Manager of Operational Technology

Artesian Water Company; Newark (DE); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Artesian Water Company seeks a senior Operational Technology leader to own the strategy, reliability, security, and lifecycle management of OT systems across our water facilities. You will direct plant-based automation, SCADA, PLCs, HMIs, RTUs, and related hardware/software, partnering with Operations, Engineering, IT, Cybersecurity, and external partners.

You will set standards, lead modernization efforts, ensure system availability, and balance security with performance while guiding a team of

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Industrial Automation, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in Operational Technology, industrial automation, SCADA, process control, or similar critical infrastructure systems.
• Minimum of three years of supervisory, management, or significant technical/project leadership experience.
• Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Demonstrated experience with SCADA, PLC, HMI, RTU, instrumentation, OT data collection/reporting, and industrial communications.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex technical projects, system upgrades, or modernization initiatives.
• Experience managing technical staff, vendors, consultants, system integrators, budgets, and competing operational priorities.
• Knowledge of OT cybersecurity principles, including segmentation, access control, vulnerability management, system hardening, and incident response.
• Knowledge of system reliability, redundancy, backup/recovery, lifecycle management, change management, and configuration management.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, research, problem-solving, and technical decision-making skills.
• Strong project, budget, vendor, and contract management skills.
• Effective verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to develop plans and courses of action from complex alternatives.
• Ability to provide leadership and escalation support during significant OT incidents, including outside normal business hours when necessary.

Responsibilities

• Lead OT strategy, architecture, standards, policies, procedures, and multi-year technology roadmap.
• Establish priorities for modernization, lifecycle replacement, reliability, cybersecurity, standardization, and support of OT systems.
• Develop performance measures and reporting for system availability, incidents, preventive maintenance, lifecycle status, cybersecurity risk, projects, and other key OT activities.
• Develop and manage OT operating budgets and provide input to capital budgets and multi-year capital improvement plans.
• Provide management oversight for SCADA, PLCs, HMIs, RTUs, data collection/transmission, instrumentation interfaces, industrial networks, communications systems, OT related software, and related systems.
• Ensure OT systems are properly maintained, monitored, documented, backed up, and supported.
• Establish and enforce standards for control-system architecture, PLC and HMI configuration, alarms, communications, programming practices, documentation, and system implementation.
• Coordinate maintenance, upgrades, and changes to production systems to minimize operational risk and disruption.
• Coordinate, facilitate, and oversee troubleshooting and change/enhancement requests,
• Ensure appropriate testing, validation, documentation, and operational acceptance of environment changes
• Lead Projects, Change Management, and Vendor Oversight
• Provide OT leadership for capital projects, facility improvements, automation upgrades, and other initiatives involving operational technology.
• Review system designs, scopes, estimates, technical specifications, budgets, schedules, and vendor deliverables for compliance with Company OT, cybersecurity, operational, and support standards.
• Establish and enforce change-management and configuration-management processes to ensure production changes are properly reviewed, tested, approved, documented, scheduled, and communicated.
• Coordinate with and oversee system integrators, engineering firms, controls contractors, telecommunications providers, equipment manufacturers, and technology vendors; ensure Company standards and documentation requirements are adhered to.
• Partner with Operations and Engineering
• Maintain effective relationships within the company, including water and wastewater Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, IT, Cybersecurity, and field personnel to understand requirements and priorities.
• Coordinate planned system maintenance and changes to minimize disruption to critical water and wastewater services.
• Support the design, implementation, commissioning, and modernization of facilities, equipment, processes, and automation systems.
• Evaluate new technologies and recommend improvements that enhance reliability, security, functionality, operational efficiency, and supportability.
• Lead Personnel and Manage Organizational Risk
• Lead and develop OT employees and contracted resources; establish priorities, performance expectations, cross-training, succession planning, and appropriate technical coverage.
• Ensure workloads are effectively prioritized among incident response, preventive maintenance, projects, cybersecurity activities, and lifecycle initiatives.
• Maintain appropriate vendor support agreements and internal capabilities to ensure appropriate level of support for projects, department initiatives, and staffing needs.
• Ensure proper records and technical documentation are created, maintained, recoverable, and available to support operations, audits, incident response, and business continuity.
• Ensure compliance with water/wastewater-sector-related OT guidance and regulatory requirements

Skills

SCADA

PLC

HMI

RTU

OT cybersecurity

Vendor management

Project leadership

Budget management

Change management

Industrial networks

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/CS/IT/Industrial Automation/Electrical Engineering

Tools

OT data collection software

Industrial networking tech

Job description

This position is responsible for the strategy, reliability, security, support, and lifecycle management of Operational Technology (OT) systems used to operate the Company’s water and wastewater facilities and infrastructure. The position leads the Company’s plant-based automation and process-control functions, including SCADA, PLCs, HMIs, RTUs and the hardware/software supporting the OT environment. The position works closely with Operations, Engineering, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and external partners to ensure OT systems are secure, reliable, standardized, supportable, and aligned with Company objectives.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Plan and Develop Operational Technology Strategy

• Develop and maintain the Company’s OT strategy, architecture, standards, policies, procedures, and multi-year technology roadmap.
• Establish priorities for modernization, lifecycle replacement, reliability, cybersecurity, standardization, and support of OT systems.
• Develop performance measures and reporting for system availability, incidents, preventive maintenance, lifecycle status, cybersecurity risk, projects, and other key OT activities.
• Develop and manage OT operating budgets and provide input to capital budgets and multi-year capital improvement plans.

