Principle Engineer

About the Role

Stanley Black & Decker is seeking a Control Systems Expert to play a key role in the development of next-generation cordless power tools and outdoor products. This role sits within our Engineering organization and will contribute directly to the design, optimization, and protection of high-performance electromechanical products powered by our proprietary battery platforms, including 20V, 40V and 60V systems .

As our products become more powerful and complex, such as cordless concrete saws, grinders, drills, saws, and other high-load applications, the demand on the control system becomes increasingly critical. These tools must deliver high power, high torque, high speed, long runtime, and robust reliability under challenging real-world operating conditions.

The Control Systems Expert will be responsible for developing advanced control strategies that enable strong product performance while protecting key components such as motors, power electronics, batteries, and mechanical systems. This individual will help prevent issues such as unexpected current peaks, motor overheating, instability, poor transient response, and performance degradation across different applications and operating environments.

This is a highly impactful technical role for someone with deep expertise in control theory, control system design, motor control, embedded control, and system-level problem solving .

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and optimization of control systems for cordless power tools and related electromechanical products.

• Develop control strategies to achieve demanding performance targets, including high power output, high torque response, high rotational speed, long runtime, thermal robustness, and system protection.

• Apply advanced control theory to design stable, efficient, and reliable control algorithms for motor-driven products.

• Analyze product requirements and translate them into control system architecture, control logic, and performance specifications.

• Develop models of motors, batteries, power electronics, mechanical loads, and overall system dynamics to support control design and validation.

• Identify potential system-level failure modes early in development, such as current spikes, motor stall, overheating, overspeed, torque instability, voltage sag, or battery protection events.

• Design control solutions to prevent component damage and ensure safe, reliable tool operation under extreme use cases.

• Work closely with motor, electronics, firmware, battery, mechanical, simulation, testing, and product engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle.

• Support the development of control algorithms for BLDC motors, power electronics, battery-powered systems, and high-load transient applications.

• Conduct root cause analysis for performance issues and develop effective corrective actions.

• Define and execute control system validation plans, including simulation, bench testing, prototype testing, and real-world application testing.

• Tune control parameters to balance performance, efficiency, thermal limits, durability, and user experience.

• Review and improve existing control architectures, algorithms, and development processes.

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams on control system fundamentals and best practices.

• Document control designs, assumptions, test results, failure analysis, and technical recommendations clearly and thoroughly.

• Conducting cutting-edge research for control systems in power tools, and transforming successful control outcomes into reusable design standards and technical platforms.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree or above in Control Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Automation, Robotics, Power Electronics , or a related engineering discipline. (PhD preferred)

• Strong knowledge of control theory , including stability analysis, feedback control, dynamic systems, transient response, frequency-domain analysis, and controller tuning.

• Proven experience designing and implementing control systems for electromechanical products.

• Experience with motor control systems, especially for BLDC, PMSM, or other high-performance electric motors .

• Solid understanding of current, voltage, torque, speed, thermal, and power limitations in motor-driven systems.

• Ability to model and analyze complex dynamic systems involving motors, batteries, power electronics, mechanical loads, and user-driven operating conditions.

• Experience identifying potential failure modes and designing control strategies to prevent component damage or unsafe operation.

• Strong problem-solving capability, especially in diagnosing complex system-level issues.

• Experience with simulation and modeling tools such as MATLAB/Simulink , PLECS, PSIM, LTspice, or equivalent.

• Ability to work cross-functionally with firmware, electronics, motor, battery, mechanical, test, and product teams.

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex control concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in Control Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field.

• Experience in cordless power tools, outdoor power equipment, automotive, robotics, industrial automation, appliances, or other battery-powered products.

• Hands-on experience with high-power battery-operated systems, especially 20V, 40V, 60V, or similar platforms.

• Experience with field-oriented control, sensorless motor control, torque control, speed control, current control, regenerative braking, or power limiting strategies.

• Knowledge of lithium-ion battery behavior, battery management systems, voltage sag, thermal protection, and pack-level power limitations.

• Experience with embedded control implementation in C/C++ or model-based design workflows.

• Familiarity with microcontrollers, inverters, gate drivers, current sensing, voltage sensing, thermal sensing, and power electronics hardware.

• Experience with safety, reliability, robustness, DFMEA, fault detection, and protection logic.

• Experience taking products from concept through design, validation, launch, and post-launch support.

• Familiarity with real-world application testing for high-load tools such as saws, grinders, drills, hammers, or cutters.

Key Technical Competencies

The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong capability in the following areas:

• Classical and modern control theory

• Feedback control system design

• Stability and robustness analysis

• Motor control algorithm development

• Dynamic system modeling and simulation

• Current, torque, speed, and power control

• Battery-powered system optimization

• Fault detection and protection strategy

• Thermal and power derating control

• Root cause analysis and failure prevention

• Embedded control implementation

• Cross-functional engineering collaboration

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means developing control systems that allow our products to deliver market-leading performance while remaining safe, reliable, and durable.

The successful candidate will be able to:

• Design control systems that maximize power, torque, speed, and runtime.

• Prevent damaging current peaks and other abnormal operating conditions.

• Improve product robustness across a wide range of applications and user behaviors.

• Predict and mitigate failure risks before they occur in the field.

• Solve complex performance and reliability issues through strong analytical thinking.

• Help Stanley Black & Decker deliver innovative cordless products that meet demanding customer expectations.

Ideal Candidate Profile

We are looking for a hands-on technical expert who combines deep theoretical knowledge with practical engineering judgment. The ideal candidate is not only comfortable deriving and analyzing control models, but also capabl