Agriculture Jobs in Des Moines, IA (Now Hiring) — 52 open

Description

Position Summary

The IT/OT Analyst supports and improves the technology systems that connect Landus Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) environments across grain, agronomy, processing, and other operational locations.

This role serves as a bridge between Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Service Desk, Operations, automation resources, electricians, integrators, and technology vendors. The position provides hands-on and remote technical support while helping establish reliable, secure, documented, and standards-based approaches to OT infrastructure.

A key focus of the role is strengthening the convergence of IT and OT technologies without treating OT as traditional enterprise IT. The IT/OT Analyst helps apply common infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, documentation, monitoring, and governance practices where appropriate while recognizing the specialized reliability and operational requirements of industrial environments.

The position also strengthens field networking and interconnectivity between locations, equipment, and systems. This includes supporting secure and scalable network communication, industrial connectivity, data collection, monitoring, and integration between OT systems and broader enterprise platforms.

This role is expected to develop expertise across both IT and OT disciplines while providing additional capacity and redundancy for critical operational technology support.

Primary Responsibilities

Operational Technology Support

• Provide hands-on and remote support for OT systems across Landus operational locations.
• Support industrial networks, workstations, monitoring platforms, sensors,controllers, communications equipment, and related infrastructure.
• Assist with troubleshooting connectivity between PLCs, controllers, field devices, workstations, servers, and enterprise systems.
• Support HazMon and other operational monitoring technologies.
• Assist with installation, configuration, testing, troubleshooting, and lifecycle management of OT infrastructure.
• Participate in incident response and troubleshooting for technology issues affecting plant and operational systems.
• Develop knowledge of Landus operational environments, processes, and technologies to provide effective technical support.
• Provide redundancy and cross-training for critical OT support responsibilities.

Industrial Infrastructure and Electrical Coordination

• Support industrial Ethernet, fiber, wireless, switches, network cabinets, control panels, and related field infrastructure.
• Read  and interpret network diagrams, equipment documentation, and electrical or control drawings as needed for troubleshooting and project work.
• Work with electricians, controls specialists, integrators, and vendors when specialized electrical or automation expertise is required.
• Assist with troubleshooting issues that cross electrical, controls, networking, and IT infrastructure boundaries.
• Support commissioning and implementation of new or upgraded operational technology.

The IT/OT Analyst is not intended to replace licensed electricians, controls engineers, or specialized integrators. The role should possess sufficient industrial systems knowledge to effectively troubleshoot, coordinate work, identify appropriate resources, and understand how these systems interact with IT infrastructure.

Networking and Field Connectivity

• Support network connectivity across grain, agronomy, processing, and other operational locations.
• Troubleshoot switching, routing, VLAN, wireless, fiber, and network connectivity issues.
• Assist  with implementation and maintenance of network standards across operational environments.
• Support reliable connectivity between operational sites, systems, equipment, and enterprise technology platforms.
• Identify opportunities to improve resiliency, performance, security, and standardization of field networking.
• Assist with enterprise networking and field infrastructure as workload and priorities require.

Cybersecurity and Governance

• Partner with Cybersecurity Engineering resources to apply appropriate cybersecurity controls within OT environments.
• Support network segmentation, secure remote access, asset visibility, monitoring, vulnerability management, and access controls.
• Assist with identifying unmanaged, unsupported, or non-standard OT technology.
• Follow established IT and OT standards, policies, change processes, and security practices.
• Support cybersecurity improvements while recognizing the availability, safety, and operational requirements unique to industrial environments.
• Assist with documenting and remediating identified infrastructure and security risks.

Standards and Documentation

• Maintain accurate documentation of OT infrastructure, network configurations, system dependencies, assets, and support procedures.
• Assist with developing and implementing standards for OT architecture, connectivity, configuration, integration, monitoring, and support.
• Work with vendors to promote consistent and supportable solutions rather than isolated or one-off implementations.
• Identify technology that does not align with established standards and assist with developing appropriate remediation or lifecycle plans.
• Contribute to knowledge sharing and cross-training across Infrastructure and supporting teams.

Automation and Integration

• Develop scripts, integrations, queries, and automation that improve OT support and operational visibility.
• Assist with collecting and integrating data from operational systems into broader IT platforms.
• Identify opportunities to reduce manual processes and improve monitoring, alerting, reporting, and support workflows.
• Partner with other technical resources on automation and systems integration initiatives.

Vendor and Project Coordination

• Work with technology vendors, electricians, automation integrators, ISPs, and other third parties supporting Landus operational environments.
• Help ensure vendor implementations align with Landus infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, and documentation standards.
• Participate in OT and infrastructure projects from planning through implementation and support.
• Validate that completed work is documented and supportable after project completion.
• Escalate specialized work to appropriate internal resources or vendors when required.

Operational Support and Workload Flexibility

• Participate in Infrastructure and OT ticket queues and assist with backlog reduction based on business priorities and technical capability.
• Support both planned project work and unplanned operational needs.
• Work across primary and secondary technical disciplines as team workload changes.
• Assist other Infrastructure team members during periods of increased ticket volume, project demand, outages, or competing priorities.
• Participate in an on-call or escalation rotation as required.

Requirements

Required or Preferred Experience

A successful candidate may come from either an IT or industrial technology background. Candidates are not expected to possess expert-level knowledge across every discipline at the time of hire.

Experience or working knowledge in several of the following areas is preferred:

• Enterprise or industrial networking
• Ethernet switching and TCP/IP
• VLANs and network segmentation
• Wireless networking
• Fiber-optic infrastructure
• Windows workstations and servers
• Industrial control environments
• PLC and controller communications
• Industrial electrical systems
• Control panels, VFDs, MCCs, or related equipment
• Cybersecurity fundamentals
• Monitoring and alerting platforms
• Scripting or automation
• Systems integration
• Technical documentation
• Vendor or contractor coordination

Experience with agricultural, manufacturing, processing, industrial, or other operational environments is preferred.

Skills and Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong technical troubleshooting and analytical skills.
• Ability to troubleshoot issues across multiple technical disciplines.
• Ability and willingness to learn unfamiliar technologies.
• Understanding of the importance of reliability and uptime within operational environments.
• Strong documentation habits.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively with Operations, IT teams, electricians, vendors, and automation specialists.
• Ability to work independently in field environments.
• Ability to prioritize work based on operational impact and business need.
• Security-conscious decision making.
• A continuous-improvement mindset.
• Willingness to share knowledge and participate in cross-training.

Role Development

The IT/OT Analyst is intended to develop complementary expertise across IT and Operational Technology.

The role will have defined primary responsibilities within OT and industrial infrastructure while developing secondary capabilities across enterprise networking and field infrastructure. This model provides clear technical ownership while maintaining the flexibility necessary to respond to changing ticket volumes, backlog, project priorities, and operational needs.

Over time, the analyst is expected to assume greater ownership of OT technologies, standards, documentation, vendor relationships, infrastructure improvements, and technical decision-making as experience and capability develop.

Strategic Purpose

The IT/OT Analyst supports Landus’ long-term direction of integrating OT as a core capability within the Infrastructure Team rather than operating OT as a separate technology function.

The role contributes to an environment where IT and OT share appropriate governance, engineering practices, cybersecurity principles, standards, and technical ownership while maintaining the specialized requirements necessary for safe and reliable operations.

The ultimate objective is to help Landus build an OT environment that is reliable, secure, well-documented, supportable, standardized where appropriate, and capable of scaling with the needs of the business.