Solutions Integration Engineer
Industrial Software | Six-Month Contract
Location: Calgary, Alberta — hybrid, with regular on-site work and periodic customer-site travel Engagement: Independent contractor Initial Term: Six months, with potential extension or conversion to full-time employment Expected Commitment: Approximately 24–32 hours per week, depending on project requirements Primary Contact: CEO
About VL Energy
VL Energy is a Calgary-based technology company developing and deploying industrial software solutions that help organizations transform operational data into actionable insight.
We integrate software, analytics and engineering expertise with existing industrial control, monitoring and data-management systems. Our solutions may be deployed on-premises, in the cloud or through hybrid architectures across energy, utilities, manufacturing and other industrial environments.
The Opportunity
VL Energy is seeking a hands-on Solutions Integration Engineer to lead the technical definition, integration and delivery of industrial software solutions.
You will work directly with customers and internal technical teams to assess existing systems, define integration requirements, resolve data and connectivity issues, and move deployments through testing, commissioning and handover.
This is an individual-contributor role requiring both sound engineering judgment and practical execution. It is not a purely advisory, managerial or project-administration position. The successful candidate must be comfortable reviewing control-system environments, preparing integration specifications, troubleshooting technical issues and coordinating implementation across multiple stakeholders.
You will collaborate with engineering, software, data science, project-delivery and business-development personnel. You will also review technical work and provide practical guidance to EIT-level and developing team members.
Key ResponsibilitiesTechnical Discovery and Scope Definition
- Lead technical-discovery sessions with customer operations, engineering, electrical and instrumentation, and IT/OT personnel.
- Translate customer objectives into clear technical requirements, data requirements, implementation activities and acceptance criteria.
- Assess existing PLC, SCADA, DCS, BAS, historian, instrumentation, metering and network environments.
- Determine whether required operating data are available, reliable, accessible and suitable for the intended application.
- Identify instrumentation, data-quality, connectivity, cybersecurity and deployment-readiness gaps.
- Document assumptions, dependencies, exclusions, customer responsibilities and technical risks.
- Provide technical input for proposals, scopes of work, schedules, budgets and change requests.
Solution Architecture and Systems Integration
- Develop practical technical architectures for assigned customer deployments.
- Define integration approaches using OPC UA, Modbus TCP, APIs, databases, historians, gateways and industrial edge technologies.
- Prepare architecture diagrams, tag lists, data maps, interface specifications and network requirements.
- Determine when existing infrastructure can be used and when additional instrumentation, gateways, controllers or I/O may be required.
- Coordinate technical interfaces among customers, internal teams, controls contractors, system integrators and technology vendors.
- Troubleshoot data, communication, configuration and systems-integration issues.
- Maintain accurate records of technical decisions, interfaces, configurations and approved changes.
Deployment, Testing and Commissioning
- Coordinate assigned deployments from data readiness through configuration, testing, commissioning, training and handover.
- Establish practical readiness checks and technical quality controls.
- Coordinate implementation activities involving software developers, data scientists, engineers, customers and contractors.
- Prepare and execute, or support the execution of, FAT, SAT and commissioning procedures.
- Verify that configured calculations, dashboards, analytical models, alarms and reports meet approved requirements and acceptance criteria.
- Document deficiencies and coordinate their resolution before customer acceptance.
- Ensure that technical documentation, training materials and handover records are complete and accurate.
- Provide post-commissioning support during the initial stabilization period.
Standardization and Continuous Improvement
- Convert project experience into reusable architectures, templates, checklists and deployment procedures.
- Identify integration requirements that can be standardized across customer sites.
- Help distinguish repeatable product functionality from site-specific engineering requirements.
- Improve technical discovery, onboarding, data-readiness, testing, commissioning and support processes.
- Recommend practical improvements that reduce customization, deployment time, rework and technical risk.
- Develop repeatable deployment packages for selected industrial applications.
Technical Collaboration and Guidance
- Review technical work prepared by other project contributors.
- Provide practical guidance to EIT-level and developing technical personnel.
- Help establish consistent documentation, integration, testing and commissioning practices.
- Support team members in progressively assuming ownership of assigned technical deliverables.
- Communicate technical decisions clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Escalate material technical, commercial, regulatory, safety or customer risks to the CEO in a timely manner.
