Job Title: OT Network Engineer
Location: Preston area (2-3 days on site to start)
Contract: 6 months | Rate: £450-£550 p/d | IR35: Outside TBC
Overview:
Seeking an OT Network Engineer to design and maintain a secure, high-performance OT infrastructure across a manufacturing environment. You'll ensure reliable comms for PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, robots, AMRs, BMS/HVAC and ERP-driven automation across multi-VLAN networks, working closely with both OT and IT teams.
Key Responsibilities:
* Design and support OT networks (L2/L3, VLANs, QoS, segmentation).
* Implement OT security controls (zones/conduits, ACLs, firewalls, secure remote access).
* Optimise latency/jitter impacting PLC scan cycles and motion control.
* Integrate and troubleshoot Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Schneider PLC/SCADA systems.
* Support SCADA/HMI (WinCC Unified, FactoryTalk, EcoStruxure).
* Deep knowledge of Profinet, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, OPC UA/DA, BACnet.
* Work with IT to align OT designs, manage data flows to ERP/MES/SCADA.
* Own monitoring, documentation, backups, DR and change control.
Required Experience:
* Strong understanding of industrial control principles and SCADA behaviour.
* Practical OT networking experience (segmentation, filtering, deterministic comms).
* Hands-on with key vendor ecosystems (Siemens / AB / Schneider).
* Able to diagnose complex system-network interactions.
* Confident working across both OT and IT teams.
Desirable:
* Robotics, AMRs, conveyors, BMS/HVAC, OT-ERP integrations.
* IEC 62443 knowledge.
* Experience with historians, SQL logging, IIoT gateways.