Technical Architect - MES, Unified Namespace & Digital Manufacturing Platforms

As a Technical Architect at AG SOLUTION, you will design the technical backbone of digital manufacturing solutions. You will work at the intersection of MES, automation, IIoT, data platforms, and the Unified Namespace (UNS) concept, helping shape scalable, future-proof architectures for our clients.

Responsibilities

Architecture & Solution Design

• Define end-to-end digital manufacturing architectures, covering MES, UNS, edge/OT layers, data integration, and cloud/on-prem components.
• Design modular, scalable and secure architectures that support real-time operations, analytics, and cross-system connectivity.
• Translate business and process requirements into technical designs, data models, and integration patterns.
• Develop UNS structures (MQTT / Sparkplug / event-driven architectures), ensuring clean naming conventions, governance, and interoperability.
• Define how MES, historians, SCADA/PLC, and enterprise systems (ERP, LIMS, QMS) communicate.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical guidance to project teams (MES consultants, automation engineers, data engineers, developers).
• Review and validate functional & technical designs, ensuring alignment with the architectural vision.
• Support implementation by offering hands-on expertise when needed (prototyping, integration, troubleshooting).
• Coach teams and clients to adopt modern industrial IT/OT design principles.

Collaboration & Strategy

• Facilitate workshops with stakeholders to explore requirements and align on architectural decisions.
• Support clients in building digital transformation roadmaps - focusing on value, resilience, maintainability, and long-term scalability.
• Contribute to AG SOLUTION’s internal knowledge base, best practices, and reference architectures.

Quality, Security & Governance

• Ensure architectures comply with cybersecurity, data governance, and reliability standards.
• Promote modern practices: event-driven architectures, decoupled integration, domain-based modelling, and clean data flows.

Essential Experience

• Strong expertise in MES platforms (e.g., Siemens Opcenter, Rockwell FTPC, Werum, Aveva, Ignition, etc.).
• Deep understanding of manufacturing processes and OT/IT ecosystem integration.
• Solid experience with Unified Namespace concepts and enabling technologies:
• MQTT, Sparkplug B, broker design, payload conventions
• Event-driven architecture & pub/sub models
• Data modelling for industrial environments
• Strong knowledge of industrial integration patterns (OPC UA, REST APIs, SQL databases, historians, etc.).
• Ability to design reference architectures and explain trade-offs clearly.
• Experience collaborating with automation teams (PLC/SCADA) and IT/data teams.
• A structured, analytical mindset with strong communication skills - able to make complex topics accessible.

Nice to Have

• Experience with modern IIoT platforms or data platforms (Kafka, Azure/AWS IoT, Influx, etc.).
• Knowledge of ISA-95, ISA-88, and general manufacturing standards.
• Experience in cybersecurity frameworks for industrial systems.
• Ability to mentor junior engineers or lead small technical teams.
• Hands-on experience with scripting or coding (Python, Node-RED, .NET, etc.) is a plus, not a requirement.
• Fluency in English and Dutch.

• Strong expertise in MES platforms (e.g., Siemens Opcenter, Rockwell FTPC, Werum, Aveva, Ignition, etc.).
• Deep understanding of manufacturing processes and OT/IT ecosystem integration.
• Solid experience with Unified Namespace concepts and enabling technologies:
• MQTT, Sparkplug B, broker design, payload conventions
• Event-driven architecture & pub/sub models
• Data modelling for industrial environments
• Strong knowledge of industrial integration patterns (OPC UA, REST APIs, SQL databases, historians, etc.).
• Ability to design reference architectures and explain trade-offs clearly.
• Experience collaborating with automation teams (PLC/SCADA) and IT/data teams.
• A structured, analytical mindset with strong communication skills - able to make complex topics accessible.

Nice to Have

• Experience with modern IIoT platforms or data platforms (Kafka, Azure/AWS IoT, Influx, etc.).
• Knowledge of ISA-95, ISA-88, and general manufacturing standards.
• Experience in cybersecurity frameworks for industrial systems.
• Ability to mentor junior engineers or lead small technical teams.
• Hands-on experience with scripting or coding (Python, Node-RED, .NET, etc.) is a plus, not a requirement.
• Fluency in English and Dutch.