Assoc. Dir , Technical Product Management

Associate Director, Plant Automation Technology

Location Rahway, NJ (supports multiple sites)

This role serves as the senior technical and product leader for pilot plant and manufacturing-facing research automation platforms. The Associate Director is accountable for strategy, architecture, delivery, and operational excellence of plant-side automation and OT infrastructure, while also providing hands-on technical leadership and oversight of system integration, cybersecurity, and regulated operations.

This position owns the plant automation technology portfolio end-to-end, from concept and design through validation, deployment, support, and lifecycle management.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own the strategy for pilot plant and plant-facing research automation platforms
• Act as technical lead and single point of accountability for plant automation solutions for capital end project deployments
• Translate business, scientific, and manufacturing needs into platform roadmaps and execution plans
• Lead OT architecture, infrastructure design, and system integration across plant environments
• Ensure secure, compliant OT networking aligned with ISA/IEC 62443 principles
• Oversee integration of plant automation systems with enterprise platforms (PI, MES, data platforms)
• Lead and approve system design, architecture decisions, and technical standards
• Within the scope of the product, manage capital and non-capital project execution, including scope, estimates, and delivery timelines
• Ensure adherence to SDLC, change control, validation, and GmP requirements
• Partner with Quality, Engineering, Infrastructure, Security, and vendors on delivery and support
• Provide escalation leadership for incidents, root cause analysis, and remediation
• Lead continuous improvement of OT platforms, including obsolescence and modernization
• Manage and mentor R3 engineers and contractors supporting plant automation
• Communicate platform status, risks, and roadmap clearly to leadership and stakeholders

Required Skills and Experience

• 8+ years experience in automation, OT infrastructure, or plant automation systems
• Strong experience with DeltaV, PLCs, Ignition, SCADA, MES
• Hands-on knowledge of OT networking, firewalls, VLANs, and segmented architectures
• Experience designing and operating virtualized OT environments (VMware, Hyper-V)
• Proven experience integrating plant systems with enterprise IT platforms
• Demonstrated leadership in regulated (GmP) environments
• Strong understanding of SDLC, validation, and change management
• Ability to lead multiple concurrent initiatives and cross-functional teams
• Strong communication skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Automation, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
• Master's degree preferred

Required Skills:

Asset Management, Automation Solutions, Benefits Management, Computer Science, Firewall Security, GMP Compliance, Industrial Automation, Infrastructure Design, Management System Development, Operational Excellence, Pilot Plant Operations, Pilot Plants, Plant Automation (Industrial), Product Management, Requirements Management, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning, System Designs, Technical Leadership, VMware

Preferred

Skills:

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The salary range for this role is

$ - $

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications,…