Automation Engineer

Pfizer

Rocky Mount, NC

Shift: Full time

Use Your Power for Purpose Whether you are involved in the design and development of manufacturing processes for products or supporting maintenance and reliability, engineering is crucial to ensuring customers and patients receive the medicines they need, precisely when they need them. By collaborating with our forward-thinking engineering team, you ll play a key role in accelerating the delivery of medicines to the world. Your innovative ideas and proactive actions will help us imagine new possibilities and bring them to life, ensuring that vital medications reach those in need more swiftly and efficiently. Your contributions will be instrumental in enhancing manufacturing information systems, boosting success rates, and ensuring zero downtime. By integrating manufacturing processes, operational knowledge, equipment control, and data into cohesive systems, you will enforce seamless operations across various departments. Your dedication will be pivotal in meeting project objectives and goals, fostering a collaborative team environment, and driving your colleagues towards success. The Automation Engineer is a member of the Site Digital Automation Team and is responsible for supporting automation operations, maintenance, and lifecycle activities for site automation and digital systems supporting manufacturing operations. This role provides hands-on technical support to ensure production continuity, system reliability, validated state, and regulatory compliance, working closely with Operations, Engineering, and Core Digital Automation partners. What You Will Achieve In this role, you will: Support day-to-day operation and technical performance of production-critical automation and digital systems to maintain system reliability and production continuity. Troubleshoot automation system issues and support investigations, deviations, unplanned events, escalation, recovery, and root-cause data gathering. Maintain automation systems in a validated and compliant state by following established change management, validation, engineering, and documentation practices. Develop and maintain lifecycle documentation, including standard operating procedures, system specifications, change records, incident documentation, and resolution steps. Operate and support control systems and automation infrastructure, including DCS, PLC, SCADA, HMI, and PC-based production systems. Support the installation, testing, commissioning, and implementation of automation system and software changes using approved processes and coding standards. Participate in business continuity planning, system recovery testing, regulatory inspections, and audits to support operational resilience and compliance. Collaborate with Operations, Engineering, and Digital and Automation partners on cross-functional problem-solving, standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives that enhance system reliability and performance. Execute Good Manufacturing Practices and verification protocols. Provide continuous 24x7x365 support for automation systems. Monitor and identify issues to develop preventative solutions. Support the development of Preventive Maintenance Procedures for process control systems. Adhere to safe work practices consistently. Contribute to project milestones, organize work to meet deadlines, and communicate progress and issues to peers. Learn and apply basic team effectiveness skills within the immediate Work Team. Make decisions to resolve basic problems with limited options and decision-making authority, under supervisor s direction. Work in a structured environment using established procedures, seeking guidance from colleagues, with regular reviews for technical judgment, completeness, and accuracy, relying on the supervisor s judgment. Here Is What You Need (Minimum Requirements) Applicant must have a bachelor s degree with 0 years of experience; OR an associate s degree with 4 years of experience; OR a high school diploma (or equivalent) and 6 years of relevant experience Hands-on experience with engineering design and validation Demonstrated organizational skills to meet project task deadlines effectively Excellent communication and interpersonal skills Experience with automated systems and equipment Knowledge of Good Manufacturing Practices Ability to provide 24x7x365 support for automation systems Bonus Points If You Have (Preferred Requirements) Experience supporting automation control systems in pharmaceutical industry engineering Knowledge of automation systems such as PLC, SCADA, and HMI. Familiarity with Preventive Maintenance Procedures for process control systems Ability to monitor issues and develop preventative solutions Experience with manufacturing information systems Excellent judgment and decision-making skills Experience using common AI tools, including generative technologies such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, to support problem solving and enhance productivity. Demonstrated curiosity for exploring how these tools ca