Senior Automation Engineer (site-based)

PeopleLogic; Tauranga; On-site; NZD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company shares

Job summary

PeopleLogic in Tauranga, New Zealand, seeks a Senior Automation Engineer to own and deliver automation improvements on a single site. The role offers a 50/50 split between small to medium automation projects and day-to-day service and troubleshooting, with Ignition SCADA and Allen‑Bradley + Siemens PLCs driving the upgrades.

On-site collaboration with a personable engineering team enables deep knowledge of processes and the opportunity to experiment with AI-driven predictive maintenance within a

Qualifications

• 7+ years of automation engineering experience
• Solid experience with Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs
• Ignition SCADA experience or willingness to learn Ignition

Responsibilities

• Manage a mix of small to medium industrial automation projects and ongoing service and troubleshooting work
• Hands-on PLC upgrades, vision camera installs, SCADA development, and process or recipe changes
• Build deep knowledge of the site’s manufacturing processes
• Translate operators and site stakeholders needs into clear engineering requirements for the wider engineering team
• Help trial new technology on-site, including AI-driven approaches to predictive maintenance

Skills

Automation engineering

PLC programming

SCADA Ignition

Tools

Allen-Bradley PLCs

Siemens PLCs

Ignition SCADA

Job description

Senior Automation Engineer - Site-Based

Tauranga

$110k-$130k + shares

Senior Automation Engineer role at one manufacturing site. 50/50 split between projects and service. Ignition SCADA, Allen-Bradley + Siemens PLCs.

• A site hungry for automation and AI predictive maintenance
• You’ll get variety without the need for travel
• Personable team, monthly socials, plus company shares

Working on-site at a manufacturer gives you the chance to get to know everything well: the manufacturing processes, the people, and how the control systems can be improved.

Projects + Service 50/50 Split: You’ll spend your time split roughly 50/50 between small to medium automation projects (usually one to five weeks long) and day to day service and troubleshooting work.

Variety: No two weeks look the same: one month you might be upgrading a PLC, the next installing a vision camera on a line, then adding pages to the Ignition SCADA, then working through changes to a recipe or process parameter.

AI Adoption: The company is hungry for new technology, including implementing AI for predictive maintenance issues too, so that’s a new area to get into!

Why you’ll love this

You get real ownership over one site instead of skimming the surface across many sites. You’ll gain in-depth knowledge of how the plant and processes work, translating what operators and stakeholders need into clear technical requirements, then implementing the control systems improvements yourself.

This is a personable, close-knit engineering team. You’ll have other like-minded Automation Engineers as colleagues, and your managers are switched‑on, technical people who are easy to deal with. They handle the contract and commercial side of things, so your focus stays on the technical control systems side. The team gets together for a meal most months, and they like to celebrate when a project is completed.

What you’ll do

• Manage a mix of small to medium industrial automation projects and ongoing service and troubleshooting work
• Get hands‑on with PLC upgrades, vision camera installs, SCADA development, and process or recipe changes
• Build deep knowledge of the site’s manufacturing processes
• Translate what operators and site stakeholders need into clear engineering requirements for the wider engineering team
• Help trial new technology on‑site, including AI‑driven approaches to predictive maintenance

What you’ll need

• 7+ years’ automation engineering experience (5+ considered for an outstanding candidate with strong interpersonal skills)
• Solid experience with Allen‑Bradley and Siemens PLCs
• Ignition SCADA experience is a real plus. If you’ve got other SCADA platform experience and you’re keen to learn Ignition, that works too
• Some exposure to process or manufacturing environments (food, dairy or other liquid processing backgrounds are all relevant)
• Comfortable communicating clearly with internal and external stakeholders

About the company

This is a well‑established, New Zealand‑owned operation that’s invested in where automation and manufacturing technology are heading. It’s not a site where the gear just gets patched up and left alone. Instead, there’s a real appetite here for new technology, and you’ll be part of trialling and implementing it.

You’ll be joining a small, personable engineering team with a manager who’s easy to work with. It’s a level‑headed group that gets the job done without losing sight of enjoying the work.

Please Note: This role is open exclusively to New Zealand Citizens, Permanent Residents, and Resident Visa holders.