Automation Engineer: Plant Controls & Upgrades Lead

Andrews Recruitment Group; Macclesfield; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 63,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent salary alongside bonus

pension

enhanced holiday entitlement

employee discounts

wellbeing support

ongoing technical training and develop

Job summary

Andrews Recruitment Group is seeking an Automation Engineer for a large-scale heavy process site near Macclesfield. This hands-on role focuses on the reliability, integrity and continuous improvement of plant automation and control systems.

You'll work with electrical, maintenance, production and control-room teams to reduce downtime, implement automation improvements, support CAPEX projects, and ensure safe, tested modifications across the site.

Qualifications

• Experience with industrial automation or control systems.
• Strong PLC fault-finding and programming capability.
• Experience with HMI, SCADA or process-control systems.
• Electrical, Controls, Automation, EC&I or similar engineering background.
• Experience within manufacturing, process or heavy industrial environments.
• Comfortable diagnosing complex control-system faults.
• Experience modifying and commissioning automated plant or machinery.
• Understanding of industrial communications and control architecture.
• Strong approach to plant reliability and continuous improvement.
• Able to work effectively with operators and multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve plant automation and control systems
• Diagnose PLC, software and control-system faults
• Prevent production downtime caused by automation issues
• Modify and develop control-system programming
• Support operators with plant control and system issues
• Integrate new equipment into existing control systems
• Support automation upgrades and plant improvement projects
• Assist with specification, programming, testing and commissioning
• Support CAPEX projects from development through to commissioning
• Ensure modifications are properly tested before implementation
• Develop robust control-system procedures and documentation
• Support server virtualisation and testing of program modifications
• Work closely with electrical, maintenance and production teams
• Identify opportunities to improve plant reliability and performance
• Ensure automation work is completed safely and appropriately risk assessed

Skills

Industrial automation

PLC programming

HMI/SCADA

EC&I background

Manufacturing

Diagnostics

Automation commissioning

Industrial comms

Reliability improvement

Team collaboration

Education

Engineering degree (Electrical/Controls/Automation)

Tools

SCADA software

HMI software

Job description

Andrews Recruitment Group is seeking an Automation Engineer for a large-scale heavy process site near Macclesfield. This hands-on role focuses on the reliability, integrity and continuous improvement of plant automation and control systems.

You'll work with electrical, maintenance, production and control-room teams to reduce downtime, implement automation improvements, support CAPEX projects, and ensure safe, tested modifications across the site.