Required Qualifications
- Degree or technical diploma in electrical engineering, controls, automation, instrumentation, process engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering or a related discipline.
- Approximately 5–10 years of relevant experience in industrial automation, systems integration, industrial software or operational technology.
- At least three years of experience supporting industrial integration projects through technical discovery, implementation, testing or commissioning.
- Practical experience with PLC, SCADA, DCS, BAS or industrial historian systems.
- Experience with OPC UA, Modbus TCP, databases, APIs or comparable industrial communication and data technologies.
- Ability to prepare architecture diagrams, tag lists, data maps, interface specifications and test procedures.
- Strong understanding of industrial instrumentation, control-system architecture and operating data.
- Experience coordinating customers, contractors, controls integrators, software personnel and engineering teams.
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot integration, communication and data-quality issues.
- Strong technical writing, documentation and customer-communication skills.
- Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and deliver with limited supervision.
- Ability to work legally in Canada and travel periodically to customer sites.
Preferred Qualifications
- P.Eng., EIT, C.E.T. or eligibility for professional registration in Alberta.
- Experience with industrial performance-monitoring, emissions-monitoring or energy-management applications.
- Experience integrating analytical software, machine-learning models or advanced calculations with operational systems.
- Experience working with industrial equipment, process systems or facility utilities.
- Experience with on-premises, cloud and hybrid software deployments.
- Familiarity with industrial cybersecurity and IT/OT network requirements.
- Experience with industrial edge-computing or automation platforms.
- Experience converting customized deployments into reusable technical solutions.
- Experience in energy, utilities, manufacturing, petrochemical or other process industries.
What Success Looks LikeDuring the First 90 Days
The contractor will be expected to:
- Review assigned deployments and identify material scope, data, integration and acceptance gaps.
- Establish a consistent technical-discovery and data-readiness process.
- Clarify architectures, interfaces, responsibilities and acceptance criteria for active projects.
- Introduce practical technical-review and deployment-readiness checks.
- Develop an initial set of reusable architecture, data-mapping and testing templates.
By the End of the Initial Six-Month Term
The contractor will be expected to:
- Take at least one customer deployment through integration, testing and handover.
- Develop reusable templates for architecture, data mapping, testing, commissioning and technical documentation.
- Produce a repeatable deployment package for at least one selected industrial application.
- Establish an effective technical-review process for developing team members.
- Demonstrate measurable improvements in deployment consistency, documentation quality and issue resolution.
- Reduce avoidable rework, integration delays and routine technical escalation to the CEO.
Contract Evaluation and Potential Conversion
Performance will be reviewed at approximately 60 days, 90 days and before completion of the initial six-month term.
Any extension or conversion to full-time employment will be based on:
- Achievement of agreed deliverables;
- Quality and timeliness of technical work;
- Ability to identify and resolve integration problems;
- Reduction in rework and deployment delays;
- Customer and internal-team confidence;
- Quality and usability of technical documentation;
- Development of reusable deployment practices;
- Contribution to the development of other technical team members; and
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving and evolving company.
Extension or conversion is not guaranteed.
The Right Person
You are technically capable, highly motivated and willing to remain hands-on.
You can move between a customer discussion, control-system review, integration specification, software configuration and commissioning issue without requiring a large support team. You identify missing information, test assumptions, document decisions and take ownership of technical problems through resolution.
You are comfortable working in an evolving environment where processes are still being developed. You bring structure without creating unnecessary bureaucracy and are willing to build, test, troubleshoot and document—not simply recommend what others should do.
You communicate clearly, exercise practical judgment and understand that successful industrial-software delivery requires coordination across people, equipment, data and technology.
How to Apply
Please submit:
- Your résumé; and
- A concise description of one industrial automation, systems-integration or industrial-software project that you personally helped take from technical definition through implementation, testing or commissioning.
Your project description should identify:
- Your individual responsibilities;
- The systems, equipment and data sources involved;
- The principal technical challenge;
- The actions you personally took;
- How the solution was tested or accepted; and
- The final project outcome.
Please submit your résumé and project description by email to alicia.wang@vlenergy.ca.
Pay: $17.00-$120.00 per hour
Work Location: In person