IT/OT Project Manager (Ignition Implementation)

Wright Technical Services is representing an industry-leading advanced manufacturing organization seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager. The role leads the end-to-end implementation of Ignition across a multi-site manufacturing environment, managing scope, schedule, budget, risks, stakeholders, system integrators, environments, integrations, and site rollouts. The position coordinates manufacturing operations, plant engineering, IT, enterprise applications, and data-platform teams through deployment and post-go-live support.

Responsibilities:

• Lead end-to-end delivery of the Ignition implementation: from planning and design through build, test, deployment, go-live, and hypercare across manufacturing sites
• Own the development of the project scope, schedule, budget, resourcing, risks, issues, dependencies, and change control, maintaining RAID logs and status reporting aligned to Enterprise PMO standards
• Coordinate the design and standup of Ignition dev, QA, and production environments, including gateway architecture, tag structures, and data historian setup
• Drive data contextualization at source—ensuring shop-floor telemetry (PLC, sensor, production, and test data) is tied to relevant operational context before it moves to the data platform
• Manage the external system integrator and other vendors to ensure high-quality, on-schedule delivery against a clearly defined statement of work
• Partner with Manufacturing/Plant Engineering, IT Infrastructure, Networking, Cybersecurity, and Enterprise Applications teams to align OT and IT roles, responsibilities, and operating model
• Coordinate integration points between Ignition, MES/Apriso, SAP, and the enterprise data platform (Microsoft Fabric), sequencing dependencies with adjacent data-architecture workstreams
• Plan and execute site rollout, including readiness assessments, task assignments, cutover, validation, and operational handoff to support teams
• Facilitate working sessions, design reviews, and steering checkpoints; provide clear, concise executive reporting and escalation
• Identify and mitigate risks specific to OT deployments—production continuity, network segmentation, and change windows on live manufacturing lines
• Drive knowledge transfer, documentation, and a sustainable support model to ensure long-term operability post go-live
• Coordinate the establishment of ongoing governance processes for change control, exceptions to standards, and citizen development

Requirements:

• • Hands-on experience managing the implementation of Ignition (Inductive Automation) in a manufacturing / plant-floor environment is required
• • Proven, foundational project management discipline is required—demonstrated command of scope, schedule, budget, resource, risk, and change management across the full project lifecycle (initiation through closeout) using structured methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, or Hybrid)
• • Track record of running formal PM governance—building and maintaining integrated project plans, critical path, RAID logs, status reporting, and steering/executive communications—not solely serving as a technical or implementation lead
• • 8–10+ years of IT/OT project management experience, including full-lifecycle delivery of manufacturing technology implementations
• • Demonstrated experience delivering SCADA, MES, historian, or shop-floor data initiatives in a multi-site industrial environment
• • Working knowledge of OT/plant-floor architecture—PLCs, sensors, gateways, historians, and the flow of data from the shop floor through contextualization to analytics
• • Proven ability to manage system integrators and multiple technical teams to defined scope, schedule, and budget
• • Strong project planning, scheduling, dependency management, and risk management discipline
• • Experience driving execution in matrixed organizations without direct authority, coordinating across IT and operations stakeholders
• • Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate technical detail into business-relevant reporting
• • Proficiency with project management tools such as Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Azure DevOps, or Planner
• Eligibility : US Permanent Residency Required. This role is not open to current or future sponsorship, or C2C partnerships
• Location : Hybrid – Cleveland, OH preferred (remote considered)
• Onsite/Travel Requirements: Hybrid 2 days/3 days preferred, travel required as needed if remote
• • Ability to occasionally travel to Cleveland, Ohio, or other of clients locations, for workshops or critical meetings
• • Direct experience standing up Ignition dev/QA/prod environments and coordinating historian selection (e.g., Ignition Historian, Canary) and deployment
• • Familiarity with the ISA-95 model and OT network segmentation / IT-OT convergence best practices
• • Experience integrating shop-floor data with MES (e.g., Apriso), SAP, and modern data platforms (Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, or similar)
• • Understanding manufacturing operations in heavy industrial, automation, or similar production environments
• • Awareness of data governance, audit trail, and compliance considerations (e.g., SOX) as they relate to production data flows
• • PMP, Agile, SAFe, Scrum, or equivalent project management certification