Sr Staff OT Systems/Controls Engineer (Onsite - Acton, MA)

Job Summary

The Sr. Staff OT Systems Engineer will provide technical leadership for the design, implementation, integration, and lifecycle support of Operational Technology systems used in automated manufacturing. This role requires a strong foundation in traditional industrial controls, including PLCs, HMIs, industrial communications, and automated equipment, combined with practical experience supporting distributed OT systems and the infrastructure on which they depend. The team and this role has responsibilities globally including in USA, Malaysia and Costa Rica.

The engineer will work across machine controls, plant-floor systems, industrial networks, servers, databases, data platforms, and manufacturing applications. The role will serve as a technical bridge among Controls Engineering, Manufacturing, IT, Cybersecurity, Quality, equipment suppliers, and system integrators.

The successful candidate will be a hands-on OT engineer who can understand equipment behavior at the PLC and control-system level while also troubleshooting and improving the broader systems that connect, monitor, secure, and support manufacturing operations (databases, supervisory systems, industrial automation software, etc.). The engineer will lead cross-functional projects, establish technical standards, support global manufacturing initiatives, and help deliver OT solutions that are reliable, scalable, secure, maintainable, documented, and appropriately validated.

The Acton MA site is a global business headquarters and product-development site where commercial and business functions, manufacturing, and technical disciplines are co-located. This environment offers broad opportunities to build experience across functions and technologies.

• Provide technical leadership for the design, integration, implementation, and lifecycle support of manufacturing OT systems, including HMI and SCADA platforms, industrial networks, data-collection and application servers, databases, and interfaces between manufacturing equipment and plant or enterprise applications.

• Integrate manufacturing equipment into the broader OT environment. Apply working knowledge of PLCs, equipment controls, industrial communications, and machine-level data to define interface requirements and coordinate with controls engineers, equipment suppliers, and system integrators

• Develop and maintain OT system architectures, network diagrams, data-flow diagrams, interface definitions, functional specifications, user requirements, design standards, and supporting engineering documentation.

• Establish standardized and reusable interfaces between manufacturing equipment and higher-level systems, including historians, MES, databases, and other manufacturing applications.

• Design and support industrial data architectures and integrations using technologies such as OPC UA, MQTT, SQL databases, historians, APIs, and managed file transfer.

• Collaborate with IT and Cybersecurity teams to design and support OT networks and infrastructure, including segmentation, switching, routing, firewalls, remote access, servers, virtualization, identity management, backup, patching, monitoring, and recovery.

• Diagnose complex issues spanning equipment controls, communications, infrastructure, software, data flows, and manufacturing applications. Coordinate resolution across Controls Engineering, IT, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing, Quality, suppliers, and system integrators.

• Support the installation, integration, commissioning, qualification, startup, and operational turnover of manufacturing equipment and OT systems, with emphasis on connectivity, data integration, infrastructure readiness, and long-term supportability.

• Establish and support configuration management, version control, backup, disaster recovery, and change-management practices for OT systems. Coordinate with controls engineers on corresponding practices for equipment-level applications.

• Partner with Quality and Validation teams to apply appropriate lifecycle controls for regulated manufacturing systems, including GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, Computer System Validation, Computer Software Assurance, and risk-based change control.

• Lead technology evaluations, proof-of-concept activities, standards development, and continuous-improvement initiatives that improve the consistency, interoperability, reliability, and maintainability of OT systems across global manufacturing sites.

• Provide technical guidance to engineering, maintenance, and other OT stakeholders, and contribute to OT technology roadmaps, platform strategies, lifecycle planning, and obsolescence management.

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.

• Ten or more years of experience in industrial automation, controls engineering, OT systems, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.

• Significant hands-on experience developing, commissioning, maintaining, or troubleshooting automation and OT systems in a manufacturing or industrial environment.

• Experience with industrial automation software, communication gateways, data ops, and distributed software architectures.

• Working knowledge of PLC-based equipment controls, HMI and SCADA systems, industrial communications, and machine-level data. The role does not require extensive PLC or motion-control programming, but the candidate must be able to understand equipment behavior and collaborate effectively with controls engineers and equipment suppliers.

• Experience connecting manufacturing equipment to plant-level or enterprise-level systems such as SCADA, historians, MES, databases, or industrial data platforms.

• Experience supporting distributed OT applications, communication gateways, industrial data flows, or other software-based systems that collect, contextualize, transport, or consume manufacturing data.

• Working knowledge of industrial Ethernet networks, managed switches, VLANs, TCP/IP, firewalls, and common industrial communication protocols.

• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex issues across equipment controls, communications, networking, software, infrastructure, data flows, and manufacturing applications.

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional technical initiatives and work effectively with Controls Engineering, Manufacturing, IT, Cybersecurity, Quality, equipment suppliers, engineering firms, and system integrators.

• Strong project leadership, organizational, technical-writing, and stakeholder-communication skills.

• Ability to translate technical requirements across controls, OT infrastructure, cybersecurity, manufacturing, quality, and external supplier teams.

• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and provide technical direction when systems and responsibilities cross organizational boundaries.

Preferred Skills and Competencies:

• Experience with industrial PLC, HMI, and SCADA platforms, preferably Rockwell Automation platforms such as Studio 5000 / Logix and FactoryTalk View ME

• Experience with industrial communication gateways, edge-computing platforms, MQTT infrastructure, or Industrial DataOps platforms such as Litmus, HighByte, HiveMQ, or comparable technologies.

• Strong understanding of industrial protocols and technologies such as EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, OPC UA, MQTT

• Experience with industrial data modeling, ISA-95 concepts, Unified Namespace architecture, historians, SQL databases, and manufacturing data integration.

• Working knowledge of Windows Server, Active Directory, virtualization, DNS, certificates, service accounts, storage, backup systems, and other infrastructure supporting OT applications.

• Experience with industrial network architecture, managed industrial switches, VLAN segmentation, firewalls, secure remote access, and OT demilitarized-zone architectures.

• Experience with scripting or programming languages such as Python, PowerShell, SQL, Visual Basic, or similar technologies used for system integration, testing, administration, or data analysis.

• Experience with version-control, asset-management, or centralized backup platforms for industrial automation systems.

• Experience in medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or another regulated manufacturing environment.

• Knowledge of GxP practices, 21 CFR Part 11, Computer System Validation, Computer Software Assurance, data integrity, and risk-based change control.

• Strong project leadership, organizational, technical-writing, and stakeholder-communication skills.

• Ability to translate technical requirements among controls engineers, IT infrastructure teams, cybersecurity professionals, manufacturing stakeholders, quality representatives, and external suppliers.

• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and provide technical direction when system ownership or responsibilities cross organizational boundaries.

• The successful candidate will be expected to travel domestically and internationally to support manufacturing sites, suppliers, system integrators, installations, commissioning, and project activities. Anticipated travel is approximately 10% to 20%.

NOTE: This position requires on-site working (requires on-site office/plant/lab work). #LI-Onsite

Additional Information: