Job Description

About Syngenta

At Syngenta Group, we're a global community of 56,000 innovators across 90 countries, united by a 250-year legacy of agricultural excellence. As the world's most local agricultural technology partner, we create tailor-made solutions that transform farming while protecting our planet, driven by our commitment to innovation, ethics, and integrity. Through our inclusive environment and diverse perspectives, we pioneer breakthrough solutions for farmers, society, and future generations. Join our worldwide teams of agricultural pioneers in creating a more resilient and equitable food system for all.

At Syngenta Vegetables and Flowers, we're cultivating tomorrow's diversity through innovative breeding that brings vibrant colors to gardens and nutritious vegetables to tables worldwide. We combine centuries of seed heritage with cutting-edge innovation to develop resilient, high-performing varieties that thrive in diverse climates. Join us in shaping the future of sustainable horticulture, where every seed holds the potential to enhance lives through better nutrition and natural beauty.

We're seeking an IoT/OT Network Engineer to build and maintain secure, reliable connectivity infrastructure for our global Vegetable R&D sites. You'll enable digital transformation by designing robust IoT/OT network architectures, integrating industrial systems with corporate IT, and supporting smart agriculture initiatives through secure connectivity and data-driven automation.

This role accelerates R&D digitization by enabling real-time data capture, reducing manual processes, and ensuring seamless integration between field sensors, industrial systems, and cloud platforms—ultimately driving operational efficiency and faster innovation cycles.

Key Accountabilities

Network Architecture, Security & IT/OT Integration

• Develop and maintain IoT/OT network architectures with dedicated IIoT VLANs, layered firewalls, NAT, and application proxies aligned with ISA/IEC 62443, NIST CSF, and zero-trust principles.
• Implement secure connections between Vegetable R&D sites and corporate networks with robust IT/OT boundary protection.
• Manage certificate lifecycle, device authentication, encryption, and SBOM/supply-chain controls for firmware and edge devices.

Industrial Systems & Hardware Integration

• Integrate sensors, PLCs, SCADA/DCS, historians, and industrial data loggers with secure northbound flows and store-and-forward buffering.
• Configure firmware, edge devices/gateways, and PLC programming for reliable data acquisition and seamless system connectivity.
• Identify and implement appropriate sensors, electronics, and hardware to digitize manual R&D processes.

Cloud, Edge & Remote Management

• Design IoT solutions using AWS IoT Core, Greengrass, SiteWise, and Device Defender with secure Direct Connect/VPN connectivity.
• Implement edge reliability through QoS, buffering, OTA updates, and secure remote protocols for firmware/configuration management.
• Architect industrial time synchronization (IEEE 1588 PTP/NTP) and manage latency/determinism for control networks.

Operations, Monitoring & Change Management

• Maintain OT asset inventory (passive discovery), validate patches/firmware, and enforce backup/restore for PLC/SCADA configurations.
• Deploy passive OT monitoring (TAP/SPAN), establish ICS-specific incident response playbooks, and coordinate with enterprise SOC.
• Execute formal management of change (MOC) with production windows, rollback procedures, and runbooks to avoid process disruptions.
• Drive adoption of secure networking and digitization practices across global Vegetable R&D sites.

Qualifications

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, or related field.
• 8+ years in network engineering with 5+ years in OT/IoT environments; global multi-site experience preferred.
• Experience or knowledge of the agricultural industry and its operational requirements.

Technical Expertise:

• Industrial Networking & Protocols: Ethernet/IP, PROFINET, Modbus TCP/RTU, OPC UA, DNP3, BACnet, HART, serial (RS-485/RS-232), DeviceNet/CAN; VLAN segmentation and QoS.
• IoT & Cloud: MQTT, OPC UA, edge-to-cloud architectures; AWS IoT Core, Greengrass, SiteWise, Device Defender; streaming/ingestion services.
• Hardware & Systems: Sensors, electronics, firmware, PLCs, industrial data loggers; PLC programming and SCADA/DCS integration.
• Security: Certificate management/rotation, encryption at rest/in transit, secure device onboarding, SBOM, ISA/IEC 62443, NIST CSF, zero-trust.
• OT Operations: IEEE 1588 PTP/NTP, passive monitoring, anomaly detection, edge computing, buffering/store-and-forward, OTA updates.

Core Competencies:

• Technical expertise with ability to influence decisions; strategic thinking; cross-functional collaboration; strong decision quality; innovation and change agility.

Languages:

• Fluency in English (written and spoken) required.

Desired:

• Industrial Wireless & Physical Layer: Industrial Wi‑Fi/site surveys, WirelessHART/ISA100 familiarity; EMC/grounding, surge protection, and UPS design for network/edge nodes.

Additional Information

Preferred location: Almería, Spain

Remote work: This position can be performed remotely from anywhere within Spain.

What we offer

- A culture that promotes work/life balance, celebrates diversity and offers numerous events throughout the year.

- Flexible working arrangements.

- Competitive salary and benefits package.

- A role that contributes to valuable and impactful work in a stimulating and international environment.

- Learning culture and a wide range of development options, including access to learning platforms (Degreed and LinkedIn Learning)

Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.