Embedded Software Engineer (Control & Automation)

• This role is a full-time 12 month FTC, (with the ability to be made permanent.)
• UK candidates preferred, (We cannot provide relocation or visa assistance for this position.)
• Office location is Worcester, UK

About us at Komatsu:
Komatsu Mining is a world-leading manufacturer of mining equipment for the coal industry. It has multiple design sites in the UK and USA. An Embedded Software Engineer is required to join the team based at the company’s UK office in Worcester, designing, implementing and configuring systems & software for the roof support and conveyor control systems.

The Role:
This is an ideal opportunity for an embedded software engineer to build upon existing skills and gain experience working with low level software/hardware, systems specification and development, SIL compliant software, application software and user-interface software. This is a varied role encompassing systems development, systems deployment in harsh environments, software specification, software design, software verification & validation and software development.
The C&A (Control & Automation) department utilises an Agile development methodology, with tasks assigned for completion within 4-week sprints. There are numerous exciting new developments in the pipeline where the successful candidate willbe able to gain significant experience and make a major impact.

The skill set and technology areas our engineers are involved includes:

• Real-time embedded software

• Real time operating systems

• Low-level device drivers

• Java programming for our user interface

• SQL Databases

• Virtual Machines

• Simulation

• 3D Visualisation

• TCP/IP

• Communications

• Data Archiving

• RFID

• WiFi

• Requirements Engineering

Roof Support Control System
The roof support control system has in recent years seen the introduction of many new and innovative features and technologies. The kernel provides low-level hardware interface code interfaced to a custom operating system upon which mining object-oriented application software is developed in house on an ARM7 processor platform. To support the complexities of the system simulators and test tools, written in Visual C++, C#, ARM7 C, and Access Databases are needed to simulate mining and communication systems. The roof support control system also uses a TCP/IP gateway and WiFi technologies to connect the embedded system to network enabled resources, including sophisticated HMI systems developed in Java (Eclipse), Camera systems, RFID tracking systems and to the internet for data capture and analysis.

Conveyor Control System
The AFC control system software is written in C/C++, Ladder Logic (RSLogix), simulation tools and
databases written in house to test the systems. The front end to this control system is currently
developed in the US using CITECT/SCADA. This product is due to undergo a major redesign within the
next year with the intention being to utilise the Roof Support Control hardware platform and Kernel.

Experience needed in some of the following:

• 
  2-5 years of recent commercial programming experience in: -
  
  • C and/or C++ with exposure to the low-level control of electronic circuits, industrial machinery or computer systems
  • Awareness of multitasking operating systems, such as Nucleus and/or VxWorks
  • Familiarity with ARM, x86, 8051, PIC and 68000 microprocessors

• Use of in circuit emulators, oscilloscopes or logic analysers
• Control and automation systems
• Comprehension of distributed systems and the impact of change
• The ability to recognise and create solutions for physical problems
• The ability to work under pressure and to deadlines
• The ability to work on and handle several tasks concurrently
• Engineering curiosity

How we work:

• Use of agile methodology and DevOps
• Our product is a safety critical system, so we operate using the following: -

• a defined documentation and test procedure

• adherence to software coding methods and quality standards

• releasing using version control tools such as PVCS and/or Git

Working Model:

For the initial period of approximately 5 months, the engineer will be expected to be office based, in Worcester. This is due to the hardware being located in the laboratories and the need to gain hands-on experience with this hardware. Once the initial period is completed, the working model moves to a flexible working arrangement.
There is an expectation of office-based working when it is required to perform testing and home working when no hardware testing / interaction is required. This is task dependent and role dependent. The role may also require an engineer to travel to our customers sites, that are based in the U.S., China, and Australia.

Pay & Benefits:

The pay for an embedded software engineer starts at £45k with a ceiling of £55k per annum.

• Annual salary review
• 25 days holiday per year + statutory
• Christmas Shutdown
• Paid overtime
• Salary sacrificed pension plan. Employee’s level of contribution is between 3% and 5% of pensionable salary, with a double matching contribution made by the Company
• Notice period of 1 month