Strategic Technical Solutions Engineer
About Copia
Copia is building the modern engineering platform for industrial automation. Industrial organizations operate critical infrastructure on PLCs, SCADA, and OT networks. These environments power manufacturing, energy, food production, and infrastructure worldwide. Most of them still rely on fragmented tooling and manual workflows that would not be tolerated in any modern software environment.
Copia closes that gap. We bring the discipline of modern software engineering to operational technology teams, giving controls engineers and IT security teams the version control, change management, and operational resilience their environments demand.
Two concepts define what we do:
Industrial Code Lifecycle Management (ICLM) applies structured lifecycle practices to automation code and configuration management. Think DevOps for the plant floor. It enables industrial teams to manage PLC logic, configurations, and automation assets with version control, traceability, and controlled deployment processes. No more tribal knowledge. No more manual backups on USB drives. No more mystery around what changed, when, and who made the call.
Operational Technology Disaster Recovery (OTDR) ensures automation systems can be rapidly restored after failures, cyber incidents, or operational disruptions. It covers backup validation, system restoration procedures, and resilience planning for industrial control systems. When ransomware hits or equipment fails, production gets back online in hours, not weeks.
Together, ICLM and OTDR form the foundation for secure, resilient industrial automation environments. Copia is the platform that makes both operationally real.
Why This Role Exists
Industrial automation code is the most critical and least protected asset in operational technology environments. Most organizations have invested heavily in OT network security and threat detection (Claroty, Dragos, Nozomi) but left the actual automation code running their PLCs completely unprotected. No backup. No version history. No recovery plan.
Copia fills that gap. We sit at the intersection of disaster recovery, backup, and secure change management within the OT cyber stack. The last line of defense when everything else has already failed.
Large strategic enterprise accounts have chosen Copia to manage their industrial automation environments. These are not small pilots. These are enterprise-wide transformations across hundreds of facilities, involving OT security teams, controls engineers, CISOs, and operations leadership simultaneously.
As we scale into Utilities, DoD/Aerospace, Food and Beverage, CPG, and Data Centers, we need a Senior Technical Solutions Engineer who can hold the room with a CISO, architect a deployment plan for 1,500 sites, and still speak the language of a controls engineer on the plant floor. This is a high-visibility, high-impact role that will grow into leading Copia's Strategic Solutions Engineering team.
What you'll achieve:
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Be the technical authority in Copia's most important enterprise opportunities, owning discovery, evaluation design, architecture recommendations, and executive communication
Partner directly with Strategic Sales Directors to drive complex, multi-stakeholder deals from first conversation through signed agreement and successful deployment
Translate industrial engineering reality into business and compliance language for audiences ranging from plant floor engineers to Fortune 500 CISOs
Build the technical evaluation playbooks, reference architectures, and POC frameworks the next SE hire will use on day one
Contribute directly to deal outcomes in Utilities, DoD/Aerospace, Food and Beverage, CPG, and Data Center verticals
Represent Copia at industry events and customer advisory sessions as a credible voice in OT security, resilience, and industrial automation modernization
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Technical Partnership with Sales
Lead technical discovery across OT, IT, Controls Engineering, and Security stakeholders within the same enterprise account
Build and execute formal evaluation project plans with defined milestones, success criteria, and exit criteria
Deliver tailored demonstrations and technical presentations to both plant floor engineers and C-suite executives
Identify and surface technical risks early in the deal cycle before they become blockers or surprises
Author technical sections of proposals, RFP responses, and security questionnaires
Develop and maintain reusable technical collateral including reference architectures, deployment guides, and objection-handling playbooks
Industrial DevOps and Automation Transformation
Guide customers through modernization of automation engineering workflows using ICLM principles
Discuss version control for PLC logic and change management for control systems in practical, operational terms
Translate DevOps-style engineering practices into OT-relevant language that resonates with automation teams
Identify workflow gaps and present Copia's ICLM framework as the structured, proven path forward
OT / ICS Security Engagement
Engage customers on ICS security risks, regulatory obligations including NIS2, NERC CIP, IEC 62443, NIST CSF, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and OT-specific threat models
Support conversations around network segmentation, Purdue model architecture, and cloud integration constraints in air-gapped or hybrid OT environments
Evaluate customer architecture against OTDR requirements and assist in defining and documenting their OT disaster recovery posture
Serve as a credible voice in conversations with OT Security teams, CISOs, and compliance stakeholders
Solution Architecture and Deployment Strategy
Recommend Copia deployment approaches across single-site pilots and multi-facility enterprise rollouts at scale
Identify OT infrastructure constraints, network segmentation requirements, and integration dependencies before they become deployment issues
