Freelance Automation Engineer

For an internationally active pharmaceutical company with a manufacturing site close to London, we are looking for an experienced Automation Engineer on a freelance basis. The focus is on maintaining and improving site automation technologies, covering production equipment and building automation systems, with hands‑on responsibility for design, programming, troubleshooting, and lifecycle management of control systems.

• Start: immediate
• Duration: until end of 2027
• Remote share: 50%

• Maintain and troubleshoot automation systems, including production and building automation, ensuring system reliability and minimizing downtime
• Deliver automation support for engineering and maintenance projects, including design, programming, and implementation of control systems
• Lead or contribute to automation projects and continuous improvement initiatives, supporting the site automation roadmap
• Ensure compliant system operation in line with internal procedures and regulatory requirements, including support for audits and CAPAs
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams (operations, maintenance, engineering, validation, IT) and external vendors

• Hands‑on experience with industrial automation systems, including PLCs, HMI/SCADA, and building automation
• Strong knowledge of PLC programming (ladder, function block, structured text) and industrial control architectures
• Experience supporting the full system lifecycle (design, implementation, troubleshooting, upgrades, documentation)
• Experience in a pharmaceutical or other highly regulated environment; knowledge of GAMP5
• Awareness of OT cybersecurity principles

Interested? Please send your current CV.