Manufacturing IT Ops Leader - Onsite Start-up (Sanford)

Caterpillar Inc.; Sanford (NC); On-site; USD 159,000 - 239,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

401(k) savings plans

Tuition Reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Career Development

Incentive bonus

Job summary

Caterpillar Inc. is building a new advanced manufacturing campus in Sanford, North Carolina, and seeks a Manufacturing IT Operations Manager to align infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, edge, network, data, and applications with enterprise standards for startup and sustained operations.

The role requires coordinating IT teams, service providers, vendors, and stakeholders to deliver a secure, scalable, and reliable facility launch, with ongoing responsibility for governance, risk, and

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent professional experience desired.
• Experience supporting greenfield plant, major facility expansion, infrastructure modernization, technology transformation, or complex site launch.
• Exposure to manufacturing technology environments including industrial networking, edge computing, machine connectivity, factory automation, robotics, or OT platforms.
• Knowledge of manufacturing systems and industrial platforms such as MES, PLM, SCADA, plant historians, ERP integration.
• Experience with OT cybersecurity, network segmentation, identity, asset visibility, secure remote access, resilience, disaster recovery, Zero Trust concepts, or industrial cybersecurity practices.
• Familiarity with data architecture, analytics, industrial data, predictive maintenance, simulation, digital twins, AI or ML in manufacturing contexts is helpful.
• Familiarity with architecture frameworks, review boards, cloud or hybrid infrastructure, vendor evaluation, systems integrators, or strategic technology partner management.
• Knowledge of ISA-95, ISA/IEC 62443, or NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate Caterpillar IT teams, architects, service providers, and technical specialists to ensure solutions align with enterprise standards and long-term needs.
• Navigate enterprise technology, manufacturing, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and vendor teams to bring expertise to the table at the right time.
• Support smart manufacturing priorities by enabling connected equipment, automation, production visibility, industrial data, analytics, and manufacturing systems.
• Facilitate alignment across IT and OT teams so requirements, dependencies, ownership, cybersecurity, and risks are understood early.
• Translate business and manufacturing needs into implementation plans and delivery activities for launch and sustained operations.
• Ensure architecture reviews, governance, support models, documentation, training, and operational standards are established with IT teams.
• Evaluate platforms and vendors balancing business value, feasibility, cybersecurity, safety, scalability, risk, and total cost of ownership.
• Develop roadmaps to sequence capabilities and move pilots to reliable operations.
• Lead transition from project delivery to operational support with knowledge transfer and service-provider management.

Skills

Technology leadership

Strategic thinking

Technical leadership

Partnership and communication

People and change leadership

Education

Degree or equivalent professional experience

Job description

Caterpillar Inc. is building a new advanced manufacturing campus in Sanford, North Carolina, and seeks a Manufacturing IT Operations Manager to align infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, edge, network, data, and applications with enterprise standards for startup and sustained operations.

The role requires coordinating IT teams, service providers, vendors, and stakeholders to deliver a secure, scalable, and reliable facility launch, with ongoing responsibility for governance, risk, and