IT/OT Senior Systems Engineer at BioUrja Renewables in Houston, TX

SUMMARY OF COMPANY

BioUrja Renewables, LLC is a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade, beverage-grade, and fuel-grade ethanol and co-products, located in Peoria, IL. The company operates a 135 million gallon per year production plant, which is among the largest industrial alcohol facilities in the U.S., with a long history of successful operations. We are part of the BioUrja Group, a family-owned energy and agricultural trading, supply and distribution group headquartered in Houston, Texas and having operations across the USA, as well as in the UK, UAE, India, Singapore, and Mexico. We are proud to have been listed as one of the top four largest privately held companies in the Houston metropolitan area.

POSITION SUMMARY

The IT/OT Senior Systems Engineer serves as the senior technical resource supporting IT and Operational Technology (OT) infrastructure across BioUrja Renewables’ manufacturing facilities, with primary responsibility for Peoria, Illinois, and additional support for North Texas operations. Based in Houston and reporting to the BioUrja Advisors Americas Team Lead, this role is dedicated entirely to plant IT and OT operations and is responsible for the design, build, and ongoing reliability of the server, network, wired and wireless, and security infrastructure that supports 24x7 production environments. In addition to hands-on engineering, this role provides direct supervision and technical leadership for assigned plant IT/OT support personnel, setting priorities, coaching, and serving as the primary escalation point for issues beyond Tier 1 scope. The Senior Systems Engineer owns technical and service-related problems through resolution and root cause, ensures support activity is accurately documented in support tools, engages internal, vendor, and remote resources as needed, and holds the plant support function at each site accountable to established Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and performance metrics. The ideal candidate combines deep technical skill across IT and OT environments with the judgment to lead others, contribute to standards and architecture, and deliver exceptional service to plant operations and business partners.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Reports to the BioUrja Advisors Americas Team Lead and is dedicated entirely to plant IT and OT operations.
• Serves as the primary technical owner for plant IT/OT support, engineering, and day-to-day operations, representing each site’s requirements in planning and decisions.
• Collaborates with the Americas Team Lead, plant operations leadership at each facility, and IT peers to ensure technical decisions align with both IT and business strategies and objectives.
• Leads the development, communication, and maintenance of IT/OT policies, procedures, standards, and technical documentation across plant environments, driving consistent standards between sites.
• Maintains awareness of IT, IT/OT convergence, and industrial cybersecurity best practices and technology trends; identifies and recommends improvements that strengthen reliability, security, and supportability.
• Develops and maintains runbooks, procedures, and training plans for plant support roles.
• Participates in and helps coordinate the on-call rotation with plant support staff, serving as the escalation point for Tier 1 on-call.

TEAM LEADERSHIP & SUPERVISION

• Provides direct supervision of assigned plant IT support personnel, including work prioritization, performance management, training, and technical development; monitors ticket queues and ensures SLOs are met.
• Serves as the primary escalation point for Tier 1, providing technical guidance and taking ownership of complex or high-severity issues.
• Coaches, mentors, and develops Tier 1 staff; identifies skills gaps and builds training plans that expand their capabilities over time.
• Reviews ticket quality, documentation, and adherence to established processes; provides regular feedback and conducts performance reviews.
• Partners with plant operations leadership to set support priorities and communicate the status of issues and projects.

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING & ADMINISTRATION

• Designs, installs, configures, tests, maintains, monitors, and troubleshoots network infrastructure, Windows servers, and supporting software across IT and OT environments, serving as the escalation point for end-user and peripheral issues handled by Tier 1.
• Manages security solutions, including secure remote access, endpoint protection/anti-virus, and intrusion detection systems.
• Designs and manages wired and wireless networks, including appropriate segmentation between business and OT networks.
• Manages phone system operations.
• Owns system backups and file/server recovery, including periodic restore testing.
• Oversees end user accounts, permissions, and access rights, with routine requests handled by Tier 1 staff.
• Manages relationships with third-party support providers and equipment vendors for escalations, warranty, and project work.
• Performs server and network security audits and drives remediation of findings.
• Plans and leads infrastructure projects, upgrades, and lifecycle refreshes for plant systems across all supported facilities.
• Perform related duties consistent with the scope and intent of the position.

SECURITY & RISK MANAGEMENT

• Contributes to the design and implementation of security controls and practices that protect identity, company data, OT systems, brand image, personal information, and any other information deemed sensitive.
• Helps develop, maintain, and test the disaster recovery and business continuity plans for the IT Service Desk and Operational Technology environments.
• Supports incident response for security events affecting plant IT/OT systems.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

• Five or more years of experience in systems administration or systems engineering; experience supporting industrial, manufacturing, or OT required.
• Experience supporting industrial networking environments, including managed switches, VLANs, firewalls, industrial Ethernet, IT/OT network segmentation, and secure remote access to manufacturing systems. Familiarity with PLC, SCADA, DCS, or historian environments preferred; programming experience is not required.
• Prior experience supervising, leading, or mentoring technical support staff preferred.

SOFT SKILLS

• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and hold team members accountable while remaining hands-on.
• Excellent organizational and planning skills.
• Strong communications and interpersonal abilities.
• Treats others with respect and value, with diplomacy and tact.
• Ability to listen, build rapport, and credibility as a partner within the business and IT.
• Strong customer service orientation.
• Ability to make sound and logical judgments under intense pressure.
• Self-directed and self-regulated, while being accountable for his/her area of ownership and role.
• Ability to balance the needs of customers in a challenging setting with the requirements to maintain a stable, secure, and ever-changing IT environment.
• Ability to translate and communicate technical information to a non-technical audience.
• Strong incident and problem management skills including identification and escalation of system issues.
• Ability to manage high severity issues and escalate as appropriate.

EDUCATION

• Associate's degree and/or 7 years of work experience in a related field.
• CCNA or better preferred; security (e.g., Security+, GICSP) or Microsoft certifications a plus.

TRAVEL

• Up to 30% domestic travel, including an anticipated one week per month at the Peoria facility during the initial transition period, with additional travel to North Texas facilities and other sites as operational needs dictate.

BENEFITS

• Competitive Salary.
• Comprehensive Benefits (medical, dental, vision, life).
• 401(k)/ Retirement savings.
• Friendly work environment.
• Paid-Time Off/holidays.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

BioUrja Renewables, LLC participates in the E-Verify Employment Verification Program.

BioUrja Renewables, LLC is not currently accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms. Regardless of past practice, all resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at BioUrja Advisors LLC, via-email, the Internet or directly to hiring managers at BioUrja Renewables, LLC in any form without a valid written agreement in place for that specific position will be deemed the sole property of BioUrja Renewables, LLC. As a result, no fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by BioUrja Renewables, LLC.