Operational Technology Data Engineer

Perdue Farms, Inc.; Salisbury (MD); On-site; USD 89,000 - 133,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits

Job summary

Perdue AgriBusiness is seeking an Operational Technology Data Engineer to modernize how industrial data is captured, secured, and transformed into actionable insights by supporting historian platforms and building scalable pipelines from plant floor to the cloud.

You will partner with enterprise architects and cross-functional teams to turn raw OT data into governed datasets for analytics and machine learning, enabling smarter decisions across Perdue's operations.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of OT systems, industrial data, or data engineering.
• Hands-on with data historian platforms such as AVEVA PI, FT Historian, Canary, Ignition.
• Proficiency with SQL, Python, REST APIs, and cloud ingestion frameworks.
• Familiarity with OT protocols like EtherNet/IP, Modbus, OPC UA and SCADA/PLC.
• Understanding of Azure, AWS, Snowflake, or Databricks and time-series data modeling.

Responsibilities

• Administer and optimize OT data historian systems.
• Ensure high-quality time-series data capture from PLCs and sensors.
• Troubleshoot data flow and improve ingestion patterns.
• Design secure, scalable OT data pipelines.
• Develop cloud ingestion workflows and edge gateways.
• Ensure trusted data movement to cloud environments.
• Define OT data models and governance with EA and BI teams.
• Transform OT data into production-ready analytics assets.
• Support multi-site expansion with data onboarding frameworks.
• Follow naming conventions and data validation rules.
• Monitor pipeline health and historian integrity.
• Adhere to OT cybersecurity standards.

Skills

OT data

Data pipelines

SQL

Python

REST APIs

Cloud platforms

Cybersecurity

ISA 95 / IEC 62443

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, Data Engineering, or related field

Tools

AVEVA PI

FactoryTalk Historian

Canary

Ignition

Job description

Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company that handles agricultural commodities and a diverse portfolio of products and businesses. It is part of Perdue Farms, a fourth-generation, family-owned food and agricultural business deeply rooted in tradition yet with a forward-thinking mindset. We believe that success starts with our people, and our culture is built on a foundation of teamwork, integrity, and respect, where every voice matters and everyone is encouraged to contribute to our shared goals. We are dedicated to creating a supportive, inclusive environment where associates feel valued and inspired to make an impact, both within the company and in the communities we serve. From promoting growth and development to prioritizing work-life balance, we’re committed to helping our team members thrive. That's Perdue.

Summary

Build the digital backbone of our operations as an Operational Technology Data Engineer. In this role, you will modernize how industrial data is captured, secured, and transformed into actionable insights by supporting site and enterprise historian platforms and building scalable pipelines that move data from the plant floor to the cloud. You will partner with enterprise architects and cross functional teams to convert complex OT data into trusted, governed datasets that power analytics and drive smarter decisions across the business. This opportunity is ideal for a forward-thinking engineer who is passionate about bridging OT and IT, strengthening data foundations, and enabling the next generation of operational performance.

The salary range for this position is $89,000 - $133,000 per year, based on experience and qualifications with annual bonus available (variable depending on performance).

In addition to the base salary, Perdue offers a competitive benefits package, including medical/Rx, 401(k) with employer match after 1 year, critical illness, accident insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, optional group life insurance, short-term and long-term disability protection, flexible spending accounts and paid time off.

Principal Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Administer, maintain, and optimize OT data historian systems (e.g., AVEVA PI, FactoryTalk Historian, Canary, Ignition).
• Ensure high quality, continuous capture of time series data from PLCs, SCADA, sensors, and edge systems.
• Troubleshoot data flow issues and improve ingestion patterns such as compression, buffering, and contextualization.
• Design and implement secure, scalable OT data pipelines following OT IT segmentation standards.
• Develop cloud ingestion workflows using historian replication tools, edge gateways, IoT messaging systems, or custom pipelines.
• Ensure reliable, governed, one way movement of OT data to cloud environments.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture and BI teams to define OT data models, metadata standards, and governance requirements.
• Transform raw OT datasets into curated, production ready assets for analytics, reporting, and machine learning.
• Implement repeatable data onboarding frameworks to support multi-site expansion.
• Apply enterprise naming conventions, metadata standards, and data validation rules.
• Monitor pipeline health, latency, schema changes, and historian system integrity.
• Follow cybersecurity standards for OT—ensuring read only access, one-way pathways, and adherence to network segmentation policies.
• Work closely with business leadership, operations, engineering, maintenance, controls, IT infrastructure, and enterprise data teams.
• Participate in design reviews, architecture discussions, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Translate plant floor needs into scalable enterprise data solutions.

Minimum Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, Data Engineering, or related field—or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience with OT systems, industrial data, or data engineering.
• Hands‑on experience with data historian platforms (e.g., AVEVA PI, FT Historian, Canary, Ignition).
• Proficiency in data pipeline tools such as SQL, Python, REST APIs, or cloud ingestion frameworks.
• Familiarity with industrial protocols (EtherNet/IP, Modbus, OPC UA) and SCADA/PLC environments.
• Understanding of cloud data platforms (Azure, AWS, Snowflake, or Databricks) and time-series data modeling.
• Knowledge of OT cybersecurity concepts, segmentation, and iDMZ architectures.
• Knowledge of ISA 95, IEC 62443, or OT risk management frameworks.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Experience building or supporting enterprise OT to cloud data architectures.
• Exposure to enterprise data lakes, data governance frameworks, and metadata/catalog platforms.
• Experience with OPC UA, MQTT, and modern IIoT platforms for secure, scalable industrial data integration.
• Hands‑on experience developing Power BI dashboards or working with analytics teams to transform OT data into actionable visualizations.

Environmental Factors and Physical Requirements

• Position is mostly sedentary but may require occasional moving to other offices or buildings.
• May need to move light equipment or supplies from one place to another.
• May need to access files, supplies and equipment.
• Work activity is in an office, open-partitioned, cubicle

Perdue Farms Inc. is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.