Process Automation Engineer

fairlife, LLC is a Chicago-based nutrition company that creates great-tasting, nutrition-rich and dairy products to nourish consumers.

With over $3B in annual retail sales, fairlife’s portfolio of delicious, lactose‑free, real dairy products includes:
fairlife® ultra‑filtered milk
; Core Power® High Protein Shakes; and fairlife® nutrition plan™, a nutrition shake to support the journey to better health.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca‑Cola company, fairlife, LLC has been recognized by both Fast Company and Nielsen for its industry‑leading innovation.

To learn more about fairlife and its complete line of products, please visit

The Process Automation Engineer continuously supports plant processing, packaging and utility systems for reliability, total cost of ownership, effectiveness tracking, documenting areas of success, and driving opportunity areas for improvement and growth. In fulfilling this role, the Process Automation Engineer works cross‑functionally with commercial, manufacturing, engineering, IT, quality, R&D, and other functions within fairlife. They will be one of the top liaison(s) for procuring new equipment and incorporating our learnings with new technologies and processes to improve quality, efficiencies, and speed to market.

• Defining the electrical and automation objectives of capacity expansion projects and overseeing the automation process design from milk receiving to finished product container to achieve lowest risk design at lowest total cost of ownership.
• Assisting in the development and commercialization of new technologies and processes to improve quality, efficiency, and speed to market.
• Assisting in the development, review and updates of all electrical and automation functional specifications.
• Reviewing new and existing line/plant designs to reduce food safety risk and improve the overall efficiency and cost of operations.
• Solving complex process problems following escalation from plants; managing the process of escalation with plants to ensure a timely resolution.
• Supporting development of process monitoring and situational awareness systems that enhance efficiency and reduce losses and total cost of ownership. Examples include design for extended run time, faster CIP turnaround, prediction of next CIP, energy recovery, water re‑use, chemical re‑use, etc.
• Defining standards to improve the accuracy and efficiency of new and existing equipment.
• Developing relationships globally in the dairy processing & automation industries to keep abreast of best‑in‑class performance of various designs.
• Assuring plant compliance with Federal, State and Corporate environmental laws, rules & regulations.
• Assuring that the process complies with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, PMO, other regulatory requirements, Company policies, operating procedures, processes, and task assignments.
• Effectively collaborating and coordinating with plant & project engineering teams to ensure all project work is performed on time and within budget.
• Supporting startup and commissioning activities.
• Supporting validation activities.
• Reviewing and executing Factory Acceptance Testing and Site Acceptance Testing (FAT/SAT) protocols from an electrical and automation perspective.
• Documenting and clearly communicating the intent of the automation design of all new and existing aseptic filling equipment installed in the plants to key stakeholders.
• Providing verbal and written reports to communicate project status as required and contributing to project review meetings.
• Serving a key role in supporting the organization for the commercialization of new products.
• Serving as a key decision maker in equipment vendor selection and contract negotiation.
• Other duties as assigned.

• 5+ years of progressive leadership experience in automation engineering and operations disciplines
• Bachelor of science degree in electrical, mechanical, computer, or chemical engineering or equivalent experience.
• Proven track record of improving manufacturing processes through re‑design, automation, and the introduction of new technologies.
• Programming experience with Allen Bradley…