Principal Engineer, Material Handling & Warehouse Automation

Core Role Definition

This role must be capable of leading, structuring, and driving execution through site teams and suppliers.

This role provides regional technical leadership for warehouse and material handling automation deployment and sustainment.

This role works closely with the Sr. Manager of Automation to align execution with regional priorities and provide input to strategy, while strategy ownership remains with regional leadership.

This role is a mentor, trainer, and capability builder across the region.

This role works closely with the General Automation team, recognizing that material handling and warehouse automation must integrate directly into production operations.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Drive execution of material handling and warehouse automation initiatives across multiple North America EMS sites.
• Support sites in prioritizing opportunities, structuring work, managing execution, and stabilizing deployed systems.
• Ensure implementation aligns with regional expectations, standards, and scalable approaches.
• Support site teams in aligning warehouse and material flow strategies with new product requirements.
• Evaluate the impact of new products on material flow, storage, staging, line-side delivery, and outbound processes.
• Ensure warehouse and material handling processes are ready to support production needs during product launch.
• Guide and support deployment of new automation systems, including:
• requirements alignments
• supplier engagement
• technical evaluation
• quotation and proposal review
• installation
• ramp
• validation and handoff
• Ensure deployed systems meet throughput, reliability, accuracy, safety, and operational expectations.
• Be fully capable of independently running automation projects, including:
• planning and structuring work
• task and issue tracking
• stakeholder alignment
• supplier coordination
• execution follow-up
• risk and escalation management
• Act as a primary technical interface with:
• third-party automation integrators
• AMR / AGV / FMR suppliers
• warehouse automation suppliers
• infrastructure and software solution providers
• Lead technical discussions, solution alignment, issue resolution, and performance reviews with suppliers.
• Ensure strong alignment between warehouse automation systems and production operations.
• Work closely with site warehouse teams, facilities, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, and General Automation engineers.
• Reinforce that warehouse automation is not separate from manufacturing execution and must integrate cleanly into production material flow.
• Mentor facility-level automation engineers and technical resources across the region.
• Provide training and guidance on:
• warehouse and material handling automation concepts
• supplier engagement and technical reviews
• structured execution disciplines
• troubleshooting approaches
• standard methods and lessons learned
• Help build sustainable capability across sites rather than creating dependency on one person.
• Drive improvement initiatives across the region related to:
• material flow efficiency
• labor reduction
• throughput improvement
• delivery performance
• storage optimization
• system reliability
• operational scalability

Job Qualifications

• Strong experience in material handling, warehouse automation, and intralogistics systems.
• Strong understanding of:
• warehouse operations and terminology
• material flow in manufacturing environments
• AMR / AGV / FMR systems
• storage systems such as ASRS, VLM, and rack systems
• warehouse software interfaces such as WMS and fleet management systems
• Strong ability to:
• translate operational needs into practical technical solutions
• work effectively with third-party integrators and suppliers
• guide cross-functional execution across warehouse, IE, facilities, and manufacturing teams
• communicate clearly with site teams, customers, suppliers, and leadership
• Strong project execution capability and program leadership discipline.
• Strong troubleshooting capability and continuous improvement mindset.
• Working understanding of manufacturing automation environments and production system interfaces.
• Ability to mentor others and raise capability across multiple sites.

Education & Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field.
• 12+ years of experience in:
• warehouse automation
• material handling systems
• manufacturing environments
• third-party supplier and integrator execution models
• Demonstrated experience:
• driving automation deployment or multi-site implementations
• supporting startup, ramp, troubleshooting, and sustainment
• working across cross-functional technical and operational teams
• leading execution without relying on formal direct ownership of every task