The site date is fixed. Staff it with engineers who’ve closed one out before.
Commissioning is where automation projects are won or lost — and where LDs start ticking. We place FAT/SAT-proven engineers for PLC, SCADA and DCS scopes, screened on real site close-outs and matched to your project window.
A slipped commissioning hire cascades: LDs, demob costs, the next project's start
The riskiest claim on any automation CV is “commissioning experience”. Plenty watched it happen; few carried it. We screen for the ones who carried it.
Close-out history, verified
Loop checking, I/O checkout, cause-and-effect verification, punch-list ownership, dry-to-wet runs and start-up support — we verify what the candidate personally closed out, project by project.
Site reality screen
Shutdown and turnaround discipline, permit-to-work and site-safety culture, working under client and EPC pressure, documentation habits that survive a handover audit.
Mobility & commitment, tested
Commissioning fails quietly when engineers won't travel or won't stay through the window. We test mobility, notice and project-duration commitment explicitly before you ever see the profile.
Commissioning & project roles we fill
EPCs, integrators, OEMs and plant owners — single-site roles to multi-site project ramp-ups, permanent or project-window hires.
Commissioning Engineer (PLC/Line)
Machine and line start-ups, I/O checkout, acceptance runs.
Commissioning Engineer (DCS/Process)
Loop checks and start-up on continuous process units.
Commissioning / Site Lead
Owns the automation scope on site — team, client, close-out.
Instrumentation Commissioning
Field instruments, calibration, loop folders.
SAT / Start-up Support Engineer
Acceptance testing and stabilisation on live plants.
Project Automation Engineer
Design-to-site continuity across the project lifecycle.
Why commissioning talent is the scarcest slice of the market
Commissioning & SAT experience is the single biggest pay lever in our published 2026 salary data — field-proven engineers command more than screen-only programmers at identical experience, across every band. They are also the profiles that decide whether your project pays LDs. Engagement is structured around your mandate — success-fee, retained or partnership — for permanent hires or project-window roles. Scarcity signals by skill in the Demand Index.
Tell us the role and the constraint
Within one business day an engineer — not a salesperson — replies with an honest read: what it takes to fill the role, realistic comp for the profile, and whether we're the right firm to do it.
Prefer email? contact@talentvertexpartners.com · Confidential — client enquiries only.
What employers ask us first
How fast can you staff a commissioning team?
Tell us the site date and we work back from it. The first screened shortlist typically lands in about two weeks; genuinely urgent windows are triaged as such — honestly, including whether the timeline is achievable at all.
Do you place project-duration roles or only permanent?
Both. Many commissioning mandates are structured around a project window; we agree the engagement model around your mandate — success-fee, retained or partnership — and screen candidates for genuine commitment to the full window.
How do you verify commissioning experience is real?
Project-by-project. We ask what the candidate personally closed out — which loops, which systems, which punch-lists — and cross-check the projects existed and the role matches. “Was on site during commissioning” does not pass.
Can you cover multi-vendor sites?
Yes — commissioning teams routinely face mixed PLC/SCADA/DCS estates. We screen platform depth per candidate and build shortlists that cover your actual stack, clearly labelled per profile.
What does it cost?
We work on success-fee, retained or ongoing-partnership models, agreed directly with you. You pay for outcomes, and every placement is backed by a replacement guarantee.
Hiring for the office as well as the site? See PLC programmers, SCADA engineers, DCS & process control, or the full hiring desk.
LD clauses don't wait. Neither should the shortlist.
Send the scope and the site date — an engineer replies within one business day with a straight answer on feasibility, comp and timeline.