Technical Specialist – Digital Product IT & Automation

About the Position

We are seeking a Technical Specialist – Digital Product IT & Automation to provide hands‑on technical support for digital product deployments and customer projects across the Nutrition Plant Engineering (NPE) division in APAC.

The role will require approximately 30–40% travel across the APAC region to support customer sites, project delivery and deployments.

This role focuses on deployment/site readiness and integration – covering IT/OT connectivity, secure remote access (including VPN setup), and PLC/data logging readiness across Digital Product families (including OptiPartner for APC, Codex and Insight Partner solutions) and related IT/OT setup.

Working closely with project teams and customer automation/IT counterparts, you will confirm scope, ensure prerequisites are completed 2–6 weeks before data logging, and troubleshoot site integration issues to prevent logging/commissioning delays.

You will also provide technical input into digital product pre‑sales discussions – clarifying IT/automation scope and removing technical barriers – while remaining a purely technical role (no commercial ownership). The ideal candidate brings strong OT/IT integration capability, customer‑facing technical communication skills, and a disciplined approach to documentation and cybersecurity.

Key Responsibilities

IT/OT Connectivity & Site Readiness

• Assess and support site connectivity requirements (network architecture, ports/protocols, remote access, VPN).
• Configure and validate secure VPN access in line with internal and customer cybersecurity requirements.
• Coordinate approvals, access and test windows with internal and customer stakeholders.
• Confirm data sources and connectivity for PLC/SCADA/DCS interfaces required for APC/digital applications.
• Maintain standard checklists, technical documentation, and site readiness reports.

APC Project Readiness (PLC & Data Logging)

You will lead technical pre‑work 2–6 weeks before data logging, ensuring readiness milestones are met and integration issues are resolved early.

• Own the readiness checklist and the gate for ‘ready to log’.
• Coordinate PLC tasks: signals/tags, scaling, time sync, historian/logging setup and basic validation.
• Validate data quality and resolve integration issues with customer automation teams; support initial commissioning and troubleshooting with clear technical records.

Deployment Support & Operational Readiness

• Support functional testing, UAT, commissioning, and site rollouts to ensure smooth deployments.
• Ensure technical operational readiness (documentation, monitoring, cybersecurity and data logging prerequisites) and capture lessons learned to improve templates/playbooks.

Technical Sales Support

• Provide technical input for pre‑sales, clarifying IT/automation scope and integration requirements (no ownership of commercials, pricing or contract negotiation).
• Support customer workshops to define IT/automation scope, assumptions and responsibilities.
• Highlight technical risks early and propose mitigations; contribute to proposals/SOWs regarding technical scope, assumptions and risks.
• Work closely with project delivery, service, internal IT/security and customer automation/IT teams to remove technical barriers and keep deployments on track.

Candidate Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Automation Engineering, Instrumentation, Mechatronics, Computer Science, Information Systems (or equivalent practical experience).
• 3+ years’ experience in industrial automation, OT/IT integration, or digital/controls project delivery (e.g., APC, analytics, SCADA/PLC integration).
• Hands‑on experience with PLCs, industrial networks and data acquisition (tag lists, scaling, sampling, time synchronisation).
• Experience setting up and troubleshooting secure connectivity (VPN, firewalls, remote access) in collaboration with IT/security teams; comfortable working within cybersecurity and change control constraints.
• Strong troubleshooting capability across OT/IT layers (network, VPN, PLC connectivity, historian interfaces) and ability to manage technical issues under time pressure while following safety requirements.
• Excellent English (written and verbal) with strong customer‑facing technical communication and documentation discipline (clear as‑built notes, checklists, and handover packs).