Pharma Automation Controls Engineer — PLC, Vision

ADP, Inc.; West Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 95,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

LTS Lohmann Therapy Systems in West St. Paul, MN is seeking an experienced Electrical/Controls Engineer to design, improve, and sustain automated manufacturing and packaging systems in a highly regulated environment.

In this hands-on role, you’ll combine controls design, troubleshooting, start‑up support, qualification activities, and cross‑functional collaboration to improve safety, reliability, quality, uptime, and overall performance across our operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in controls, electrical, automation, mechatronics, computer engineering, or related discipline.
• At least 3 years of controls/automation/electrical engineering in pharma/regulated environments.
• Hands-on experience with PLC/HMI, sensors, servo/motion control, VFDs, machine vision, wiring schematics, and industrial networks.
• Knowledge of cGMP, validation lifecycle docs, change control, data integrity, and equipment qualification.
• Strong troubleshooting, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to support shop-floor execution with strong documentation discipline.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, troubleshoot, and maintain control systems for pharmaceutical manufacturing, packaging, converting, inspection, and material-handling equipment.
• Program and support PLCs, HMIs, servo drives, motion controllers, VFDs, safety PLCs, machine vision, sensors, and interfaces.
• Support equipment installation, commissioning, qualification, start-up, and production/R&D operations.
• Partner with Process Engineering, Automation, Maintenance, Quality, Validation, Operations, IT/OT, and vendors to deliver safe, compliant, and reliable equipment performance.
• Develop and review automation requirements and documentation (URS, FDS, I/O lists, alarm matrices, sequences, change controls).
• Review vendor proposals, electrical schematics, panel layouts, FAT/SAT protocols, and software design documentation.
• Support FAT, SAT, IQ/OQ/PQ, revalidation, and change-control activities for new equipment and line upgrades.
• Diagnose machine faults, deviations, vision/registration issues, sensor/network failures, electrical-control problems, and data-collection issues.
• Create and maintain SOPs, troubleshooting guides, training materials, preventive-maintenance and validation deliverables.
• Drive improvements in uptime, throughput, yield, quality, changeover efficiency, operator usability, and cost performance.
• Support equipment-data integration with manufacturing systems, historians, recipe management, audit trails, and data integrity.
• Provide technical guidance and hands-on training to Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering teams.

Skills

Troubleshooting

Root-cause analysis

Technical writing

Cross-functional collaboration

Project execution

Documentation discipline

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Controls/Electrical/Automation/Mechatronics/Computer Engineering or closely related discipline

Tools

Allen-Bradley/Rockwell

Siemens

Beckhoff

Omron

Keyence

Cognex

Delta ModTech

Serpa/MGS

Job description

LTS Lohmann Therapy Systems in West St. Paul, MN is seeking an experienced Electrical/Controls Engineer to design, improve, and sustain automated manufacturing and packaging systems in a highly regulated environment.

In this hands-on role, you’ll combine controls design, troubleshooting, start‑up support, qualification activities, and cross‑functional collaboration to improve safety, reliability, quality, uptime, and overall performance across our operations.