Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Industrial Technology Advisor

🎯 Role Definition

The Industrial Technology Advisor is a hands-on strategic technical consultant who partners with manufacturing, operations, engineering, and executive stakeholders to define, design, and deploy Industry 4.0 solutions. This role blends deep expertise in industrial automation (PLC/SCADA/DCS), IIoT and data-driven analytics with change management, supplier selection and program leadership to modernize production systems, improve OEE, reduce downtime, and enable scalable digital transformation across sites.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Automation Engineer / Controls Engineer
Industrial or Process Engineer
Manufacturing Systems Engineer / Mechatronics Engineer

Advancement To:

Senior Industrial Technology Advisor / Principal Consultant
Head of Digital Transformation / Director of Manufacturing Technology
VP of Engineering / Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Lateral Moves:

Operations Manager / Plant Manager
Continuous Improvement / Lean Six Sigma Leader
Solutions Architect (Industrial Software / IIoT vendor)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead cross-functional assessments of production lines and facilities to identify opportunities for automation, IIoT sensorization, predictive maintenance, and process digitalization; produce prioritized roadmaps with expected ROI, capital estimates, and timeline for implementation.
Architect and recommend end-to-end Industry 4.0 solutions, including PLC/SCADA upgrades, MES integrations, cloud/edge IIoT platforms (e.g., Azure IoT, AWS IoT), data ingestion frameworks (OPC UA, MQTT), and analytics layers to drive condition monitoring and performance optimization.
Develop business cases and TCO/ROI analyses for proposed technology investments, presenting financial and non-financial benefits to senior leadership and supporting capital approval processes.
Design and oversee pilot projects and proof-of-concepts for new automation, robotics, or IIoT technologies; define success criteria, monitor KPIs, manage pilot execution, and scale validated pilots across additional lines or sites.
Serve as technical owner for specifications, RFPs, and vendor evaluations when procuring automation systems, MES, PLCs, SCADA, robotics, AMRs/AGVs, and industrial cybersecurity solutions; lead vendor negotiations and contract technical reviews.
Collaborate with OT and IT teams to ensure secure, resilient network architecture for industrial systems, enforce segmentation and best practices (e.g., IEC 62443), and coordinate patching and lifecycle management for control hardware and software.
Guide PLC/DCS/SCADA system development and commissioning strategy, including code review standards, version control, testing protocols (FAT/SAT), acceptance criteria, and documentation to ensure reliable deployments.
Lead cross-site standardization efforts for control architectures, HMIs, data models, and naming conventions to enable scalable analytics and reduce engineering effort across plants.
Define and implement predictive and preventive maintenance strategies using vibration, thermal, electrical and process data; select and deploy analytics/models for early fault detection and remaining useful life (RUL) estimation.
Mentor and train engineering and operations teams on new technologies, automation best practices, data interpretation, and change management techniques to ensure adoption and sustained improvement.
Integrate MES/ERP systems with shop-floor automation to enable traceability, batch tracking, production scheduling optimizations, and closed-loop quality controls.
Lead root cause analysis and engineering troubleshooting for complex production issues involving controls, instrumentation, mechanical systems, and software; propose durable corrective actions and safeguards.
Manage multi-disciplinary project teams and vendors through full project lifecycle (requirements, design, build, test, deploy, handover), ensuring scope, schedule, budget and quality objectives are met.
Establish and monitor digital manufacturing KPIs (OEE, MTTR, MTBF, first-pass yield, cycle time) and implement dashboards and alerts to drive continuous improvement and executive visibility.
Evaluate and introduce robotics and automation cells (robot programming, safety integration, end-of-arm tooling) to increase throughput, improve ergonomics and reduce manual variability.
Oversee lifecycle management for industrial control assets including obsolescence planning, spare parts strategy, firmware/patch management and upgrade roadmaps.
Ensure compliance with relevant safety, environmental and regulatory standards during design and implementation (machine safety standards, electrical codes, ATEX where applicable).
Design and implement energy monitoring and optimization projects that reduce energy consumption and costs through controls optimization, load shifting and equipment retrofits.
Collaborate with data scientists and analytics teams to translate process and sensor data into supervised/unsupervised models, dashboards, and embedded analytics that support operator decision-making.
Facilitate stakeholder alignment across operations, maintenance, quality and IT to prioritize interventions that balance production continuity with modernization efforts.
Advise on industrial cybersecurity risk assessments, incident response planning for OT, and remediation of vulnerabilities discovered during audits or penetration testing.
Create and maintain technical documentation, standards, SOPs, and training materials to support sustained operation and knowledge transfer for automation and digital systems.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Run workshops and capability-building sessions for frontline operators and engineering leaders to accelerate technology adoption.
Provide subject-matter-expert input to safety risk assessments and machine guarding reviews during automation projects.
Assist procurement with technical evaluations during supplier selection and manage proof-of-concept trials with shortlisted vendors.
Maintain and curate a prioritized backlog of automation and digital projects aligned to business objectives and budget cycles.
Audit current control systems and instrumentation for obsolescence risks, recommending migration paths and interim controls.
Maintain a catalogue of configurable reusable templates (PLC modules, HMI screens, data models) to reduce deployment time across sites.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

