Automation Engineer – Packaging & Process Automation

Joining Moderna means advancing mRNA science to transform medicine. Work with exceptional global teams on a broad pipeline and build a career that makes a real difference for patients.

Moderna is establishing a leading research, development, and manufacturing facility at Harwell to support onshore mRNA vaccine production for respiratory diseases in the UK.

This long term investment will create skilled jobs and strengthen collaboration with academic, NHS, and government partners. We welcome experts ready to help expand access to life saving vaccines.

At Moderna’s Harwell manufacturing facility, you will play a pivotal hands‑on engineering role in introducing, commissioning, and optimising sophisticated automation systems supporting drug product packaging and drug substance manufacturing. You will help establish new automated labelling and secondary packaging capabilities while ensuring the reliability, compliance, and continuous improvement of existing Emerson DeltaV and Allen‑Bradley/Rockwell PLC‑based process control systems. Working independently as a technical specialist and collaborating across manufacturing, engineering, quality, validation, and digital teams, you will help translate advanced automation technology into safe, efficient, validated manufacturing operations, with opportunities to explore emerging digital and Generative AI‑enabled solutions.

• Drive packaging automation and manufacturing performance:
  Provide hands‑on, day‑to‑day automation engineering support across drug product packaging and existing Drug Substance (DS) manufacturing operations. Troubleshoot and optimise PLCs, Emerson DeltaV distributed control systems, HMIs, instrumentation, industrial networks, machine controls, servo and motion systems, vision technologies, and equipment interfaces to maintain reliable manufacturing operations.
• Become a technical expert in automated packaging technologies:
  Support the introduction, operation, and continuous improvement of automated labelling and secondary packaging equipment, including labelers, cartoners, case packers, serialization and aggregation systems, vision inspection equipment, printers, scanners, conveyors, robotics, and material‑handling systems. Develop a detailed understanding of equipment functionality, control architectures, and interfaces with wider manufacturing systems.
• Support packaging line configuration and operational readiness:
  Partner with manufacturing teams to manage equipment setup, format changes, line clearance, recipe management, and changeovers across different products and packaging configurations. Identify opportunities to simplify operations, reduce changeover times, and improve packaging‑line consistency, flexibility, and throughput.
• Deliver automation projects from design through manufacturing start‑up:
  Support new and modified automation systems throughout their complete engineering lifecycle, including design, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), commissioning, qualification, validation, start‑up, and handover to routine manufacturing. Contribute to new‑equipment introduction, technology transfer, scale‑up, and commercial manufacturing readiness.
• Strengthen process automation and control systems:
  Provide technical support for existing drug substance manufacturing automation, with particular emphasis on Emerson DeltaV and Allen‑Bradley/Rockwell PLC‑based systems. Diagnose complex control‑system issues spanning instrumentation, electrical systems, industrial communications, automation logic, and mechanical equipment interfaces.
• Develop robust automation engineering documentation:
  Create, review, and maintain automation lifecycle documentation, including User Requirement…