Manage SCADA, Automation, and Control Systems

• Provide management oversight for SCADA, PLCs, HMIs, RTUs, data collection/transmission, instrumentation interfaces, industrial networks, communications systems, OT related software, and related systems.
• Ensure OT systems are properly maintained, monitored, documented, backed up, and supported.
• Establish and enforce standards for control-system architecture, PLC and HMI configuration, alarms, communications, programming practices, documentation, and system implementation.
• Coordinate maintenance, upgrades, and changes to production systems to minimize operational risk and disruption.
• Coordinate, facilitate, and oversee troubleshooting and change/enhancement requests,
• Ensure appropriate testing, validation, documentation, and operational acceptance of environment changes

Assure Reliability, Security, and Lifecycle Management

• Ensure OT systems are designed and maintained for appropriate availability, redundancy, resiliency, recoverability, and supportability.
• Maintain accurate inventories and lifecycle plan for OT hardware, software, firmware, applications, communications infrastructure, configurations, and system dependencies.
• Maintain appropriate backups of critical programs, configurations, and applications and periodically validate restoration and recovery procedures.
• Partner with IT and Cybersecurity to implement and monitor appropriate controls for segmentation, remote and privileged access, authentication, monitoring, vendor access, vulnerability management, and incident response.
• Coordinate with Information Technology for patching, upgrades, vulnerability remediation, incident response, networking, and root-cause analysis while balancing security, vendor requirements, system availability, and operational impact.

Lead Projects, Change Management, and Vendor Oversight

• Provide OT leadership for capital projects, facility improvements, automation upgrades, and other initiatives involving operational technology.
• Review system designs, scopes, estimates, technical specifications, budgets, schedules, and vendor deliverables for compliance with Company OT, cybersecurity, operational, and support standards.
• Establish and enforce change-management and configuration-management processes to ensure production changes are properly reviewed, tested, approved, documented, scheduled, and communicated.
• Coordinate with and oversee system integrators, engineering firms, controls contractors, telecommunications providers, equipment manufacturers, and technology vendors; ensure Company standards and documentation requirements are adhered to.

Partner with Operations and Engineering

• Maintain effective relationships within the company, including water and wastewater Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, IT, Cybersecurity, and field personnel to understand requirements and priorities.
• Coordinate planned system maintenance and changes to minimize disruption to critical water and wastewater services.
• Support the design, implementation, commissioning, and modernization of facilities, equipment, processes, and automation systems.
• Evaluate new technologies and recommend improvements that enhance reliability, security, functionality, operational efficiency, and supportability.

Lead Personnel and Manage Organizational Risk

• Lead and develop OT employees and contracted resources; establish priorities, performance expectations, cross-training, succession planning, and appropriate technical coverage.
• Ensure workloads are effectively prioritized among incident response, preventive maintenance, projects, cybersecurity activities, and lifecycle initiatives.
• Maintain appropriate vendor support agreements and internal capabilities to ensure appropriate level of support for projects, department initiatives, and staffing needs.
• Ensure proper records and technical documentation are created, maintained, recoverable, and available to support operations, audits, incident response, and business continuity.
• Ensure compliance with water/wastewater-sector-related OT guidance and regulatory requirements

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Industrial Automation, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline from an accredited college or university.
• Minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in Operational Technology, industrial automation, SCADA, process control, or similar critical infrastructure systems.
• Minimum of three years of supervisory, management, or significant technical/project leadership experience.
• Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Demonstrated experience with SCADA, PLC, HMI, RTU, instrumentation, OT data collection/reporting, and industrial communications.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex technical projects, system upgrades, or modernization initiatives.
• Experience managing technical staff, vendors, consultants, system integrators, budgets, and competing operational priorities.
• Knowledge of OT cybersecurity principles, including segmentation, access control, vulnerability management, system hardening, and incident response.
• Knowledge of system reliability, redundancy, backup/recovery, lifecycle management, change management, and configuration management.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, research, problem-solving, and technical decision-making skills.
• Strong project, budget, vendor, and contract management skills.
• Effective verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to develop plans and courses of action from complex alternatives.
• Ability to provide leadership and escalation support during significant OT incidents, including outside normal business hours when necessary.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in the water/wastewater industry, regulated utility, or other critical infrastructure environment.
• Working knowledge of applicable NIST, CISA, EPA, and water/wastewater-sector OT and cybersecurity guidance.
• Experience with industrial networking and utility communications technologies, including radio, cellular, fiber, and related systems.
• Experience with OT modernization, system integration, and large-scale infrastructure projects.
• Experience developing OT standards, procedures, recovery documentation, and technical specifications.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Medium – Exerting 20 to 50 lbs of force occasionally and/or 10 to 25lbs of force frequently and or greater than negligible up to 10 lbs. of force constantly to move objects. Physical demand requirements are more than those for light work.
• Must be able to climb, stoop, kneel, crouch, reach, walk, and perform other physical activities necessary to inspect, change, troubleshoot, or install OT and plant-related equipment.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Work is performed in an office environment, water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants, pump stations, wells, storage facilities, and other operating locations.
• Work locations may include indoor, climate-controlled environments as well as outdoor environments with varying weather conditions.
• May be exposed to operating equipment, electrical systems, industrial environments, construction areas, and other utility-related conditions.
• May require travel between company facilities and operating locations.
• Must be available to provide leadership and escalation support during significant OT incidents.
• Occasional work outside normal business hours may be required to support critical OT systems, emergencies, system upgrades, or planned maintenance activities.
• May require participation in on-call or emergency response activities as assigned.

Artesian is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.