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Senior Manager – Controls and Automation Software Development

INSPYR Solutions


Job Location:

Houston, MS - USA

Monthly Salary: Not provided by the employer
Posted: 29 September 2026 (20 hours ago)
Application Deadline: 27 December 2026
Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Title: Senior Manager Controls & Automation Software Development
Location: Houston TX (Onsite Daily)

Duration: Permanent Direct-Hire
Work Requirements: US Citizens GC Holders or Authorized to Work in the US.



Top Skills Required:
  • Previous experience managing a team of Automation & Controls Engineers
  • Hands-on technical experience in the development of PLCs and HMIs preferably from Siemens and Omron


Job Description:
The Senior Manager Controls and Automation Software Development is responsible for leading the Controls and Automation Development team providing the technical leadership engineering governance and organizational capability required to deliver safe reliable and scalable drilling control systems across the companys fleet.

This role is accountable for engineering execution software development processes architecture governance software quality release management engineering standards and the continuous development of a high-performing software engineering organization. The Senior Manager leads a multidisciplinary team responsible for PLC software HMI applications simulation quality assurance and software platform development.

Working closely with Product Management Sustaining Engineering and New Projects teams this leader ensures engineering execution aligns with business priorities while maintaining the highest standards for software quality technical excellence and predictable delivery.
This position reports to the Director Controls & Automation.


Minimum Qualifications
  • Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering Computer Science Robotics Automation Engineering or a related technical discipline or equivalent industry experience.
  • Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience developing industrial controls software preferably PLC- and HMI-based systems.
  • Demonstrated experience leading software engineering teams responsible for industrial automation or mission-critical control systems.
  • Strong understanding of industrial communication protocols.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead multiple engineering programs while managing competing priorities and delivery schedules.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.


Preferred Qualifications
  • Fifteen or more years of experience developing industrial control systems within drilling rig equipment oil and gas or other heavy industrial automation industries.
  • Previous leadership experience managing multidisciplinary software engineering organizations.
  • Experience with industrial automation platforms such as Omron Siemens TIA Portal WinCC Ignition or equivalent.
  • Experience with HMI development simulation environments automated software testing and software quality systems.
  • Working knowledge of VFD systems motion control and industrial networking technologies.
  • Experience supporting field commissioning troubleshooting and deployment of industrial automation systems.


Detailed Description
Engineering Leadership
  • Build and lead a high-performing Controls Software Engineering organization responsible for delivering safe reliable and scalable control software across our drilling fleet.
  • Establish a culture of technical excellence accountability ownership collaboration and continuous improvement.
  • Lead Technical Leads Senior Engineers Quality Engineering and third-party engineering resources responsible for software development and validation.
  • Develop organizational capability through structured coaching mentorship succession planning and leadership development.
  • Define and maintain engineering career ladders and technical competency expectations across all engineering levels.
  • Develop and maintain the Principal Engineer pipeline by identifying mentoring and growing future technical leaders.
  • Own workforce planning future staffing strategy and hiring plans aligned with the Controls & Automation technology roadmap.
  • Establish and maintain the technical hiring bar for the organization and participate in final technical interviews for senior engineering positions.
  • Lead the performance management process ensuring evaluations are based on measurable performance technical contribution leadership and organizational impact.
  • Promote a diverse and inclusive work environment where employees feel respected supported and empowered to contribute their best work.
Technical Governance
  • Establish the technical direction for the Controls Software Engineering organization while empowering Technical Leads and Principal Engineers to own detailed solution design and implementation.
  • Govern software architecture through structured architecture reviews engineering standards and technical design processes.
  • Ensure engineering teams consistently deliver high-quality software documentation control algorithms and system designs that meet company standards.
  • Own the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) including development standards coding practices testing methodologies documentation requirements release controls and change management processes.
  • Define and enforce software contribution standards including code quality modularity documentation maintainability and testability.
  • Own the engineering technical debt strategy by ensuring technical debt is identified prioritized and systematically addressed during release planning.
  • Maintain active technical engagement across all engineering programs by evaluating architecture proposals identifying technical risks facilitating architecture reviews and resolving escalated technical decisions.
  • Champion modern software engineering practices including AI-assisted software development automated testing simulation continuous integration static code analysis and engineering productivity tools.
  • Ensure software engineering practices comply with company cybersecurity policies and secure software development lifecycle standards.
  • Stay current with industrial automation technologies and software engineering best practices to continuously improve engineering capabilities.
Engineering Delivery & Release Excellence
  • Own engineering execution for the Controls Software Engineering organization ensuring commitments are delivered safely predictably and with high quality.
  • Drive the departments platform release cadence by ensuring development across all engineering teams converges into stable production-ready software releases.
  • Own engineering planning release planning capacity planning resource allocation dependency management and delivery forecasting.
  • Conduct regular engineering delivery reviews with Technical Leads to identify execution risks remove organizational blockers and maintain predictable delivery.
  • Make engineering Go/No-Go recommendations for software releases in partnership with Quality Engineering and Product Management.
  • Establish measurable engineering performance metrics and continuously improve engineering effectiveness.
  • Drive continuous improvement in software quality engineering productivity release predictability and deployment readiness.
  • Work closely with Product Management during field qualification beta testing and release validation to ensure successful deployment of new functionality.
  • Establish strong communication channels with field operations and technical support organizations to capture operational feedback and continuously improve engineering deliverables.
Engineering Infrastructure & Platform
  • Own the long-term evolution of Controls Software Platform driving modular architecture software reuse hardware abstraction configuration-driven deployment maintainability and scalability.
  • Maintain governance of the companys software intellectual property and engineering assets in accordance with corporate policies.
  • Oversee the Controls Engineering Laboratory simulation environments software qualification infrastructure and engineering validation processes.
  • Ensure engineering teams have the development environments simulation capabilities testing frameworks and engineering tools necessary to deliver high-quality software efficiently.
  • Lead continuous improvement of software validation simulation and qualification processes to reduce engineering risk and improve release quality.


Demonstrated Leadership Competencies
  • Builds and Maintains Effective Relationships
  • Develops Self and Others
  • Builds Effective Teams
  • Courageous Leadership
  • Managing Vision and Purpose
  • Business Acumen
  • Drive for Results
  • Customer Focus
  • Decision Quality


About INSPYR Solutions
Technology is our focus and quality is our commitment. As a national expert in delivering flexible technology and talent solutions we strategically align industry and technical expertise with our clients business objectives and cultural needs. Our solutions are tailored to each client and include a wide variety of professional services project and talent solutions. By always striving for excellence and focusing on the human aspect of our business we work seamlessly with our talent and clients to match the right solutions to the right opportunities. Learn more about us at .


INSPYR Solutions provides Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race color religion sex national origin age disability genetics or any other protected status. INSPYR Solutions complies with all applicable laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process should contact for assistance.

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Required Experience:

Senior Manager