MES Lead Support Engineer

Cognizant Life Sciences Manufacturing; Cork; On-site; EUR 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant Life Sciences Manufacturing in Cork seeks an experienced MES Lead Support Engineer to drive support for Emerson Syncade MES, manage incidents, changes and documentation, and mentor a team at a large biotech site. Excellent communication and GMP-compliant practices are essential.

Pharma API exposure is desirable, with a proven ability to engage business users and deliver IT/MES improvements across multiple teams. This is an on-site role at our Cork facility.

Qualifications

• Degree in a technical field and GMP/regulated environment experience.
• Proven ability to lead MES teams and coordinate IT/MES changes.
• Experience communicating with business users and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the MES team and oversee incidents, changes and QA documentation.
• Run reviews, report KPIs, and coordinate out-of-hours support as needed.
• Conduct testing of MES changes and ensure GMP compliance.

Skills

Experience leading teams in a regulatd

5+ years IT/MES support

Strong communication skills

Delivery-focused

GMP change controls

Business user engagement

Education

Degree-level qualification in relevant technical discipline

Tools

MS SQL Server

Visual Basic

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.