Senior Ovation DCS Programmer - Systems Engineer

Location: Richmond, VA, United States; Hybrid

Communities everywhere share the need for clean water. And as they work to meet that need, they’re facing new, more complex challenges every day. Our water professionals collaborate to contribute innovative ideas, guided by scientific rigor and a vision for sustainable growth. Every day, we’re helping communities improve, reuse, and protect our world’s most precious resource.

Join our team to deliver transformational projects that will benefit future generations. Grow with us, H20+U. 

Your Opportunity

Stantec is seeking a highly experienced Senior Emerson Ovation DCS Programmer - Systems Engineer to support the design, implementation, commissioning, and long-term support of Emerson Ovation Distributed Control Systems for water and wastewater treatment facilities. This role is a senior technical position responsible for hands-on system programming, configuration, troubleshooting, and optimization, with direct involvement in plant operations, startup, and lifecycle support. The successful candidate will serve as a technical lead, supporting project delivery while mentoring junior staff and collaborating closely with operations, engineering, and project management teams. 

Your Key Responsibilities

• Design, program, test, configure, and commission industrial control systems, including: 
• Emerson’s Ovation DCS System, PLCs (e.g., Allen‑Bradley, Siemens, Schneider, GE) and SCADA and HMI platforms. 
• Develop control logic, communication architectures, operator graphics, alarm configurations, and system databases and system integration strategies. 
• Participate in system upgrades, troubleshooting, and root‑cause analysis of automation issues.
• Lead the design and architecture of advanced industrial control systems, including PLC, SCADA, DCS, HMI, and OT networking infrastructure. 
• Architect robust system standards that align with operational, safety, and cybersecurity best practices (ISA, IEC 62443, NIST CSF, NFPA). 
• Develop and approve control logic, high‑level functional specifications, cause-and-effect matrices, and network topologies. 
• Oversee system integration efforts across multiple teams, vendors, and project stakeholders. 
• Serve as a technical escalation point for complex automation, networking, and instrumentation issues. 
• Manage and support lifecycle modernization, migration, and large-scale capital projects. 
• Conduct risk assessments, failure mode analysis, and system reliability studies. 
• Champion OT cybersecurity initiatives—segmentation, hardening, patch plans, secure communications, and policy alignment. 
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers; lead design reviews and training sessions. 
• Ensure rigorous documentation, testing, commissioning, and change control processes. 
• Support cross-functional strategy shaping around automation standards, digital transformation, and operational performance improvements.
• Support OT cybersecurity with the best practices in control system design and deployment.
• Perform system upgrades, migrations, and expansions on legacy and current Ovation platforms. 
• Produce and maintain system documentation, drawings, network diagrams, and test plans. 
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define system requirements and ensure operational readiness. 
• Provide on-site or remote commissioning and technical support as needed. 
• Lead or support capital projects involving automation enhancements or modernization.
• Support control optimization, tuning, and modernization initiatives.
• Implement and support control strategies for water and wastewater treatment and conveyance including all aspects of pumping, filtration, chemical feed, disinfection, solids handling, and water distribution systems. 
• Knowledge of historians, databases, and industrial data integrations. 

About the Organization