Manufacturing Automation Engineer – Lean & Digital

Bio-Techne; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 101,000 - 166,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Pet insurance

Legal shield

ID shield

401k plan

ESPP

HSA

FSA

Dependent Care FSA

Job summary

Bio-Techne is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to plan, design, and maintain manufacturing processes across Filling, Kitting, Packaging, and Shipping at our Minneapolis facility. This role emphasizes optimization, regulatory compliance, and cross-functional collaboration with Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and R&D to scale production and improve throughput.

You will lead automation projects including robotics, PLCs, and vision systems, apply Lean Six Sigma, perform time studies and

Qualifications

• Requires a master’s degree with 2-5 years of relevant experience Or, a bachelor's degree with 5-8 years of relevant experience; Or an associate degree with 10 or more years of relevant experience
• 5+ years of automation or manufacturing engineering experience.
• Mechanical and electrical aptitude required.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a strong presence in manufacturing and observe work to identify waste, bottlenecks, and handoffs.
• Investigate operational inefficiencies and productivity improvements.
• Use time studies, standard-labor analysis, line balancing, and process mapping to assess performance.
• Define and execute automation strategy aligned with cost, quality, throughput, and scalability.
• Manage automation projects through planning, design, architecture, building, and deployment followed by validation.
• Incorporate robotics, vision systems, PLCs, and COBOTs across manufacturing operations.
• Drive Lean Six Sigma, data analytics, and digital manufacturing tools to improve KPIs (OTD, cycle time, yield, labor).
• Own capital automation projects from concept through commissioning, including business case and IQ/OQ/PQ validation.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives with Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and R&D to scale processes.
• Establish engineering best practices and documentation systems.
• Champion digital transformation with MES integration and smart factory tech.

Skills

Lean Six Sigma

Detailed & organized work

Microsoft Office & Smartsheet

Statistics software (Minitab/JMP)

Communication & collaboration

Equipment & systems troubleshooting

Education

Master’s degree with 2-5 years experience

Bachelor’s degree with 5-8 years experience

Associate degree with 10+ years experience

Tools

Minitab

JMP

Job description

Bio-Techne is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to plan, design, and maintain manufacturing processes across Filling, Kitting, Packaging, and Shipping at our Minneapolis facility. This role emphasizes optimization, regulatory compliance, and cross-functional collaboration with Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and R&D to scale production and improve throughput.

You will lead automation projects including robotics, PLCs, and vision systems, apply Lean Six Sigma, perform time studies and