IT Section Head - Operational Technology Apps

Moog is a performance culture that empowers people to achieve great things. Our people enjoy solving interesting technical challenges in a culture where everyone trusts each other to do the right thing. For you, working with us can mean deeper job satisfaction, better rewards, and a great quality of life inside and outside of work.

Job Title:

IT Section Head - Operational Technology Apps

Reporting To:

Director, IT Digital Eng & Mfg Apps

Work Schedule:

Onsite – Buffalo, NY

Moog’s Corporate Group Is looking for an IT Section Head - Operational Technology Applications, to join our Enterprise Solutions Team!

In this role, you will lead and grow the Operational Technology (OT) Applications Support team responsible for the availability, performance, cybersecurity, and lifecycle management of Operational Technology (OT) applications, such as SCADA (e.g., Ignition), data collection/IIoT platforms, DNC, QMS, and Asset Monitoring solutions. You will balance hands‑on technical leadership with people management, service delivery excellence, and cross‑functional collaboration with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Facilities, and Cybersecurity. You will set strategy, establish standards, and ensure 24×7 support for mission‑critical production systems across multiple sites.

You will work onsite at our facility in East Aurora, NY.

To qualify for the IT Section Head – Operational Technology Applications, here is what we would expect you to bring to Moog…

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Electrical/Controls Engineering, or a related field.

• Over five (5) years hands‑on with OT applications (SCADA, DNC, QMS)—preferably Ignition—including gateway administration, scripting, and integrations.

• Over three (3) years in team leadership/people management (supervisor, manager, or section head) in a 24×7 production support context.

• Demonstrated success delivering system upgrades/migrations, performance tuning, and DR for OT stacks.

• Must live local to the Buffalo, NY area.

• Must be open to travelling to various Moog sites, both domestic and international.

Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of industrial protocols (OPC UA, MQTT/Sparkplug B, Modbus, EtherNet/IP) and data flow design.

• Familiarity with networking in OT (layered zones/conduits, VLANs, firewalls, DMZs, VPNs) and identity/access (AD/LDAP, RBAC).

• Experience with virtualization/containerization (VMware/Hyper‑V, Docker/Kubernetes where appropriate for OT), Windows Server/Linux, and patch/AV solutions that are OT‑safe.

• Tooling: ITSM (ServiceNow), monitoring (Ignition alarming), version control (Git), and CI/CD adapted for OT.

Process & Soft Skills

• Practical application of ITIL (Incident/Problem/Change), SRE concepts (SLIs/SLOs/MTTR), and Lean/Kaizen.

• Excellent communication with shop‑floor operators and senior leadership; strong vendor negotiation and stakeholder management.

• Structured documentation and governance mindset; ability to lead major incidents calmly and decisively.

It would also be beneficial if you had:

• Master’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Electrical/Controls Engineering, or a related field.

• Certifications: Ignition Core/Gold, ISA/IEC 62443, CompTIA CySA+/Security+, ITIL v4, PMP or Lean Six Sigma.

• Experience in Aerospace & Defense or similarly regulated industries; knowledge of export controls (ITAR/EAR).

• Exposure to PLM/ERP integrations (e.g., Teamcenter, SAP/Oracle), LIMS/Quality systems, and advanced analytics/data lake pipelines.

As the IT Section Head – Operational Technology Applications you will have the following responsibilities…

Leadership & Strategy

• Own the OT applications support strategy, roadmap, and operating model; align with Digital/Manufacturing Engineering and Enterprise Architecture.

• Build, mentor, and retain a high‑performing OT support team (analysts, engineers, SREs); manage capacity, staffing, and skills development.

• Define and enforce standards for configuration, scripting, release management, backup/restore, and disaster recovery for OT apps.

Service Management & Operations

• Establish and meet SLAs/SLOs for availability, incident response, change, and problem management (ITIL practices).

• Oversee 24×7 support procedures, on‑call rotations, escalation paths, and major incident handling for plant systems.

Cybersecur