Automation lead

Taigatech AB; Göteborgs kommun; On-site; SEK 700,000 - 950,000; Full time

Job summary

Taigatech AB in Gothenburg seeks an experienced automation leader to define the machine-side interface to customer PLCs, specify signals, timing and safety, and document the functional description the build relies on. You will coordinate with automation partners, decide when to implement changes, and drive on-site commissioning while keeping delivery on track.

You will work closely with ML and vision engineers to translate process needs into model outputs, and you will build repeatable

Qualifications

• Experience programming PLCs in live production on major platforms.
• Hands-on experience with industrial networks (Profinet, Profibus, EtherCAT, Modbus TCP, OPC UA).
• Experience retrofitting control systems onto running equipment.
• Experience writing functional descriptions used by others.
• On-site commissioning experience with production running.
• Strong leadership: drive projects, accountability and timely decisions.
• Fluent Swedish and English; willingness to travel to sites.

Responsibilities

• Own the machine-side interface and write the functional description for the build.
• Lead automation partners; review work and decide what to implement.
• Propose and drive technical changes to customer plants and fieldbus choices.
• Be the main customer contact: scope, timeline, status, time and cost reporting.
• Facilitate OT network access, change control, and IT/automation dialogue.
• Collaborate with ML and vision engineers to translate process needs.
• Create repeatable interfaces, commissioning checklists, and partner networks.

Skills

PLC programming

Industrial networks

Functional descriptions

On-site commissioning

Project leadership

Swedish & English

Tools

Siemens TIA/S7

Beckhoff

ABB / Mitsubishi / Codesys

Profinet

Profibus

EtherCAT

Modbus TCP

OPC UA

Job description

About Taigatech

We solve some of the most important problems in industry with AI and computer vision. With our connection to the latest research and academia, we take world-leading research in AI and computer vision and turn it into impactful solutions that help the wood industry increase yield, availability, and productivity.

About Taigatech

We solve some of the most important problems in industry with AI and computer vision. With our connection to the latest research and academia, we take world-leading research in AI and computer vision and turn it into impactful solutions that help the wood industry increase yield, availability, and productivity.

Technology is reshaping our world. We believe the forest and wood products have an important role to play in a sustainable future, and AI is how the industry gets there.

We are a growing team in a comfortable office in central Gothenburg, working closely with many of the leading names in wood processing. Our systems run in production at sawmills and pulp mills in Sweden and abroad. There's no better time to join our journey than now.

Why this role exists

Our systems create value the moment their output reaches the customer's control system — a correction, a signal, something the line can act on.

What determines the results are a handful of decisions made early and made well: which signal, where it lands, what the line does with it, and how it behaves when something unexpected happens. Get those right and the implementation is small and quick.

Today that judgement is distributed between our own team and the automation partners we work with on each installation. We want someone to decide what the interface should look like, judge whether it came out right, decide when a sensor or other component needs replacing, and if the signal belongs on a different fieldbus.

That's the person we're hiring. You don't replace our automation partners. You become the one who leads them.

What You'll Do

The role is both technical and leadership, and the balance shifts from project to project.

• Own the machine-side interface. You decide how our system talks to the customer's PLC. Signals, timing, handshakes, watchdog, fail-safe behaviour. You write the functional description the work is built from.
• Lead our automation partners. Sometimes that means writing the code snippet yourself. Sometimes it means explaining what needs doing and reviewing that it came out right. You decide which.
• Make the technical decisions on the customer's plant. Upgrading a component for better results, or moving to a different fieldbus, is yours to propose and drive. The implementation itself normally goes to a partner.
• Be the customer's main contact through the project — scope, timeline, status, time and cost reporting. You take over from sales and carry the delivery home.
• Clear the path. OT network access, change control, and the dialogue with the site's automation and IT departments, so the installation can be done quickly and safely.
• Work closely with our ML and vision engineers. Translate what the process needs into what the model has to output, and the model's limits back into what we can promise.
• Make it repeatable. A reusable interface specification, a commissioning checklist, and a growing network of automation partners to deliver alongside.

Who You Are

You need experience, but we don't care how many years you have behind you. We care about what you've done.

• You have programmed PLCs in live production, on at least one major platform — Siemens TIA/S7, Beckhoff, ABB, Mitsubishi, Codesys or equivalent
• You have hands‑on experience of industrial networks: Profinet, Profibus, EtherCAT, Modbus TCP, OPC UA or equivalent.
• You have extended control systems you did not write with retrofits onto existing, running equipment
• You have written functional descriptions that someone else built from
• You have stood on site during commissioning, with production running and someone waiting
• Drives the project forward by keeping people accountable, asking the right questions, and pushing decisions when it matters — even when that means a difficult conversation.
• Swedish and English, and you sometimes travel to sites

Bonus

• Sawmill, pulp and paper, or other heavy process industry
• Vision systems, sensors or measurement equipment
• Experience on the supplier side, responsible for subcontractors
• Machinery directive and risk assessment on modified lines
• Python and basic data analysis

What We Offer

You'll be our first dedicated automation hire. You set the delivery process, and it becomes the standard we scale on. As delivery volume grows, the function gets built around you.

You'll work directly with the founders, with our ML engineers and with the mills themselves. Permanent position in Gothenburg.

We review applications on a rolling basis.