Principal Engineer, Automation II (Saint Joseph, United States, Missouri)
About this opportunity
Description
The Principal Engineer, Automation has the responsibility of providing advanced design, troubleshooting support and advancement of site automation technologies including production equipment and building automation. This position will provide design, programming and troubleshooting support of automated controls to plant services department for plant engineering, construction and maintenance work. This position will also manage capital and expense projects and implement modifications to existing systems
As an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim, you will actively contribute to the discovery, development, and delivery of our products to our patients and customers. Our global presence provides opportunity for all employees to collaborate internationally, offering visibility and opportunity to directly contribute to the companies' success. We realize that our strength and competitive advantage lie with our people. We support our employees in several ways to foster a healthy working environment, meaningful work, mobility, networking, and work-life balance. Our competitive compensation and benefit programs reflect Boehringer Ingelheim's high regard for our employees.
Duties & Responsibilities
Manages capital and expense projects ensuring sustainable growth of site automation technologies.
Maintains building automation system including lifecycle management, modification and troubleshooting in compliance with BIAH SOPs and current industry standards.
Researches and evaluates potential automation projects to determine feasibility.
Provides data and proposals to management to guide site investment strategy.
Develops and implements site automation improvement initiatives.
Acts as automation and controls subject matter expert on large capital projects.
Supports day to day site automation and controls needs, minimizing production loss.
Produces and implements CAPA plans to prevent future occurrences.
Leads root cause analysis initiatives as related to automation topics.
Conducts research on new technologies, gains competency and trains others after implementation.
Requirements
Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering or Control Systems field with four (4) years professional experience.
Integrator level capability in the following:
Low voltage controls (relays, safety circuits, drives, etc.)
Devices and interface technologies (sensors, IO modules, fieldbus and networking).
PLC programming including ladder, function block and structured text.
RSLogix experience is preferred.
HMI/SCADA systems.
FactoryTalk View experience is preferred.
Proficiency in the following:
Mechanical design methods and techniques using 3D CAD software.
SolidWorks experience is preferred.
Building automation systems.
Siemens Insight or Desigo experience is preferred.
Ability to clearly communicate verbally and in writing in a cross functional team.
Good project management and organizational skills.
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Desired Skills, Experience and Abilities
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Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 393 comparable Principal Manufacturing & CMC roles across 56 biopharma companies.
Salary context
189 of 393 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 393 comparable roles
+ 13 more countries
Seniority mix
393 of 393 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
2 of 393 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.