SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) monitors and controls industrial processes in real time, sitting between PLCs and MES in the manufacturing technology stack.
Definition
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is the software layer that monitors and controls industrial processes in real time , reading sensor data, displaying process visualisations (HMIs), and sending control commands to PLCs and field devices. SCADA operates at ISA-95 Level 2, directly above the control layer (PLCs) and below the MES layer. In practice, SCADA handles the real-time process data that MES then contextualises against work orders and production plans.
What this means when you're hiring
SCADA skills are in consistent demand across utilities, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and discrete manufacturing. The distinction I draw in hiring is between SCADA engineers who live in the control layer (Ignition, Wonderware, iFIX configurations, PLC integration) and manufacturing IT professionals who work above SCADA, using it as a data source for MES and analytics. Both are needed , but they're different roles with different pay bands.
Where candidates get this wrong
SCADA and MES are not interchangeable. SCADA controls and monitors physical processes in real time. MES manages production execution against a plan. The two systems integrate, but SCADA can't replace MES and vice versa. I see job descriptions that list SCADA and MES as the same requirement, which usually means the hiring manager hasn't properly scoped the role.
How expectations change by level
Senior SCADA engineers are increasingly expected to bridge into the MES and analytics layers, as IT/OT convergence blurs the traditional boundaries. The most commercially valuable SCADA professionals I've placed understand both the control engineering side and the manufacturing data architecture above it , they can design the SCADA-to-MES data pipeline as well as configure the SCADA layer itself.
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