PLC programming and architecture experience with Siemens S7/TIA Portal, Allen-Bradley/ControlLogix, or equivalent platforms.
SCADA and HMI design and configuration (Wonderware, Ignition, WinCC, FactoryTalk).
MES integration knowledge (Siemens Opcenter, Rockwell Preactor, SAP ME) and shop-floor data flows.
Industrial networking and protocols: Ethernet/IP, ProfiNet, Modbus, OPC UA, MQTT.
IIoT platforms and cloud integration (Azure IoT Hub, AWS IoT Core, or similar) and edge computing concepts.
Data ingestion and time-series data handling (InfluxDB, OSIsoft PI, or equivalent).
Experience with predictive maintenance/condition monitoring tools and analytics (vibration analysis, thermal imaging, anomaly detection).
Robotics integration and programming fundamentals (ABB, FANUC, KUKA) and robot safety integration know-how.
Industrial cybersecurity fundamentals and standards familiarity (ISA/IEC 62443, NIST for OT).
Strong SQL and scripting skills (Python, PowerShell) for automation, ETL tasks and analytics prototyping.
Control systems commissioning, FAT/SAT processes, and functional safety awareness (SIL, safety PLCs).
Experience with cloud-based analytics and visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau).
Experience authoring technical specifications, RFPs, and evaluating vendor proposals.
Knowledge of manufacturing standards and lean methodologies (Six Sigma, 5S, Kaizen) and process improvement frameworks.
Understanding of electrical systems, instrumentation, sensors, and PLC I/O architectures.

Soft Skills

Excellent stakeholder communication and presentation skills; proven ability to translate technical complexity into business value for executives.
Strong project and program management skills with experience managing multi-vendor initiatives in a manufacturing environment.
Analytical and structured problem-solving capability with a data-driven mindset.
Change management and coaching skills to drive adoption across operations and maintenance teams.
Collaborative team player who can operate across OT, IT and business functions.
Strategic thinking with the ability to prioritize initiatives for maximum impact and scalability.
Negotiation skills for vendor selection, contracts and commercial trade-offs.
Resilience and adaptability to operate in fast-moving industrial settings and handle ambiguous requirements.
Attention to detail and strong documentation discipline for audits, compliance and handover.
Mentoring and talent development experience to upskill engineering and technical staff.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechatronics, Automation, Computer Science or a closely related technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Engineering, Industrial Automation, Manufacturing Systems, Controls, or an MBA for business-savvy advisor roles.
Professional certifications such as PMP, ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP), Certified Reliability Leader (CRL), or Six Sigma Green/Black Belt are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Electrical, Controls & Automation Engineering
Mechanical, Mechatronics or Robotics Engineering
Industrial Engineering or Manufacturing Systems
Computer Science / Data Science (with industrial applications)
Cybersecurity with OT/ICS emphasis

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5 - 12 years of progressive experience in industrial automation, controls, digital manufacturing, or consulting roles supporting manufacturing clients.

Preferred:

7+ years delivering automation/IIoT/digital transformation projects in discrete or process manufacturing.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-site rollouts, vendor management, and hands-on commissioning of PLC/SCADA/MES solutions.
Experience in the full project lifecycle from assessment and business case development through deployment and sustaining support.
Prior consulting or advisory experience working with senior leadership and multi-disciplinary teams is a strong plus.