MES Lead Support Engineer

Cognizant Life Sciences Manufacturing; Cork; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant Life Sciences Manufacturing in Cork seeks a MES Lead Support Engineer to implement System/MES recipe changes and manage day-to-day issues across the Emerson Syncade MES solution at a large biotech facility.

You will lead a collaborative MES team, ensure GMP-compliant change controls, provide training, report KPIs, and work with IT, QA and manufacturing to optimise operations.

Qualifications

• Degree-level qualification in a relevant technical discipline.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience supporting IT/MES applications in GMP environments.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams in regulated MES settings.
• Strong communication skills; ability to engage business users across functions.
• Experience with IT applications changes and incident management.

Responsibilities

• Run review meetings and create actions from incidents based on metrics.
• Report KPIs and performance to team and client management.
• Lead investigations and provide solutions for MES issues.
• Onboard and train new team members and support development.
• Schedule out-of-hours support and manage resource allocation.
• Maintain incident queue in Service Now and manage change controls.
• Initiate and implement Change Control activities in line with QA standards.
• Produce well-documented configuration; ensure maintainability.
• Prioritize activities in line with project schedules.
• Test new MES recipes and changes.
• Generate CSV documentation per GMP site procedures.
• Follow Environmental, Health and Safety procedures and assist in investigations.
• Demonstrate integrity and build relationships across MES teams.

Skills

Leading teams in MES environment

5+ years IT/MES support

Incident management & change control

Excellent communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Degree-level qualification in relevant technical discipline

Tools

Visual Basic

MS SQL Server

Job description

Cognizant Company is a world leader in delivering digital transformation solutions to Life Sciences. Through our knowledge and expertise in Automation, MES & Digital, we deliver stable manufacturing systems that are optimised to improve operational efficiencies, whilst maintaining compliance. Our specialist engineering teams have the aptitude to deliver and support Pharma 4.0 architecture and solutions covering all IT, OT and IoT applications, infrastructures and services.

About the Role

The MES Lead Support Engineer will be responsible for implementing System/MES recipe changes and managing the day-to-day issues that arise in the support of Electronic Batch Records, Weigh and Dispense and Equipment Management modules on our Emerson Syncade MES solution. The position will lead a collaborative MES team at a large multi-national Biotech manufacturing facility in Cork and will be required to have excellent communication/interpersonal skills with the ability to conduct a team while also being subject matter expert on MES functions. Experience of working in a pharmaceutical API manufacturing operation is desirable. S/he is expected to be self-motivated and develop an understanding of the business.

Responsibilities

• Run review meetings to create actions based on metric & trending data from closed incidents.
• Reporting to team and client management on KPIs and performance.
• Lead the investigation and troubleshooting of problems and determine solutions or recommendations for changes and/or improvements.
• Onboarding of new team members and provide training and development to build their skill set.
• Scheduling out of hours support by the team.
• Supporting management with resource planning, allocation and utilization.
• Input into and report on team KPIs.
• Maintain the incident queue in Service Now and manage & resolve issues as they arise in a timely manner.
• Initiate and implement Change Control activities in accordance with Quality Standards and Practices.
• The ability to produce high-quality, well documented configuration that is easily maintainable.
• Prioritize support activities in line with project schedules.
• Perform testing of new MES recipes and changes.
• Generate CSV documentation in accordance with site procedures and GMP guidelines.
• Follow all relevant Environmental, Health and Safety procedures and assist in incident investigations as required.
• Recognise the importance of the quality control function in pharmaceutical production, the MES Lead Support Engineer should display a high level of integrity in the performance of his/her work.
• S/he should be capable of relating well to other people with whom s/he comes in contact, both within and outside of the MES Team.

Qualifications

• Degree-level qualification in relevant technical discipline.

Required Skills

• Experience with leading teams in a regulated MES environment.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience supporting IT/MES applications e.g. troubleshooting, managing incidents and change controls, design documentation, test case development, system & integration testing.
• Experience implementing changes for IT applications in a GMP environment would be an advantage.
• Past proven experience engaging business users to ensure that appropriate business needs are clearly communicated and delivered at or above expectations.
• Strong oral and written communication skills are required, with proven ability to communicate and build relationships cross-functionally.
• The successful candidate must be a highly motivated individual who is delivery focused and has experience of working successfully across multiple business & functional teams.

Preferred Skills

• MES Recipe Authoring experience, knowledge of the Emerson Syncade MES solution, is an advantage.
• Knowledge of programming and Visual Basic with experience in configuration management and deployment of developed code.
• MS SQL server experience would be an advantage.