Senior Automation Engineer

GSK Barnard Castle is a key secondary manufacturing site and has invested heavily in industry 4.0 state of the art, bespoke equipment to support sustained new product introductions and volume increases. The automation engineering team provides technical expertise to support the manufacturing automation and control systems for all production operations across the manufacturing site. This role would predominantly be site-based (although there are flexible working policies in place). We provide external training where required and support personal development and progression alongside opportunities for further education and professional registration.

Job Purpose

As a Senior Automation Engineer you will provide technical expertise for all automation and control system activities on new and existing equipment and facilities across the site. This will include providing support to members of the team and making strategic decisions on situations within areas of expertise.

Key responsibilities:

• Provide technical expertise on advanced automated manufacturing/packaging processes.
• Lead cross-functional groups through complex technical challenges and improvement initiatives, ensuring alignment with engineering standards and guides.
• Ensure compliance of owned areas with internal and external standards, including OT Security Standards, and build cybersecurity awareness within engineering/production teams.
• Review and assess obsolescence risks for the allocated Production Business Unit, collaborating with the Capital Projects team to drive facility improvements.
• Maintain and manage the site asset register for automation equipment within the allocated Production Business Unit.
• Liaise with central teams to develop new automation technologies and standards, and review supplier performance on costs, compliance, and milestone delivery.
• Provide technical leadership to automation engineers, including assisting with complex decisions, setting site automation strategies, and managing system deployments.
• Act as the second point of contact for production automation support, focusing on equipment breakdowns, with flexibility in working hours as required.
• Participate in Continuous Improvement activities, including DMAIC, RCA, and CAPA processes and input into deviations as automation SME.
• Deputising for the site automation lead as required.

About You

This role is suited to a motivated person with good influencing, communication, and teamworking skills. A successful candidate will have a passion for understanding and mastering a variety of complex automation systems and must have a keen interest in the development and deployment of emerging technologies into beneficial use.

Basic Qualifications / Skills:

• Recognised Apprenticeship in Electrical, Instrumentation/Controls Engineering or Computer Science discipline (or similar).
• Bachelor of Engineering (or working towards).
• Experience working in a Pharmaceutical or highly regulated industry including Manufacturing Environments.
• Technical and operational knowledge of Automation systems (SCADA, PLC, HMI, Servo, Vision, Field Instrumentation) for off the shelf and bespoke process and production equipment.

Preferred Qualifications / Skills:

• Knowledge of change management in a regulated environment.
• Registered with a professional body and recognised at Ieng or CEng (or working towards).
• Experience of Siemens equipment including S5, S7, PCS7, TIA portal and WinCC.
• Appreciation of Operational Technology Cyber Security.

Benefits:

GSK offers a range of benefits to its employees, which include, but are not limited to:

• Competitive base Salary.
• Annual bonus based on company performance.
• Opportunities to attend and partake in industry conferences.
• Support for professional development and chartership (GSK are accredited by IET, IMechE, IChemE and other professional bodies).
• Access to healthcare and wellbeing programs.
• Employee recognition programs.

If you would like to learn more about our company wide benefits and life at GSK we would suggest looking at our webpage Life at GSK | GSK.

Skills: Asset Life Cycle Management, Data Integrity, Digital Fluency, GxP Regulations, Lean Management, Manufacturing Technologies, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Problem Solving, Risk Awareness, Standards Compliance.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at where you can also request a call. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide. Click the link where you will find answers to multiple questions we receive.