Automation Engineer - Nights

HelloFresh; Derby; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading meal kit service is seeking an Automation Engineer to act as a Subject Matter Expert in controls and maintenance engineering. You'll handle automation systems, providing high equipment availability and mentoring maintenance personnel. The ideal candidate should have engineering qualifications and experience with PLC-controlled systems in a production environment. Perks include a generous discount on meal boxes and private medical insurance.

Benefits

70% off meal kits

Company pension scheme

Gym membership

Private medical insurance

Electric vehicle scheme

Professional development memberships

Mental health support

Eye care scheme

Cycle to work scheme

Group Life Assurance

Qualifications

• Qualified or solid practical understanding in Mechatronics, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, or Manufacturing Engineering.
• Experienced in Automation, Mechanical, or Maintenance Engineering within a manufacturing or production environment.
• Proficient in PLC-controlled systems and automated processes.

Responsibilities

• Monitor, fault find, and repair automation systems to ensure high equipment availability.
• Perform preventive maintenance and routine inspections on automation equipment.
• Lead root cause analysis of major downtime events.

Skills

Mechatronics understanding

PLC-controlled systems

Technical manuals interpretation

Reactive and preventative maintenance

Material handling systems

Root Cause Analysis

Education

Degree in Engineering

Tools

CMMS

WMS systems

Job description

About The Team:

As an Automation Engineer you will be the site Subject Matter Expert (SME) within the team, for all controls systems, maintenance engineering, sensors, PLCs, communication protocols, and automation for the site. You will work with the facilities and maintenance teams and colleagues to maintain and repair conveyance, automation and facilities equipment to support operations uptime and improve reliability of our systems.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Work in a hands-on manner to actively monitor, fault find and repair systems in order to provide a high level of equipment availability to internal customers.
• Perform preventive maintenance and routine inspections on assigned automation, robotics and control panels.
• Perform troubleshooting of assigned out of service equipment and correct issues, act as an escalation point for lower level technicians, and escalate to leadership and/or vendors as needed for additional troubleshooting.
• Document all work in the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and ticketing systems as appropriate.
• Mentor all maintenance personnel in developing appropriate skill sets and knowledge of equipment specializing in automation, controls and robotics.
• Lead root cause analysis of major downtime events.
• Act as a network resource for technical issues and lead network-wide root cause analysis.
• Develop maintenance personnel knowledge on intermediate to advanced automation, controls and robotics.
• Partner with engineering on commissioning of new controls systems.
• Audit vendor work to provide feedback to leadership on quality of work and SLA performance.
• Write and/or modify PMs to standardize across the network and increase effectiveness.

Who You Are:

• Qualified or Solid practical understanding in Mechatronics, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical, or Manufacturing Engineering
• Experienced in Automation, Mechanical, or Maintenance Engineering, ideally within a manufacturing or production environment such as FMCG.
• Proficient in PLC-controlled systems and automated processes, including programming, troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of PLCs, HMIs, VFDs, and related control systems.
• Comfortable interpreting technical manuals, engineering drawings, and schematics to support diagnostics and solutions.
• Skilled in both reactive and preventative maintenance, with a track record of handling second-line escalations and completing CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) tasks.
• Adept in material handling systems, with exposure to flow analysis, capacity visualization, and process monitoring.
• A confident communicator and mentor, capable of coaching junior engineers and stepping in as proxy for senior automation engineers when required.
• Experienced in leading Root Cause Analysis, supporting CI (Continuous Improvement) initiatives, and familiar with DIQ and WMS systems.

What you will get in return:

• 70% off HelloFresh or Green Chef boxes
• Company pension scheme
• Gym membership
• Bupa private medical insurance (including dental & family cover options)
• Electric vehicle scheme
• Free professional development and coaching memberships
• Mental health first aiders and an employee assistance programme
• Eye care scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Group Life Assurance

Location: 1 Holme Lane, Spondon, Derby, DE21 7HW (On-Site)

Work Schedule: 4 on 3 off shift, Wednesday to Saturday, 42 hour working week.

Next steps: Your application will be reviewed and if successful, a member of the Talent Acquisition Team will be in touch within 2 weeks