Automation Engineer - 18 Months Secondment / FTC
Closing Date: 19th June 2026 (COB)
Business Introduction
We manufacture and supply reliable, high-quality medicines and vaccines to meet patients’ needs and drive our performance.
Our network of 37 medicines and vaccines manufacturing sites delivered 1.7 billion packs of medicines and 409 million vaccine doses in 2024 to help make a positive impact on the health of millions of people. Our supply chain is not just core to our operations; it’s vital to bringing our innovations to patients as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible. Technology is transforming how we manufacture medicines and vaccines, enabling us to increase the speed, quality and scale of product supply.
We need the very best minds and capability to help us on our journey to make more complex products, harnessing the power of smart manufacturing technologies including robotics, digital solutions and artificial intelligence to deliver for patients.
Position Summary
You will provide hands-on and technical leadership for automation and control systems at our UK site. You will support day-to-day operations, lead small to medium automation projects, and work with engineering, quality, validation and operations teams. We value curiosity, practical problem solving, clear communication and a focus on safety and compliance. This role offers growth through exposure to modern manufacturing automation, industry 4.0 approaches and cross-functional collaboration to deliver meaningful impact on how we prevent and treat disease together.
Responsibilities
This role will provide YOU the opportunity to lead key activities to progress YOUR career. These responsibilities include some of the following:
- Provide hands-on engineering support for PLC, HMI, SCADA and associated field instrumentation to maintain reliable production.
- Lead specification, procurement, installation and testing (FAT/SAT) for automation systems and control panels.
- Deliver small to medium automation improvement projects that raise efficiency, safety and data quality.
- Work with Quality and Validation to ensure systems are compliant, audit ready and meet GMP requirements.
- Support change controls, CAPAs, deviations and documentation related to automated systems.
- Coach and work closely with operations, contractors and stakeholders to resolve issues and share best practice.
Why You?
Basic Qualification
We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals:
- HNC/HND or degree in Electrical, Electronic, Control, Instrumentation or similar engineering discipline, or equivalent demonstrable experience.
- Practical experience with PLCs, HMIs, SCADA or industrial control systems.
- Experience supporting automated production equipment in a manufacturing environment.
- Experience with installation, commissioning and testing of control systems.
- Good problem solving and troubleshooting skills for electrical and control faults.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to work with multi-disciplinary teams and contractors.
Preferred Qualification
If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:
- Degree in Electrical, Electronic, Robotics, Software/Data or related engineering discipline.
- Experience with Siemens, Rockwell, Wonderware/AVEVA or similar vendors and protocols such as Profinet, Profibus, Ethernet/IP.
- Familiarity with MES integration, historians or basic SQL/data interfaces.
- Knowledge of regulatory expectations for electronic records, data integrity and GxP environments.
- Experience of process and machinery safety standards (UKCA/CE, PUWER, HAZOP, SIL) and operational technology cyber security awareness.
- Experience authoring testing protocols, technical specifications and engineering documentation.
This role is site-based at our Worthing GSK site.
How to apply
If you want to grow your technical leadership and help deliver reliable, compliant automation in a modern manufacturing environment, we would love to hear from you. Please apply and tell us briefly how your skills and experience match the role. We welcome applications from people at different stages of their career.
Why GSK?
Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.
People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.
GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.
We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.
Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at [email protected] where you can also request a call.
Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide.
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