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

Job Summary The Sr. Staff OT Systems Engineer is a senior technical leadership role responsible for designing, implementing, integrating, and supporting Operational Technology (OT) systems that enable automated manufacturing across global sites in the U.S., Malaysia, and Costa Rica. This position serves as the key link between manufacturing equipment, controls systems, industrial networks, data platforms, IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and quality teams, ensuring reliable, secure, and scalable manufacturing operations. The role involves leading OT architecture and integration projects, connecting PLC-controlled equipment with SCADA, MES, databases, and enterprise systems, troubleshooting complex technical issues, establishing global standards, and supporting equipment commissioning, validation, and lifecycle management in a regulated environment. Candidates should have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field, 10+ years of experience in industrial automation, controls engineering, or OT systems, and hands-on expertise with manufacturing equipment, PLCs, industrial networks, data integration, and software-based OT platforms. Strong project leadership, cross-functional collaboration, technical documentation, and problem-solving skills are required, while experience with Rockwell Automation platforms, industrial data technologies, cybersecurity, scripting, and regulated industries such as medical devices or pharmaceuticals is highly preferred.

 Position Overview: 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. Responsibilities: • 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. Minimum Requirements: • 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, networkin