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The Group AI Technical Specialist serves as the Subject Matter Expert for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, responsible for building and driving the group-wide AI strategy, defining AI roadmaps, and championing cross-functional AI initiatives. This role provides technical leadership across manufacturing divisions including automated visual inspection, welding, assembly, robotics, controls, and operational technology (OT).

This position supports all divisions by identifying opportunities to scale AI solutions that strengthen productivity, quality, traceability, and manufacturing performance, and acts as the strategic connector between group functions, manufacturing engineering teams, IT/OT, plant operations, and leadership to ensure responsible, secure, and value-driven AI adoption.

Duties and Responsibility:

• Develop and maintain the Group AI Strategy, ensuring alignment with divisional manufacturing and business priorities.
• Build structured AI roadmaps that incorporate applications in visual inspection, welding analytics, assembly optimization, and OT-driven automation.
• Define and enforce AI governance and ethical standards, including data privacy, cybersecurity, and validation frameworks.
• Provide guidance to leadership on AI maturity, risks, and long-term capability development.
• Lead the discovery, evaluation, and prioritization of AI opportunities in robotics, welding, visual inspection, assembly, and connected manufacturing systems.
• Work with Plant Management teams to build business cases and ROI models for AI projects, considering plant, regional, and corporate objectives.
• Oversee pilot deployments, technical reviews, capability assessments, and enterprise scaling.
• Ensure AI projects follow standardized design approaches aligned with templates (e.g., documentation, testing, validation)
• Serve as the enterprise subject matter expert for AI/ML, generative AI, machine vision, predictive analytics, and intelligent automation.

Key Areas of Focus:

• Automated visual inspection (Vision, defect detection, surface inspection).
• Welding analytics (seam quality prediction, parameter optimization, anomaly detection).
• Assembly processes (cycle-time prediction, torque/force pattern analysis, error-proofing with AI).
• Operational Technology (OT) systems integration (SCADA, PLC data, historian systems).
• Partner with OT/Controls teams to define requirements for data acquisition, model deployment, and edge compute.
• Support MLOps practices for scalable deployment at plant and group levels.
• Support plants and engineering teams in data strategy, model training, and production rollout.
• Maintain a central library of AI project documents, requirements, and validation results similar in structure to the Ignition/AI Developer documentation style.
• Stay current on emerging AI technologies, industrial automation trends, and OT cybersecurity standards.
• Provide support and training to internal team members, as necessary.
• Travel as required to the manufacturing divisions across the group, to new innovative suppliers, and to participate in workshops and training seminars

Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field.
• Experience in integrating AI solutions with industrial automation, SCADA, MES, historian, or OT platforms. Ignition experience preferred
• Strong proficiency in Ignition scripting (Python) and knowledge of Ignition modules (Vision, Perspective, Reporting, etc.).
• Solid understanding of industrial automation protocols (OPC, Modbus, MQTT, etc.).
• Experience with SQL databases (MySQL, MSSQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) and SQL query optimization.
• Experience in manufacturing, industrial automation, data science, machine learning, or AI solution deployment.
• Experience developing and deploying machine vision, deep learning, predictive analytics, or industrial AI solutions within manufacturing environments.
• Experience with Python, Java, or other programming languages commonly used for AI/ML development. Experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, Azure Machine Learning, Databricks, Docker, and related AI/ML platforms is preferred.
• Experience with Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), AI agents, or Microsoft Azure AI services is considered an asset.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work on complex, technical issues.
• Knowledge of networking and IT infrastructure in industrial environments.
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a collaborative team.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience with big data technologies or data analytics
• Available to work flexible hours as required
• Willing to travel as required