IT Engineer

Foundational Industries; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Foundational Industries is building a network of AI-native, autonomous factories in the Bay Area. We seek a hands-on IT/OT Systems Administrator to keep the shop floor IT systems running, manage the network, edge devices, and data flows from equipment.

You will ensure uptime, data integrity, and security while integrating modern protocols and on-floor automation. You will collaborate with operations, software, and hardware teams to deploy scalable, standards-based solutions across multiple

Qualifications

• Hands-on industrial networking experience across factory floors.
• Experience with edge compute, gateways, and local servers.
• Proficient in MTConnect, OPC-UA, Modbus protocols.
• Systems administration including authentication, backup, and restore validation.
• Programming experience in .NET, Python, SQL with VS tooling.

Skills

Industrial Networking

Edge Compute

MTConnect

OPC-UA

Modbus

Systems Administration

C# / .NET

Python

SQL

VS Tools

Tools

Windows Server

Linux

SQL Server

Visual Studio

Job description

Foundational Industries · Bay Area · Full-Time

About Foundational

Foundational is building a network of AI-native, autonomous factories for modern contract manufacturing — reshoring critical supply chains so companies can produce high-quality products domestically, quickly, and at competitive cost. Recent breakthroughs in robotics and physical AI have shifted autonomous manufacturing from theoretical to deployable, and we’re focused on operationalizing these capabilities at scale during a decisive decade for American industrial leadership.

WHO — Who Thrives Here

At Foundational, we’re building with people who want to own something — to do work that matters, in an environment where what you ship is what counts.

The people who thrive here:

• Take ownership before they’re asked. They see the gap and close it.

• Operate with a high degree of judgment. We move fast, and good judgment travels farther than a playbook.

• Communicate directly — concise, clear, and candid, especially when stakes are high.

• Hold a high bar for themselves first, then for everyone around them.

• Are genuinely energized by hard problems in physical, real‑world environments. Energized — not just interested.

• Stay effective when things are ambiguous, changing, or under pressure. That’s the job.

This is a place for people who want to build something that has never existed before and leave a clear mark on it.

MISSION

This person keeps the factory floor’s IT systems running — the shop‑floor network, connectivity, the local systems, and the flow of data from equipment into the systems that depend on it.

OUTCOMES — What Success Looks Like in 6–12 Months

• The site’s network, edge compute, and physical IT infrastructure installed and kept operational — cabling, switches, server room, power, cooling, UPS, and local network services (DNS/DHCP/NTP).

• Connectivity deployed across the floor — industrial gateways and edge devices, protocol integration (MTConnect, OPC‑UA, or I/O for legacy equipment)

• Core systems (i.e. ERP, scheduling, traceability etc ) operated at target uptime, users provisioned, and shop floor support delivered so operators are never blocked

• Data integrity maintained at the source — connectivity monitored, clocks synchronized across equipment

• Security controls implemented locally and evidence collected — segmentation enforced, endpoints hardened and patched without downtime, anomalies isolated and escalated.

• New sites or production lines brought onto the standard platform in an orderly sequence

SKILLS

• Hands on and industrial networking plus endpoint fleet management (Windows and Linux) experience

• Working fluency in industrial protocols (i.e. MTConnect, OPC‑UA, Modbus etc)

• Systems administration: local servers, authentication, backup, and restore validation.

• Programming expertise (.NET environments, VS, Python, C#, SQL and related)

Security discipline on the floor — segmentation, hardening, and patching under production constraints

COMPETENCIES

These are the behavioral patterns that predict success here — in practice, under pressure.

• Accountability — You own outcomes. If something’s off track, you say so and fix it.

• Bias for action — You ship. You iterate. You move toward the hard thing.

• Clarity of communication — Direct and concise, especially when it counts.

• Learning agility — You get up to speed fast in unfamiliar territory.

• Resilience — You stay sharp when things are hard, ambiguous, or moving fast.

• High standards — You raise the bar rather than match it — and hold yourself to it first.

• Building from zero — You can stand up a quality system from scratch — documents, processes, certifications, the team — and run it yourself until there’s a team to hand it off to.

Why Foundational

This is a filter as much as it is an invitation.

We’re turning reindustrialization from a talking point into an operating reality. The work is hard, the environment is demanding, and the stakes are real. We compensate with base, bonus, and equity to reflect impact, responsibility, and results, with meaningful upside for the people who help build and scale this company.

For those aligned with the mission and motivated by execution at scale, Foundational offers the opportunity to help define one of the most consequential industrial transformations of the next decade.

Foundational Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Foundational complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We evaluate every candidate on what they can do and who they are.