WestRock Company · 21 hours ago
OT Network Engineer
Georgia, United States
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level
5+ years expWestRock Company is a global leader in sustainable paper and packaging solutions. They are seeking an OT Network Engineer to drive technical initiatives across Operational Technology networks, focusing on reliability, cybersecurity, and data acquisition while providing hands-on support to improve process visibility and performance.
CommercialManufacturingPackaging ServicesPaper ManufacturingSustainability
Responsibilities
Troubleshooting & Enablement: Diagnose OT network, firewall, and connectivity issues
Project Execution: Plan, design, and implement OT infrastructure projects including network segmentation, secure remote access, DMZ architecture, and data center buildouts (rack/stack, power, cooling, cabling, failover)
Cybersecurity & Compliance: Configure and maintain OT firewalls, VLANs, ACLs, IDS/IPS, and endpoint protections to safeguard mill assets; support vulnerability management, patching windows, and incident response
Data Acquisition & Integration: Implement robust, secure data collection from PLCs/DCS/Historian using OPC UA/DA, Modbus, EtherNet/IP, Profibus/Profinet, MQTT, and other standard industrial protocols; maintain tag governance and asset models
IoT Enablement: Deploy and manage industrial IoT gateways/sensors, normalize telemetry, and ensure reliable data pipelines to on‑prem historians and cloud services
Platform & Compute: Administer and optimize VMware and Hyper‑V environments; provision and maintain Windows/Linux VMs for OT applications, historians, and middleware
Cloud & Data Services: Build secure data flows to AWS (e.g., IoT Core, Kinesis, S3, Lambda, Glue) for analytics and reporting; implement authentication, encryption, and network controls
Documentation & Tracking: Administratively track trials, network changes, firewall rule sets, and data flows; maintain architecture diagrams, runbooks, and change logs
Operational Excellence: Perform daily checks on critical OT systems (latency, throughput, packet loss, historian backfill, certificate health) and act on leading indicators
Safety & Housekeeping: Promote daily safety communications and maintain clean, well-labeled cabinets, panels, racks, and cable management aligned with mill standards
Customer Focus: Assist in resolving internal “customer” issues (operations, quality, maintenance) with corrective actions and proactive monitoring; maintain clear communication
Continuous Improvement: Organize and implement trials and changes to improve data quality, network resilience, and system uptime; quantify benefits (MTBF/MTTR, data completeness, cost avoidance)
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering—or equivalent technical discipline
Minimum 5 years of experience in OT/industrial networking, systems engineering, or controls/automation, with relevant work experience or military service considered
Hands-on with L2/L3 networking (switching/routing), VLANs, trunking, STP, QoS, NAT, VPNs, and segmentation (ISA/IEC 62443 concepts a plus)
Experience configuring and managing firewalls (e.g., Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco, Check Point) and implementing rule hygiene and logging
Practical cybersecurity skills in OT environments: least privilege, secure remote access, jump hosts, certificate management (PKI), asset inventory, and patch management
Demonstrated proficiency with OPC UA/DA, Modbus/TCP, EtherNet/IP, MQTT, and integrating PLC/DCS tags to historians/SCADA/analytics
Experience with VMware and/or Hyper‑V for virtualization; Windows Server and Linux administration
Familiarity with AWS services and secure data integration patterns for industrial telemetry
Data center fundamentals: rack design, structured cabling, labeling, redundancy, power, cooling, and monitoring
Strong understanding of Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) architecture, configuration, and communication protocols
Familiarity with design and implementation of industrial network topologies such as FTE, DLR, REP, and PRP
Experience troubleshooting control system connectivity issues and integrating data from PLC/DCS into historians and cloud platforms
Knowledge of vendor-specific platforms (e.g., ABB, Emerson, Honeywell, Rockwell/Allen-Bradley, Siemens) is a plus
Preferred
Pulp & paper mill or heavy industrial background
Experience with PI/AVEVA (OSIsoft), Ignition, FactoryTalk, or similar platforms
Exposure to network monitoring tools (NetFlow, SNMP, syslog), and SIEM integration
Scripting/automation (PowerShell, Python) for configuration management and data workflows
Certifications: CCNA/CCNP, NSE, PCNSA, GICSP, CISSP, AWS Cloud Practitioner/Associate
Company
WestRock Company
Smurfit Westrock is the global leader of paper-based packaging solutions.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
WestRock Company has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (7)
2024 (14)
2023 (25)
2022 (8)
2021 (24)
2020 (21)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
unknown2023-09-12Acquired
2015-07-02IPO
Leadership Team
S
Samuel Shoemaker
President, Consumer Packaging
Recent News
2026-01-09
Company data provided by crunchbase