Electrical Controls Engineer - Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
LTS Lohmann Therapy
Summary
LTS 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 and troubleshooting with equipment start-up, qualification support, and cross-functional collaboration to improve safety, reliability, quality, and performance.
Job description
What You'll Do
- 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 systems, sensors, barcode and serialization interfaces, and industrial networks.
- Support equipment installation, commissioning, qualification, start-up, and ongoing commercial production and 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, including URS, functional and design specifications, I/O lists, control narratives, alarm matrices, sequences of operation, and change controls.
- Review vendor proposals, electrical schematics, panel layouts, technical drawings, FAT/SAT protocols, and software design documentation.
- Support FAT, SAT, commissioning, IQ/OQ/PQ, revalidation, and change-control activities for new equipment, line upgrades, and automation improvements.
- Diagnose machine faults, process deviations, vision and registration issues, sensor and network failures, electrical-control problems, and data-collection issues.
- Create and maintain controlled documentation, including SOPs, troubleshooting guides, training materials, preventive-maintenance support documents, 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, and audit-trail and data-integrity requirements.
- Provide technical guidance and hands-on training to Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering teams.
What You Bring
- Bachelor's degree in Controls Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Automation Engineering, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
- At least 3 years of controls, automation, or electrical engineering experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, food, converting, packaging, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
- Hands-on experience with PLC/HMI platforms, industrial sensors, servo and motion control, VFDs, machine vision, electrical schematics, and industrial communication networks.
- Working knowledge of cGMP expectations, validation lifecycle documentation, change control, data integrity, and equipment qualification.
- Strong troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, technical writing, communication, project execution, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Ability to support shop-floor execution while maintaining strong documentation discipline and compliance.
Preferred Experience
- Experience with Allen-Bradley/Rockwell, Siemens, Beckhoff, Omron, Keyence, Cognex, Delta ModTech, Serpa/MGS, or comparable automation and machine platforms.
- Experience with vision inspection, registration control, web handling, converting, packaging automation, robotic handling, serialization, or recipe-controlled equipment.
- Knowledge of GAMP 5, 21 CFR Part 11 concepts, audit trails, backup and restore practices, and validated software change control.
- Ability to lead vendor technical discussions and translate production needs into robust automation requirements.
- Project management experience with capital projects, line upgrades, controls-obsolescence remediation, or continuous-improvement workstreams.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Controls Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Automation Engineering, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
- At least 3 years of controls, automation, or electrical engineering experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, food, converting, packaging, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
- Hands-on experience with PLC/HMI platforms, industrial sensors, servo and motion control, VFDs, machine vision, electrical schematics, and industrial communication networks.
- Working knowledge of cGMP expectations, validation lifecycle documentation, change control, data integrity, and equipment qualification.
- Strong troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, technical writing, communication, project execution, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Ability to support shop-floor execution while maintaining strong documentation discipline and compliance.
Company overview
LTS Lohmann Therapy Systems is a global leader in innovative drug delivery solutions and a premier Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). Founded in 1984, the company specializes in developing and manufacturing transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS), oral thin films (OTF), and micro array patches (MAP). With over 1,500 employees across five global sites in the US, Germany, Israel, and a representative office in China, LTS has pioneered numerous medical breakthroughs including the first nicotine patch, first contraceptive patch, first Parkinson's patch, and first oral active ingredient film. The company operates with a patient-centric philosophy encapsulated in its purpose statement: 'We CARE. We CREATE. We DELIVER.' LTS serves as a dedicated technology partner to pharmaceutical companies, offering end-to-end development and manufacturing services without competing in drug development. With over 40 commercial products and 50+ active development programs, the company combines deep expertise with patient-centric innovation to advance small molecules, biologics, and vaccines through non-invasive delivery technologies.