Senior Industrial Automation Engineer

Job Title: Senior Industrial Automation Engineer

Location: Santa Clara, CA

Duration: 12+ Months

This role is for 24 hrs/wk.

Xoriant reasonably expects the pay rate for this position to be within the following range: $60/hour-$65/hour.

Duties: About the Role:

We are seeking a skilled Automation Engineer to join the OT Threat Research Lab, where we replicate real-world industrial environments to support threat research and enhance OT cybersecurity products. You will be responsible for building and maintaining OT systems that generate realistic protocol traffic and device behavior, enabling our research and product teams to improve OT visibility, threat detection, and device classification.

You will collaborate with security researchers and product engineers who analyze PCAP data your role is to design and operate the industrial setups that produce this traffic under realistic operational conditions.

Key Responsibilities:

Design and Build OT Testbeds:

Set up and configure PLCs, HMIs, SCADA software, and other industrial components to replicate control system environments across verticals like energy, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure.

Simulate Industrial Processes and Protocols:

Implement logic and control flows to produce representative OT protocol traffic (e.g., Modbus, DNP3, PROFINET) that supports security research and device visibility efforts.

Support Threat Research and Product Development:

Work closely with security researchers and product engineers by providing realistic environments, traffic, and configurations for their PCAP analysis, detection validation, and feature testing.

Maintain and Improve Lab Infrastructure:

Ensure OT devices and virtualized setups are fully functional, documented, and aligned with current and future use cases across research and engineering teams.

Document and Share:

Maintain configuration records, logic diagrams, and setup documentation to support repeatability and integration with research workflows.

Skills:

Required:

5 7 years of experience in industrial automation or control systems engineering

Hands-on experience with PLCs (e.g., Siemens, Allen-Bradley), HMI configuration, and SCADA systems

Solid understanding of industrial communication protocols (Modbus, DNP3, OPC, PROFINET, etc.)

Experience simulating or operating real-world industrial processes in a lab or production setting

Ability to collaborate effectively with security researchers, engineers, and cross-functional teams

Preferred:

Familiarity with OT cybersecurity concepts or ICS network architectures

Experience in a research lab, product development, or R&D environment

Basic scripting knowledge (e.g., Python or PowerShell) for configuration or automation tasks

Education:

Bachelor s degree in one of the following fields:

o Electrical Engineering

o Industrial Automation

o Mechatronics

o Control Systems Engineering

o Computer Engineering

o Or a related technical discipline

Alternatives:

Equivalent industry certifications or military training in automation and control systems, combined with substantial hands-on experience, may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Regards,

Akangsha