Senior Architect - Smart Manufacturing
Description
WHAT FLEXWARE DOES
Manufacturers are the backbone of innovation—powering industries, improving lives, and keeping the world moving forward. That’s where Flexware Innovation comes in. Behind every great product is a complex web of machines, technology, data, and people working together to make it happen. Flexware partners with manufacturers to guide their strategy and execute the solutions that bring it to life.
Founded in 1996, Flexware’s teams of talented advisors and engineers leverage technology across industrial controls, manufacturing systems integration, software development, data engineering and management, and the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technologies.
Flexware is made up of problem-solvers, builders, and collaborators who care deeply about doing work that matters. We roll up our sleeves, dive into the details, and create solutions that stand the test of time, because our customers count on us to keep production moving.
Today, Flexware is growing with fresh momentum and purpose. We’re investing in innovation, in our people, and in a culture where you can do your best work while living a balanced, meaningful life
WHAT YOU WILL DO
We are seeking an exceptional Senior Architect to join our Smart Manufacturing practice. Reporting to the Vice President of Digital Transformation and AI, this role leads the technical design of client engagements, defining how systems come together across IT and OT to support digital solutions in manufacturing, from the plant floor through integration and data platforms to analytics and AI.
The successful candidate will own the technical design of client engagements across a range of engagement types, from technology landscape and solution architecture through implementation, where the role continues in a technical advisory and architecture capacity. This position requires integration judgment across the full industrial technology stack combined with a working understanding of plant operations and credibility with both controls engineers and IT leadership.
Solution Design Across IT and OT
- Design end-to-end solutions spanning equipment, control systems, historians, MES, ERP, integration layers, cloud data platforms, and analytics and AI
- Establish client technology landscapes across ISA-95 / Purdue Levels 0–5, including system lifecycle, supportability, and organizational capability
- Select integration patterns (unified namespace, industrial DataOps, APIs, streaming, batch) appropriate to the client's situation, and design the data models and contextualization that make plant data usable by the business
- Define system, integration, data, and ownership boundaries, including operating responsibility after go-live, and design to OT security and network segmentation standards (IEC 62443, NIST 800-82)
Client Engagement
- Own client-facing technical deliverables end to end across varied engagement types, such as solution designs, technology landscape and readiness assessments, and implementation roadmaps
- Begin from operational problems (downtime, scrap, yield, changeover, traceability, compliance) and work back to the systems and data required to address them
- Validate priority use cases against representative source data and identify technology, people, and leadership risks early
- Present and defend design decisions and trade-offs to plant leadership, IT organizations, and client executives
Delivery & Practice Development
- Remain engaged through implementation as technical advisor and architect, supporting Flexware's controls, MES, and software engineering teams on design questions, trade-offs, and architectural integrity as the solution is built, which may include guiding analytics and AI use cases into monitored production
- Develop reusable reference designs and standards for Smart Manufacturing engagements, and mentor engineers and consultants
- Support proposals, technical scoping, and estimating
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE DONE BEFORE
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Chemical, Computer, Systems, or related discipline) or equivalent experience; advanced degree preferred
- 10+ years in industrial or manufacturing technology, with experience spanning the stack rather than concentrated in a single system
- Track record designing multi-site or enterprise-scale manufacturing solutions and carrying an authored design into a running production system
Technical Expertise
Demonstrated depth in several of the following, with working knowledge across the rest:
- ISA-95 / Purdue Levels 0–5 and the ability to establish a full technology landscape across them
- Plant-floor systems: OPC UA, historians (AVEVA PI, Canary, InfluxDB, or similar), SCADA/HMI (Ignition, FactoryTalk, AVEVA, or similar), MES/MOM, and ERP integration points
- Integration architecture: unified namespace (MQTT / Sparkplug B), industrial DataOps platforms, APIs, streaming, and batch patterns
- Cloud and data platforms applied to real deployments (Azure, AWS, or GCP; Databricks, Snowflake, or Microsoft Fabric), including data modeling and contextualization
- OT/IT network segmentation, Purdue-model DMZ design, and OT cybersecurity (IEC 62443, NIST 800-82)
Industry Knowledge
- Working knowledge of plant operations (production, quality, maintenance, supply chain) and how each function uses the systems that serve it
- Understanding of manufacturing operating metrics (OEE, yield, scrap, downtime, changeover) and how digital solutions affect them
- Substantial time spent on plant floors with operators, technicians, and engineers, and comfort discussing cost to build, cost to run, and the business case for a design
Professional Capabilities
- Credibility with both controls engineers and IT leadership, with the ability to translate between them
- Strong listening and requirements-gathering skills, and clear writing and presentation for non-technical audiences, including the ability to defend design decisions
- Mentoring orientation, with a practice of documenting decisions and making design reasoning visible to the team
- Collaborative and adaptable, comfortable with ambiguity and incomplete client data, and able to be staffed across varied engagement types in a small, fast-moving practice as a senior member of an established team
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience operationalizing analytics or AI models in production, including monitoring, drift detection, retraining, and lifecycle ownership in a live plant environment
- ISA/IEC 62443 certification track or GICSP
- Cloud or data-platform certifications paired with real deployments; Professional Engineer (PE) license
- Experience in regulated or high-consequence industries (life sciences, food & beverage, utilities, aerospace)
- Prior experience at a systems integrator, a smart manufacturing consulting practice, or an industrial software vendor
- Demonstrated proficiency leveraging generative AI tools to enhance productivity, including experience establishing best practices for responsible AI tool usage within professional services terms
Work Environment & Travel
- This is a remote position with flexibility to work from anywhere within the continental United States
- Periodic travel to Flexware headquarters in Fishers, IN may be required
- Travel to client sites is expected at approximately 20-30% depending on project assignments
If you’re interested in this role, we’re excited to start a conversation with you! Please reach out to Lindsay Imhoff at [email protected]. Your inquiry and conversation will be treated with confidentiality, and we will not share your information with others.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected status.