagrams (i.e., AutoCAD, MS Office).
• Ability to work on ladders, in crawl spaces, and lift a minimum of 50 lbs.
• Comfortable operating all types of material handling equipment including forklifts, manual pallet jacks, dollies, hand tools, and test equipment required for the job.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and time management skills required.
• Ability to influence successfully in a highly matrixed or virtual organization.
• Experience generating presentations, reports, and queries from databases and use of SharePoint and JIRA.
• Experience with data analysis tools is preferred (e.g., SQL, SQL Server, Tableau, PowerBI).
• Ability to work independently.
• Willingness to travel for extended periods based on project lifecycle. Approximately 30%+ annually. (Required)
• Must reside within two-hours driving distance of an FRB Automated Vault location.

Other Requirements and Considerations:

• Candidates should review the Bank’s Employee Code of Conduct to ensure compliance with conflict of interest rules and personal investment restrictions.
• If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please notify [email protected].
• Employees who work at and/or visit another Federal Reserve entity or outside business as part of their job duties are required to comply with any onsite safety and health protocols of those organizations (including, but not limited to, requirements to vaccinate or test, mask, social distance, etc.).
• Sponsorship is not available for this role. Selected candidate is subject to special background check procedures.
• The Richmond hiring range of the Automation and Controls Engineer – Int. is $87,700 - $119,570 annually.
• The Richmond hiring range of the Automation and Controls Engineer – Sr. is $110,600 - $152,130 annually.
• Salary offered will be based on the job responsibilities and the individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience as defined in the job qualifications.
• Interested candidates are strongly encouraged to apply by November 14, 2024. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

District Employment:

As a Federal Reserve System National Business Line, it is standard practice to post FRFS positions in all twelve Districts to provide transparency and equitable opportunities for all FRS employees to apply. Internal candidate(s) selected for this position will remain employed by their current employing District and serve as an employee of FRFS. The selected candidate’s new job title and associated pay range will be determined by the employing District and will continue to be subject to the employing District’s people policies and practices (i.e., remote/hybrid work posture, etc.).

Full Time / Part TimeFull time

Regular / TemporaryRegular

Job Exempt (Yes / No)Yes

Job CategoryOperations

Work ShiftFirst (United States of America)

The Federal Reserve Banks believe that diversity and inclusion among our employees is critical to our success as an organization, and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. The Federal Reserve Banks are committed to equal employment opportunity for employees and job applicants in compliance with applicable law and to an environment where employees are valued for their differences.

Always verify and apply to jobs on Federal Reserve System Careers (https://rb.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/FRS) or through verified Federal Reserve Bank social media channels.

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