Team Lead Automation

J-Tec; Kapellen; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flat hierarchy

Training opportunities

Meal vouchers

Ecocheques

Company car

Job summary

J-Tec Material Handling, part of the Katoen Natie group, is seeking an Automation Team Lead to combine technical automation expertise with project coordination, people leadership, and continuous improvement. You will be the main contact for the automation scope in complex process installations worldwide.

With 10 years of experience and a degree in Automation or Industrial Engineering, you will lead a team, coordinate FAT/SAT, ensure on-time delivery within budget, and drive standardization and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Automation or Industrial Engineering.
• 10 years of experience in industrial automation and project execution.
• Strong knowledge of PLC, HMI/SCADA, industrial networks and instrumentation.
• Experience with functional analysis and automation software design.
• Experience coordinating engineers or leading an automation work package.
• Good understanding of project planning, resource allocation.
• Experience with FAT, SAT, commissioning, and troubleshooting.
• A structured approach to technical documentation and document control.
• Experience in coaching, mentoring, and developing automation engineers.
• Interest in driving continuous improvement, standardization, and departmental growth.

Responsibilities

• Review project scope, requirements, milestones, interfaces, and automation deliverables.
• Divide responsibilities and work packages within the automation team.
• Lead the preparation and review of the functional analysis for the automation scope.
• Ensure that the functional design forms a solid basis for PLC, HMI/SCADA.
• Define activities, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, and required resources based on competences.
• Provide clear status updates on progress, priorities, risks, and outstanding actions.
• Monitor the automation engineering budget throughout the project.
• Track engineering effort and remaining workload against the project budget.
• Identify potential overruns at an early stage.
• Support decisions regarding priorities, resources, scope changes, and additional work.
• Ensure that automation documentation is created, reviewed, updated, and delivered according to project requirements.
• Maintain consistency and traceability between functional requirements, software implementation, testing, and final project documentation.
• Coordinate the preparation and execution of the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT).
• Contribute to the development and execution of the automation department strategy.
• Identify opportunities to improve engineering efficiency, project execution, standardization
• Drive continuous improvement related to tools, workflows, engineering.
• Support the implementation of new technologies, innovation initiatives.
• Monitor industry trends and technological developments
• Lead, coach, and support the automation engineering team.
• Identify training and facilitate technical and personal development programs
• Foster a collaborative, motivated, and high-performing team culture.
• Participate in recruitment, onboarding, and retention activities.

Skills

Automation

Industrial engineering

Project leadership

PLC

HMI/SCADA

Industrial networks

Instrumentation

Documentation

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Automation or Industrial Engineering

Job description

J-Tec Material Handlingis part of the Katoen Natie group. Katoen Natie is a global logistics and applied engineering provider. To optimally serve its customers, the organization is decentralized in business units. Each business unit acts independently and offers its clients tailor made solutions.

J-Tec Material Handling is theprocess engineeringbusiness unit of the group, offering material handling and process engineering solutions to the industry market leaders, in the chemical and food industries all over the world. We build turnkey process installations for our customers. Our company always strives to make a difference in terms of inventively, flexibility and performance. We execute both green- and brownfield projects of different sizes with an average implementation time of one to two years.

We are a fast-growing company with an international team of more than 350 employees (and counting). We have offices in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Thailand and the US.

As an Automation Team Lead, you combine technical automation expertise with project coordination, people leadership, and improvement development. You are responsible for the successful execution of the automation scope within our projects.

You combine technical automation expertise with project coordination and leadership. You are the main point of contact for the automation scope and ensure that the team delivers a high-quality solution according to the agreed functionality, schedule, and budget.

Key Responsibilities

Project Start & Team Coordination

• Review the project scope, requirements, milestones, interfaces, and automation deliverables.
• Divide responsibilities and work packages within the automation team.
• Lead the preparation and review of the functional analysis for the automation scope.
• Ensure that the functional design forms a solid basis for PLC, HMI/SCADA.
• Define activities, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, and required resources based upon their competences.
• Provide clear status updates on progress, priorities, risks, and outstanding actions.
• Monitor the automation engineering budget throughout the project.
• Track engineering effort and remaining workload against the project budget.
• Identify potential overruns at an early stage.
• Support decisions regarding priorities, resources, scope changes, and additional work.
• Ensure that automation documentation is created, reviewed, updated, and delivered according to project requirements.
• Maintain consistency and traceability between functional requirements, software implementation, testing, and final project documentation.
• Coordinate the preparation and execution of the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT).

Strategic Development & Continuous Improvement

• Contribute to the development and execution of the automation department strategy.
• Identify opportunities to improve engineering efficiency, project execution, standardization
• Drive continuous improvement related to tools, workflows, engineering.
• Support the implementation of new technologies, innovation initiatives.
• Monitor industry trends and technological developments

People Management & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and support the automation engineering team.
• Identify training and facilitate technical and personal development programs
• Foster a collaborative, motivated, and high-performing team culture.
• Participate in recruitment, onboarding, and retention activities.

Your profile

• A Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Automation or Industrial Engineering.
• 10 years of experience in industrial automation and project execution.
• Strong knowledge of PLC, HMI/SCADA, industrial networks and instrumentation.
• Experience with functional analysis and automation software design.
• Experience coordinating engineers or leading an automation work package.
• Good understanding of project planning, resource allocation.
• Experience with FAT, SAT, commissioning, and troubleshooting.
• A structured approach to technical documentation and document control.
• Experience in coaching, mentoring, and developing automation engineers.
• Interest in driving continuous improvement, standardization, and departmental growth.

Required experience 10 years

We offer

• The opportunity to join a growing, international company with a flat hierarchy and short communication lines.
• You will be part of a team of experienced and highly motivated colleagues in a position where dialogue, brainstorming and teamwork are the key elements.
• You will join a stable team in a dynamic working environment with an emphasis on personal development.
• Internal and external training to support the growth of your skills and knowledge.
• A competitive salary package with extra-legal benefits: mealvouchers, ecocheques, bicycle lease, company car, ..
• Autonomy in the organization and carrying out of your work, flexible working hours and the possibility of working occasionally from home.