Job Title: OT/IT Manager
Location: Houston, TX or Clarksville, TN or Millington, TN- Onsite
Employment Type: Full-Time
Travel: Approximately 25% to manufacturing plants
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced OT/IT Manager to lead and manage Operational Technology (OT) across manufacturing plants while overseeing IT infrastructure, network administration, cybersecurity, and end-user support.
The primary focus of this role is to ensure the security, reliability, and availability of plant-floor networks, industrial control systems, production technologies, and OT/IT integrations. The manager will collaborate with plant management, engineering, maintenance, global IT teams, vendors, and managed service providers to support manufacturing operations and drive technology improvements.
The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with manufacturing OT environments, industrial automation systems, network infrastructure, OT cybersecurity, and IT operations, along with the ability to manage technical teams and multiple projects.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Technology (OT) Management
- Lead OT operations across manufacturing plants, including plant-floor networks, industrial PCs, production system connectivity, and manufacturing technology infrastructure.
- Support and coordinate systems such as PLCs, HMIs, SCADA/DCS, historians, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), barcode/labeling, and production reporting systems.
- Develop and maintain OT standards, policies, procedures, and technology lifecycle roadmaps.
- Manage OT system troubleshooting, upgrades, commissioning, integrations, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Coordinate production system changes, testing, maintenance windows, risk assessments, backups, and rollback plans to minimize operational disruptions.
- Maintain OT asset inventories, network diagrams, system documentation, licenses, vendor contacts, and disaster recovery procedures.
OT/IT Cybersecurity
- Implement and maintain OT cybersecurity practices, including network segmentation, secure remote access, access controls, vulnerability remediation, and incident response coordination.
- Ensure appropriate integration between manufacturing OT systems and enterprise IT infrastructure.
- Monitor system and network performance, security, reliability, and recoverability.
- Coordinate backup, recovery, and disaster recovery activities for critical manufacturing and IT systems.
IT Infrastructure and Network Administration
- Manage and support LAN/WAN, plant networks, routers, switches, wireless access points, VPNs, firewalls, and related infrastructure.
- Administer IP addressing, DHCP, DNS, RADIUS, physical servers, and virtualized server environments.
- Maintain Microsoft environments, including Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, and Exchange.
- Oversee workstation, laptop, printer, mobile device, operating system, and software deployment and support.
- Manage user accounts, network logins, permissions, antivirus, email applications, and application access.
- Troubleshoot hardware, software, connectivity, and network performance issues.
IT Support and Team Management
- Manage IT support activities, help desk tickets, incident tracking, and documentation of issue resolution.
- Coordinate with help desk, network services, global IT teams, plant personnel, and external service providers.
- Provide technical guidance, training, task assignments, and development support to team members.
- Ensure timely communication of issue status, resolutions, maintenance activities, and project updates.
- Maintain accurate records of IT assets, network components, system configurations, accounts, and inventory.
Vendor and Project Management
- Coordinate with vendors, OEMs, managed service providers, and industrial automation partners.
- Support technology procurement, vendor evaluations, service agreements, and infrastructure upgrades.
- Contribute to OT/IT strategy development, project planning, cost-effective operations, and technology standardization.
- Travel to manufacturing plants as required to support OT/IT operations and technical initiatives.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Automation, Business, Operational Technology, or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Minimum of 7 years of related professional experience.
- Experience supporting manufacturing plant OT environments, industrial systems, plant-floor networks, automation technology, or production systems.
- Working knowledge of PLCs, HMIs, SCADA/DCS, historians, MES, industrial PCs, and industrial Ethernet.
- Experience with network infrastructure, including switches, routers, firewalls, VPNs, LAN/WAN, DHCP, DNS, and network segmentation.
- Knowledge of OT/IT cybersecurity, secure remote access, vulnerability management, incident response, and backup/recovery practices.
- Experience coordinating system changes, maintenance windows, testing, and vendor activities in manufacturing environments.
- Strong troubleshooting, analytical, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and collaborate with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
- Valid driver's license and willingness to travel approximately 25% of the time.
Preferred Skills
- Experience integrating manufacturing OT systems with enterprise IT applications and infrastructure.
- Familiarity with industrial control system security and manufacturing cybersecurity standards.
- Experience managing technical teams, vendors, OEMs, and managed service providers.
- Knowledge of Microsoft 365 and Windows-based IT environments.
- Experience with disaster recovery planning, infrastructure lifecycle management, and continuous improvement initiatives.
“Tekshapers is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regards to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.”
