Principal Automation Engineer - Warehouse Automation (Holly Springs

The Position

Principal Automation Engineer
- Warehouse Automation (Holly Springs)

Welcome to Holly Springs, North Carolina— home to Roche/Genentech's largest-ever investment: a $2B greenfield start-up where next-generation technology, high-performing teams and Operational Excellence converge to create the global standard for high-volume, highly-efficient Drug Product manufacturing.

The facility's core is defined by Innovation - leveraging advanced automation, robotics, digital tools, real-time data analytics, and simple, streamlined processes to produce the highest quality medicines. This plant meets today’s demand for CVRM (Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism) medicines and is scalable to grow with the portfolio, which focuses on next-generation metabolic medicines specifically targeting the global obesity epidemic and Type 2 diabetes.

This is a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment with a high-level of accountability, with planned launch in 2028.

The Opportunity

ITOT supports Pharma Technical Manufacturing (PTM), PTM is responsible for managing all aspects of end-to-end drug substance and drug product manufacturing and supply. From the raw material to the final medicine, we contribute to deliver Roche’s ground-breaking therapies to more than 120 million patients around the world. We make our medicines at 9 sites around the world and coordinate all aspects of production of Roche medicines in all disease areas and dosage forms.

To ensure readiness for a step-change in the standard of care that Roche delivers in the area of Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM), PTM will construct a new manufacturing site in the U.S. in Holly Spring, North Carolina. ITOT will own and operate Manufacturing Technology stack at the site working with Global IT. The new site will focus on large volume low-cost Drug Product manufacturing (Component Prep & Compounding, Liquid PFS Filling, Automated Inspection, Autoinjector Assembly, Packaging/Finished Products).

Principal Automation Engineer is being hired to participate in Greenfield Project execution and then support the facility after going live.

Initially, you will perform a mix of remote and onsite work (first at the General Planner’s office, later at construction site/plant). You will transition to local full-time on-site work once the site buildings are built and equipment delivered. Travel of up to 30% of the time is expected during the project phase.

The Principal Automation Engineer
- Warehouse Automation is responsible for the technical integrity, reliability, and optimization of the automated material handling systems within the Holly Springs facility. This role serves as the subject matter expert for the Körber K.One.

X (Warehouse Control System), high-density Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS systems), and the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) fleet. You will bridge the gap between physical hardware and the digital warehouse layer, ensuring that pharmaceutical stock moves seamlessly and safely through the production lifecycle while maintaining strict GxP compliance. The role will also have responsibilities for Robotics Fleet management System that may be shared with Site Robotics Engineer.

Leading automation impacting projects with large and/or complex scope and Driving strategic initiatives to improve business processes are also expected.

Key Responsibilities:

Operational System Maintenance (AS/RS & WCS)

• System Health Monitoring:
  Monitor the daily performance of the Körber K.One.
  
  X (WCS) and AS/RS, proactively identifying "stuck" telegrams or queue bottlenecks before they impact production output.

• L2/L3 Technical Support:
  Act as the highest internal escalation point for complex automation failures. Troubleshoot the handshake between PLC layers and the WCS to resolve hardware-software "mismatches" in real-time.

• Disaster Recovery:
  Maintain and periodically test the system recovery procedures for the WCS and PLC configurations to ensure rapid restoration of the warehouse flow in the event of a server or network failure.

AGV Fleet & Traffic Management

• Fleet Availability:
  Manage the daily operational readiness of the AGV fleet, overseeing battery…