Sr Automation Engineer

About the role

As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer. The position sits onsite at the Florence, SC site and supports the Drug Substance Division (DSD) at Thermo Fisher Scientific, reporting to the Automation Manager to ensure flawless support, maintenance, and implementation of automated systems at the Florence, South Carolina location.

Responsibilities

• Provide rotating on-call (24/7) technical support, troubleshooting, and optimization for manufacturing systems, including Allen‑Bradley (Rockwell) family products, Emerson DeltaV, WonderWare, Honeywell, current DCS, and data historians.
• Contribute to automation and control system design; oversee contractors during implementation, commissioning, and validation of systems for both production and utility systems.
• Develop, review, and maintain documentation including functional design specifications (FDS), software design documentation, and validation protocols.
• Ensure all systems comply with cGMP, GAMP 5, and FDA regulatory requirements.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams (Process Engineering, Operations, Validation, Quality, IT) to execute automation projects, manage vendors, and support system upgrades and lifecycle management.
• Lead multidisciplinary project teams and manage third‑party contractors and engineering service providers as required; provide supervisory responsibilities and mentorship of less‑experienced engineers when needed.

Requirements

• BS in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related Engineering/Science field.
• Minimum 8 years of experience within regulated industries (pharmaceutical, medical device, or similar).
• Preferred: at least 5 years of hands‑on experience with Emerson DeltaV or Rockwell PlantPAx commercial Distributed Control System.
• Proven experience applying S88 in an automated environment and developing control system standards aligned with S88 methodology.
• Experience developing and supporting either Rockwell PlantPAx or Emerson DeltaV as a commercial Distributed Control System.
• Hands‑on experience with a broad range of Allen‑Bradley PLCs and PanelView display products (preferred).
• Experience with data historian program development, configuration, and maintenance using at least one of: OSI (AVEVA) PI, Rockwell FTHistorian, DeltaV continuous historian (required).
• Experience with virtual machine environments and hypervisor software (preferred).

Qualifications

• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics and technical drawings with working knowledge of basic electrical circuits related to I/O specification, selection, and configuration.
• Exhibited knowledge of S88 batch control and configuration.
• Exhibited knowledge of batch reporting.
• Working knowledge of database structure including SQL Server, with experience in data queries, support, and basic database management.
• Working knowledge of IT/OT networking including managed switch, VLAN, and firewall configuration and management.
• Strong knowledge of GMP and life sciences regulatory requirements.
• Proficiency in PLC programming, HMI/SCADA systems, DCS platforms, and industrial networking.

Benefits

We offer competitive remuneration, annual incentive plan bonus, healthcare, and a range of employee benefits. Thermo Fisher Scientific offers employment with an innovative, forward‑thinking organization, and outstanding career and development prospects. We offer an exciting company culture that stands for integrity, intensity, involvement, and innovation!

Schedule

Work schedule is standard 8‑5, Monday‑Friday, fully onsite. The role requires the ability to lift 40 lbs. without assistance and involves working in an office environment with some degree of PPE required (safety glasses, gowning, gloves, lab coat, ear plugs, etc.).