Collaborate with Copia's Deployment and Customer Success teams to ensure implementation success and clean handoffs
Define and document post-pilot expansion pathways with clear technical and commercial milestones
Team and Capability Building
Develop reusable technical frameworks, demo environments, and evaluation playbooks that scale beyond individual deals
Mentor and onboard future Solutions Engineers as the team grows
Contribute structured product feedback from the field, surfacing capability gaps, integration questions, and customer objections with enough specificity to be actionable for engineering
Represent Copia at industry events, customer advisory sessions, and technical forums
What we're looking for:
Core Behaviors
Technical Authority: Earns credibility in the room based on knowledge and experience, not title. Comfortable leading technical conversations without a safety net
Consultative by Default: Leads with discovery and curiosity before proposing solutions. Asks the question behind the question
Intellectual Honesty: Does not overclaim product capability. Positions Copia's current architecture accurately and builds trust through transparency
Builder Mentality: Goes beyond closing individual evaluations to create assets, frameworks, and documentation that make the team better
Startup Ready: Operates effectively in unstructured environments. Comfortable being the first or only SE in a vertical and building process rather than following established playbooks
Essential Experience
8 to 12+ years in industrial automation, OT cybersecurity, industrial software, or technical consulting with direct customer-facing responsibility
3+ years in solutions engineering, pre-sales architecture, or technical sales supporting complex enterprise deals with 6 to 18 month cycles
Direct hands-on or applied experience with major PLC platforms: Rockwell Logix, Siemens TIA Portal/STEP 7, Schneider, Beckhoff, Fanuc, Emerson, or Omron
Working knowledge of SCADA, HMI, and industrial networking environments in manufacturing or critical infrastructure settings
Demonstrated ability to engage credibly across OT, IT Security, Controls Engineering, and Executive stakeholder groups within the same account
Proven track record supporting evaluation-to-pilot-to-enterprise deployment motions with documented expansion outcomes
Required Skills
Technical discovery leadership: Structures and leads discovery conversations that surface operational risk, infrastructure constraints, and unstated decision criteria
Evaluation design: Builds formal POC and pilot project plans with defined success criteria, milestones, and expansion pathways
Architecture recommendation: Produces deployment architecture documentation tailored to customer OT environment, network segmentation requirements, and regulatory context
Regulatory fluency: Speaks credibly to NIS2, NERC CIP, IEC 62443, NIST CSF, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 in the context of customer compliance conversations
Executive communication: Translates complex OT engineering concepts into strategic business and compliance language for C-suite and VP-level audiences
CRM discipline: Maintains clean, accurate HubSpot documentation including discovery notes, stakeholder maps, technical risk logs, and deal progression without being asked
Desired Qualifications
Former controls engineer or automation system integrator background
Experience with Git, version control systems, or software configuration management in any environment
Certifications: GICSP, CSSA, or similar OT security credentials
Industrial networking or security architecture experience including firewall policy, DMZ design, and VPN in OT contexts
Experience with land-and-expand enterprise sales motions at growth-stage companies
What you're walking into:
This is not a role where you build from zero and hope things materialize. The foundation is already laid.
What exists today:
Large enterprise logos already closed across manufacturing, utilities, food and beverage, and logistics
Vertical pod sales structure being built and staffed with dedicated Enterprise Sales Directors
Active pipeline in Utilities, DoD/Aerospace, Food and Beverage/CPG, and Data Centers
Proven platform with broad vendor support across 40+ major PLC and SCADA ecosystems
Compliance narrative built and field-tested around NIS2, NERC CIP, IEC 62443, and NIST
What you will shape:
Technical evaluation playbooks and POC frameworks used across all verticals
Reference architecture library that becomes the standard for enterprise deployments
SE onboarding and capability development as the team scales
Product feedback loop between field experience and engineering roadmap
Executive-level technical narrative for Copia's most strategic accounts
Why Join Copia Now
Growth trajectory: Individual contributor role with a direct, visible path to leading Copia's Strategic Solutions Engineering team
Market timing: NIS2 enforcement, rising ransomware attacks on OT infrastructure, and growing executive awareness of automation code vulnerability are creating demand that did not exist three years ago
Unique position: Copia solves problems that Claroty, Dragos, and Palo Alto do not address. The disaster recovery and backup layer of the OT cyber stack is ours to define and own
Proven customers: Strong retention, reference-able deployments across Fortune 500 accounts, and validated ROI in recovery time and audit compliance
Category creation: ICLM and OTDR are frameworks we are defining with the market. The SE who joins now helps write that playbook
Remote flexibility: Work from anywhere in the US with autonomy to manage your schedule around customer needs
In Conclusion
Copia is defining a new layer of the OT cybersecurity stack and winning. If you have the industrial automation depth, the OT security awareness, and the enterprise SE discipline to operate at the highest levels of a complex sale, we want to talk.