OT Project Manager (m/w/d)

Cognizant; Germany (OH); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is looking for an experienced OT Project Manager to oversee the Edge Cloud programme in manufacturing environments. This role demands expertise in project delivery as well as OT Security and manufacturing systems. The successful candidate will lead various workstreams, manage the complete programme lifecycle, and ensure compliance with operational constraints. Applicants should have a strong background in OT Security, vendor management, and project management within industrial settings.

Qualifications

• Several years of project management experience in OT / industrial environments.
• Demonstrated experience delivering OT Security programmes in manufacturing.
• Experience coordinating site transitions and managing project dependencies.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of OT workstreams within the Edge Cloud programme.
• Manage lifecycle from discovery through deployment.
• Drive governance, reporting, and stakeholder communication.

Skills

Project management

OT Security experience

Pharmaceutical systems knowledge

Manufacturing systems experience

Vendor management

Tools

Firewalls

VLANs

Server migration concepts

Job description

Cognizant Company is a world leader in delivering digital transformation solutions to Life Sciences. Through our knowledge and expertise in Automation, MES & Digital, we deliver stable manufacturing systems that are optimized to improve operational efficiencies, whilst maintaining compliance. Our specialist engineering teams have the aptitude to deliver and support Pharma architectures and solutions covering all IT, OT and IoT applications, infrastructures and services.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced OT Project Manager to support the delivery of the Edge Cloud programme across manufacturing environments. This role requires a strong combination of project delivery capability, OT Security experience in manufacturing, and OT Manufacturing experience. The successful candidate will manage delivery across the full programme lifecycle, including sprints, testing, service readiness, and transition support. The role will operate in complex site environments where production continuity, validation, security, and coordination across multiple stakeholders are critical. This is not a generic IT project management role. The candidate must be comfortable operating in industrial / plant-facing environments and must understand the practical constraints of OT delivery in manufacturing sites.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of OT workstreams within the Edge Cloud programme across manufacturing sites.
• Manage the programmed lifecycle from discovery through deployment and service transition.
• Coordinate and drive activities across phases such as discovery and mobilization, site surveys, high‑level design and low‑level design coordination, infrastructure and network readiness, hardware procurement and deployment coordination, migration preparation, pilot migration execution, sprint‑based migrations and testing, service readiness and operational handover.
• Develop and manage integrated project plans, milestones, dependencies, and critical path items.
• Coordinate site readiness with local teams, engineering teams, OT stakeholders, infrastructure teams, and external vendors.
• Drive governance, reporting, planning, and stakeholder communication.
• Manage project risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, and decisions.
• Ensure OT Security requirements are embedded throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Support migration and transition from legacy OT environments to modernized edge, infrastructure.
• Coordinate cutover planning, validation activities, change control, and hyper‑care/transition support.
• Ensure alignment between programme delivery and manufacturing site operational constraints.
• Track progress against timeline, scope, and delivery objectives.
• Escalate blockers and delivery risks proactively to programme leadership.

Requirements

• Strong knowledge of pharmaceutical and manufacturing systems.
• Several years of project management experience, with a significant portion in OT / industrial / manufacturing programmes.
• Demonstrated experience delivering OT Security programmes in manufacturing and in OT manufacturing environments.
• Experience delivering one or more of the following:
  • Industrial infrastructure refresh or transformation
  • OT cybersecurity remediation programmes
  • Plant or site migration programmes
  • Server / VM / platform migration activities in manufacturing sites
  • Network and firewall changes in OT environments
  • Secure remote access, VLAN, routing, or related plant network changes
  • Rollout programmes across multiple industrial sites
• Experience managing vendors, implementation partners, and technical stakeholders.
• Experience working with site engineers, automation teams, operational stakeholders, validation teams, and support teams.
• Strong understanding of delivery constraints in manufacturing, including: production sensitivity, downtime limitations, validation needs.
• The candidate should have a sound understanding of OT environments and the types of activities typically associated with OT Security and infrastructure transformation programmes.

Relevant knowledge

• Firewalls, VLANs, switches, and secure connectivity.
• Server and VM migration concepts.
• Hardware refresh / scale‑up activities.
• Infrastructure readiness and service readiness.
• Validation and testing coordination in regulated environments.
• Change control in operational environments.
• Site support and transition planning.