Global Senior Manager - Automation Platform

Job Purpose

Establish and govern DP World’s standardized IT/OT Automation Platform architecture – a common framework applied across the terminal portfolio – defining the equipment, system, data, and interface requirements needed to create a scalable, configurable, secure, and interoperable platform. At each terminal, the framework connects individual automation solutions and systems into a coherent smart terminal operating on Industry 4.0 principles.

The role provides the technical foundation for DP World’s transition from individually automated machines to a connected ecosystem of autonomous and highly automated equipment, robots, and systems. It leads the evolution of terminal architecture toward decentralized control, unified fleet management, IIoT, remote operations, AI-enabled operational processes, Digital Twins, and next-generation industrial connectivity. The role considers and influences emerging standards, including TIC 4.0 and relevant maritime ISO standards for ports and terminals, and ensures that these are embedded into internal specifications.

The position owns the terminal automation architecture from Level 0 to Level 3 under the TIC 4.0 terminal automation topology (IEC 62264 / ISA-95 adapted to container terminals), including the control layer, monitoring and supervision, and operational management. It defines the automation-side data and interfaces connecting this environment to Level 4 systems, including the TOS and other enterprise systems.

It owns the data strategy and data governance model for this part of the architecture, covering how data is retained and shared, how devices are remotely managed and updated, how remote control is exercised, and how integrations and updates are validated before reaching live operations. It sets the OT cybersecurity and connectivity requirements, including private 5G and successor generations, and acts as business product owner for selected platform systems, including IoT, the Digital Twin and the Fleet Management System.

Key Accountabilities

• Smart-terminal platform architecture: Define and maintain DP Worlds target IT/OT architecture for Levels 0 to 3 and its interfaces upward, including the definition of internal standards, specifications and policies covering areas such as interfaces, data, connectivity and cybersecurity. Define the testing and validation strategy for integrations and updates of within the architecture. 

• Business product owner of platform systems: Act as business product owner for selected systems within this architecture; these may include the Fleet Management System, IoT and Digital Twin. Define their functional specification, business requirements, interfaces and roadmap, and steer internal and external development teams or suppliers through requirements, KPIs and release roadmaps. Partner with business units to prototype solutions, run proofs of concept, and mature each system over successive generations.

• Data strategy and governance: Own the data strategy and governance model underpinning the architecture: Define the mechanisms for data collection and set rules for data retention and sharing with internal and external parties. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify data-driven usecases and provide support to translate the data into operational and business insights.

• OT Connectivity and Cybersecurity: Define the automation-side requirements for OT networks, edge, private 5G and successor connectivity generations. Translate business and operational needs into prescriptive OT cybersecurity requirements and systems, including secure data exchange, remote control, and remote management.

• Digital Twin: Hold the Digital Twin concept for the automation domain: Define what it comprises, how it creates value, position it on the the architecture and convene and chair working groups through which contributing workstreams are coordinated. Close the gap between live terminal environments and the dynamic port simulation model, replacing manual data collection and model fitting with a maintained connection to process data.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills

Qualifications

• Degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, automation, control engineering, computer science or a related discipline.

Essential experience and capabilities

• Ten or more years of experience in IT/OT architecture, industrial automation or control systems, including responsibility for architecture in complex, live operational environments.

• Proven experience defining or implementing target, reference or solution architectures for connected industrial systems, ideally across multiple sites or business units.

• Strong understanding of PLCs and control systems, SCADA, industrial IoT, edge computing, industrial networks and the integration of OT and IT systems.

• Experience translating an architectural vision into standards, technical requirements, roadmaps and a deliverable portfolio of initiatives.

• Platform or technical product-management experience, including ownership of requirements, roadmaps and backlogs and the coordination of development teams or suppliers.

• Ability to act as a technical authority in a supplier-led environment, developing specifications and holding suppliers and systems integrators accountable for compliance.

• Practical understanding of OT cybersecurity and resilience in industrial environments.

• Relevant experience gained in advanced industrial environments -- such as ports and terminals, logistics, automotive, manufacturing, mining, warehousing, aviation or robotics -- or with control-system suppliers, systems integrators or technology partners.

Desirable experience

• Experience with Fleet Management Systems, Equipment Control Systems, autonomous-system orchestration, robotics or comparable operational-control platforms.

• Experience with digital twins, industrial simulation or data-driven development.

• Experience with private 5G networks and industrial IoT solutions.

• Familiarity with relevant standards and protocols, including IEC 62264/ISA-95, IEC 62443, OPC UA and TIC 4.0.

Leadership and personal capabilities

• Combines long-term architectural thinking with pragmatic implementation in brownfield environments.

• Able to influence senior stakeholders and lead cross-functional teams without direct authority.

• Strong supplier-management, technical-assurance and decision-making capabilities.

• Communicates complex technical concepts clearly to operational, commercial and executive audiences.

• Comfortable working across functions, cultures and geographies within a global organisation.

This role is suited to a senior individual contributor who leads through technical authority, strategic influence and ownership of architectural governance.