Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works, in Butler, Pennsylvania, is hiring one Process Control Engineer. It is a permanent direct hire — not a contract — starting September 30, 2026 or sooner, days, eight hours a day, five days a week. The work is Allen-Bradley and Siemens, SCADA and trending systems, DC drives and large DC motors, and the modernisation of legacy applications the plant still runs on. Salary is based on experience and education, with full benefits, a 401k, bonus, tuition assistance and relocation available.
Why this particular plant matters more than the job title suggests
Butler Works is the only mill in the United States that makes high-silicon grain-oriented electrical steel. That is the steel wound inside power transformers — the equipment that moves electricity from where it is generated to where it is used.
In July 2026 the Defense Logistics Agency signed a sole-source supply agreement with Cleveland-Cliffs for grain-oriented electrical steel, on the stated basis that Cleveland-Cliffs is the only US producer meeting the standards the country's power grid and military infrastructure require. A sole-source award is a procurement officer writing down, formally, that there is no alternative.
Set that against what is happening to transformer supply. As of the second quarter of 2025, lead times ran to 128 weeks for power transformers and 144 weeks for generator step-up transformers. Demand for generator step-up units is up 274% since 2019. More than 55% of US distribution transformers are already past 33 years old.
None of that is abstract when you are the engineer keeping the lines that make the steel running.
What the posting actually asks for, and what it quietly admits
The required experience is specific: DC drives — Powerflex, ABB, Sinamics or Reliance — and large DC motors. PLC programming in ControlLogix, TIA Portal or Automax. SCADA in FactoryTalk, Ignition or WinCC. Trending in iba. The ability to read electrical prints. A degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering or computer science, or equivalent experience — that last clause is worth noticing, because it widens the door considerably.
Then there is the line most postings would have left out. Among the responsibilities: contributing to enhancements, upgrades and modernisation of legacy applications such as Automax and Slateboard, and "various vintages of legacy equipment."
Anyone who has worked in a mill knows what that sentence is carrying.
Why a plant with a 2028 electrification project still runs 1980s control hardware
Cleveland-Cliffs has a major electrification project under way at Butler, replacing gas-fired reheat furnaces with induction furnaces, on schedule for 2028 and supported by a US Department of Energy cost share. So the plant is not standing still.
And it still runs legacy DC drives, because in a rolling mill that is an engineering decision rather than neglect. DC gives high starting torque at low speed and very precise speed regulation, and continuous lines were designed around those characteristics. Replacing a drive is rarely just replacing a drive; it is re-engineering the section around it, during an outage the plant has to pay for in lost production.
The cost of waiting is real too. In one documented steel mill modernisation, the client's own reason for finally replacing discontinued Reliance AutoMax hardware was blunt: "One out of every two spare parts that we keep on hand for repairs is defective." That programme moved 19 DC motors and drives plus 34 further AC and DC drives onto ControlLogix and PowerFlex, executed in two nine-day outages totalling 10,500 man-hours.
This is the actual shape of the job. Not a greenfield build, and not pure maintenance either — the posting says explicitly that it is "a balance of new development and production support responsibilities." You keep a running plant running while changing what it runs on.
The part people underestimate: the documentation
"Maintain and develop Control System and Electrical Documentation" reads like filler on a job description. In a plant carrying several vintages of legacy equipment it is the difference between a two-hour fault and a two-day one.
The wider industry problem is well described: process industries face simultaneous retirements, a widening knowledge gap as systems digitalise, and large numbers of unfilled positions — with hard-won experience disappearing process by process. An engineer who writes down why an interlock exists is doing succession planning, whether or not anyone calls it that.
The honest reading of the terms
No salary figure is published. The posting states that base salary depends on experience and education, and inventing a number here would be doing the reader a disservice. What is published: full benefits, Blue Cross Blue Shield health coverage, vision, dental, a 401k, a bonus, tuition assistance, vacation and floating holidays, and relocation available. Cleveland-Cliffs describes its own package as including competitive pay with variable compensation opportunity.
The posting also states that the role responds to troubleshooting calls on a 24/7 basis, and that a drug test and background check are required. Those are conditions worth weighing openly rather than discovering later. The role is fully on site — this is not a remote or hybrid position.
Why a permanent job is on a marketplace at all
Most of what gets posted on Automate America is contract work. This is not, and that is the interesting part.
Automate America is a free, fair and open marketplace: all of the work and all of the people in one place. It is free to post, free to apply and free to hire, with no placement fee at the end of it. A company posts at the pay it wants to offer, and nobody negotiates it down. Trusted professionals — with ratings, reviews and endorsements from work they have actually completed — apply directly, often within minutes.
A single posting reaches independent professionals and the available employees at more than a thousand service companies at once, which is a labour pool that does not appear on any job board, because those people already have jobs. And the marketing effort is ours: the opening gets written, designed, published and pushed across our channels, which is precisely what is happening to this one.
For a service company the board works both ways. In a slow month you apply your available employees to open contracts and keep them billable rather than idle — an idle Friday becomes a billable Monday. When you are growing, you post your own permanent openings here. Neither costs anything.
Who this is actually for
Someone who has kept legacy hardware alive and is not frightened of the word Automax. Someone who can hold Allen-Bradley and Siemens in the same head, read a print, and follow a fault into a DC drive without flinching. Someone who wants one plant, deeply, rather than a new site every eight weeks.
There is one position. It starts September 30, 2026, or sooner.
If you are hiring rather than applying
Posting is free, for a contract, a direct job or an RFQ. Post your own work ? You can also search the marketplace and request a specific professional directly rather than waiting to be found, browse the direct jobs currently open, or register in a minute with your name, email and phone number.
Sharpening the skills this posting names: Rockwell Automation training for the Allen-Bradley and ControlLogix side, Siemens SITRAIN for TIA Portal and WinCC, and ISA certification for process and batch control fundamentals including PID.
FAQ
Is this a contract or a permanent job?
It is a permanent direct hire — a staff position at Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works, with full benefits, not an hourly contract. There is no end date and no duration.
What does it pay?
No salary figure is published. The posting states that base salary depends on experience and education. The published benefits are full health coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield, vision, dental, a 401k, a bonus, tuition assistance, vacation and floating holidays, and relocation available.
What experience is actually required?
DC drives (Powerflex, ABB, Sinamics or Reliance) and large DC motors; PLC programming in ControlLogix, TIA Portal or Automax; SCADA in FactoryTalk, Ignition or WinCC; trending in iba; and the ability to read electrical prints. A bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering or computer science — or equivalent experience.
Where is it, and can it be done remotely?
Butler, Pennsylvania, and no. The role is fully on site supporting steel manufacturing operations, days, eight hours a day, five days a week. Relocation is available.
Tony Wallace, Co-Founder · Automate America · Text/Call 586-770-8083 · info@automateamerica.com
