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.
Not ready to brief us yet? Start with the number.
Before the conversation, it helps to know what the open seat is already costing — diverted engineering time, lost output and the schedule risk that lands at the milestone. Most managers are surprised by the figure.
Open the Vacancy Cost Calculator → Free, no sign-up, calculates in your browser.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.