Senior Industrial Automation Engineer

This is not a pure software role and it is not a pure field technician role. It requires the rarest combination: someone who can read a PLC tag database export debate the tradeoffs between KEPServerEX and a Snap7-based Linux gateway as an OPC UA bridge and still sit across a table from a European OEM mechanical contractor and discuss motor torque limit parameters.

You will own the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) the translation layer between the Siemens controller and the web backend and you will be the single point of technical authority for everything between the field devices and the API endpoint.

The role involves three on-site visits to Doha over approximately 22 weeks (audit integration sprint commissioning) with the majority of the work conducted remotely.

Key Responsibilities

Conduct an on-site technical audit of the existing Siemens S7-300 control system: document the full PLC tag database DB block structure Profibus DP device map drive parameter registers and alarm/event table

Design and implement an OPC UA gateway/bridge that exposes live PLC data to the web application backend including axis positions (cm slanted) torques RPMs limit switch states operating modes and alarm states

Define and document the complete read/write tag contract between the PLC and the HAL including all command words for 7 operating modes (Open Close Inline Close Shifted Chess Pattern Emergency Retract Manual/Service Cleaning) and per-axis position setpoints

Specify and implement the industrial network architecture:

OT/IT segmentation gateway server placement connectivity from PLC to edge device to web backend and RTSP camera VLAN integration Collaborate directly with the software development team (backend/frontend) to define a clean versioned internal API above the HAL and provide a data dictionary for time-series ingestion (position torque RPM per axis; weather inputs; event and alarm logs) Define fail-safe and degraded-mode behaviour: what happens to the canopy if the web layer loses connectivity ensuring PLC-side safety logic remains sovereign over all web-initiated commands particularly the wind-triggered emergency retract sequence

Technically lead discussions with the end clients facilities management team on system architecture safety interlock hierarchy and maintenance window planning

Be on-site in Doha for: Week 2 (initial audit 1 week) Week 10 (integration sprint 1 week) Weeks 2122 (commissioning and UAT 2 weeks)

Produce technical documentation throughout: wiring diagrams network topology diagrams tag mapping sheets API contracts and a handover package for the clients in-house facilities team

Requirements

• 5 years of hands-on Siemens S7 experience specifically S7-300 programming diagnostics and data block structure via Step 7 Classic or TIA Portal
  
• Profibus DP fluency able to diagnose bus faults read GSD device profiles identify slave addresses and recover from "MP Bus Blackout"-class faults without vendor support
  
• WinCC Flexible proficiency able to navigate and extract tag configuration alarm classes and screen logic from an existing compiled WinCC Flexible project
  
• OPC UA implementation experience via any of: Siemens Industrial PC OPC Server KEPServerEX open62541 or a Snap7-based Linux gateway solution
  
• Industrial networking OT/IT convergence unmanaged Profibus topology vs. managed Ethernet VLAN design and understanding of where IT security policy collides with OT real-time requirements
  
• Ability to independently read and produce electrical schematics PLC I/O mapping sheets drive parameter tables and field device wiring diagrams
  
• Comfortable working on an active high-visibility public-facing site in Qatar able to obtain Qatar SafePass site-specific HSE inductions and work under the relevant site access protocols
  
• Fluent English can write clear technical documentation and communicate directly with European OEM contractors a remote software development team and the clients facilities management team