Head of Operational Technology

Role Summary

The fundamental objective of the Head of OT is to manage the OT Team in designing, deploying, and supporting the communication and monitoring systems on new and existing distributed energy projects.

As new sites increasing rely on their communication networks for operation, my client needs to ensure that new designs meet the current requirements for performance and cybersecurity and that older designs are maintained and upgraded in line with current industry practises.

The Head of OT will also be available to provide advice and assistance for reactive issues which need additional skills or experience and will participate in an on-call rota for out-of-hours remote support along with the other members of comms team.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Manages and mentors engineers, delegating workload as necessary
• Works closely with multiple stakeholder teams including engineering, design, commercial, planning and construction to optimise project designs
• Ensure the OT Team are provided with all relevant information to complete designs
• Assumes OT design responsibility for project OT scope from concept, through construction and to final acceptance.
• Ensure cybersecurity policy is considered in new designs and in maintenance and upgrades of existing systems.
• Ensure the required documentation needed to implement the OT system designs is produced on time, e.g. cable schedules, network diagrams, and register lists
• Liaising with other teams & contractors to ensure that the overall project designs integrate smoothly
• Communicates directly with suppliers' technical / service support teams regarding product capabilities and reviews client enquiries, escalating as required to equipment manufacturers.
• Responds to EPC, O&M, technical advisor, funder, client, or asset owner technical enquiries. These enquiries may require several actions including documentation review, performance assessment, site survey and technical support
• Staying abreast of relevant developments in the telecommunications and technology marketplace
• Managing tickets raised by O&M and programming OT resource.
• Planning and overseeing maintenance of OT systems software and hardware installed at solar PV and battery energy storage plants throughout the UK
• Supporting operational staff with monitoring, data acquisition, security, and CCTV systems issue resolutions
• Adherence to the Group's Quality Management System and processes

Experience and Skills

ESSENTIAL

• Management of a technical team within the OT environment.
• Basic Windows administration knowledge, including Intune endpoint management
• Detailed knowledge of IT/OT networks and design principles; segmentation, VLANs, NAT, VPNs
• Strong knowledge of OT cybersecurity
• Industrial communication protocols including Modbus RTU / TCP, RS485 / serial communications
• Familiarity with network troubleshooting tools
• Technical problem-solving skills and an aptitude for implementing new ideas
• Self motivated; able to work remotely and independently
• Enthusiasm for ongoing personal development and learning
• Strong communicator with patience and perseverance, able to troubleshoot and problem-solve with remote staff or equipment

PREFERRED

• Knowledge and experience of PV specific and general industrial data acquisition systems
• Linux system administration experience, focussed on Debian or derivatives, Ansible for centralised management, iptables/NFT firewalls.
• Experience of the following network equipment; Fortinet firewalls and switches, Mikrotik routers, Moxa industrial networking, OpenWRT
• PV, battery, and power electronics background knowledge
• Basic AutoCAD skills

Education

• Ideally an undergraduate degree in STEM subject that provides a demonstrable background in IT, computing, computer networking, or electronics via relevant course modules, but may also include vocational training or extensive relevant work experience
• IT-related technical proficiency or security qualifications e.g. SANS, Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or similar are advantageous, but not essential

Other

• Must possess a current Driving Licence
• Must be prepared to travel within the UK, including occasional overnight stays, and potentially abroad, for site visits

Robert Half Ltd acts as an employment business for temporary positions and an employment agency for permanent positions. Robert Half is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. Suitable candidates with equivalent qualifications and more or less experience can apply. Rates of pay and salary ranges are dependent upon your experience, qualifications and training. If you wish to apply, please read our Privacy Notice describing how we may process, disclose and store your personal data: gb/en/privacy-notice.