
AI and Automation Engineer
Key Skills
Job Description
Work Schedule
Standard (Mon-Fri)Environmental Conditions
OfficeJob Description
The AI and Automation Engineer turns equipment and operational challenges into safe, reliable digital and automation solutions. Based in Operations Engineering, the role works with operations, maintenance, quality, engineering, and IT/OT teams to improve equipment availability, performance, product quality, and ease of operation. The engineer supports the full solution lifecycle: identifying needs, assessing data, piloting and validating solutions, deploying them, and providing ongoing support.
DESCRIPTION
How you will make an impact:
You will deliver practical AI and automation solutions that improve equipment reliability, performance, and operational efficiency.
What you will do:
- Identify and prioritize opportunities by working with equipment and operations teams to understand recurring losses, define problems, establish baselines, and agree on measurable outcomes such as uptime, cycle time, quality, safety, and maintenance effort
- Design and integrate automation by developing equipment solutions using controls, sensors, robotics, machine vision, and equipment interfaces, partnering with controls and equipment engineers as needed
- Connect equipment and operational data using PLC, HMI, SCADA, and other approved systems to make relevant data usable, traceable, and suitable for analysis or real-time applications
- Develop electrical and pneumatic systems by creating and updating system designs and documentation, and supporting troubleshooting of electrical equipment
- Develop and integrate practical AI solutions by building, adapting, or integrating AI models and applications for operational needs such as document processing, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, computer vision, and decision support
- Test solutions before deployment by setting acceptance criteria, assessing results against the baseline, and planning for safe fallback, operator oversight, and rollback where appropriate
- Deploy and sustain solutions by supporting commissioning and handover, monitoring reliability, model performance, data quality, and user adoption, and maintaining solutions through documented change and support processes
- Build capability across teams by documenting designs and lessons learned, training users and maintainers, and sharing reusable standards and practices with Operations Equipment Engineering and partner teams
REQUIREMENTS
How you will get here:
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, mechatronics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Experience and skills:
- At least 2 years of experience in industrial automation, equipment engineering, manufacturing analytics, or delivering AI and automation solutions, or equivalent practical experience
- Ability to read and work with electrical and pneumatic schematics, maintain documentation, and troubleshoot electrical equipment
- Working knowledge of equipment controls and industrial systems, including PLCs, sensors, HMI/SCADA, and production data platforms
- Experience implementing PID control strategies and the ability to work effectively with controls and IT/OT specialists
- Ability to use Python, SQL, JavaScript, C, or comparable tools for data analysis, prototyping, or automation, and to work with structured equipment or process data
- Ability to assess data quality, choose an appropriate technical approach, test it against operational needs, and explain results and limitations
- Understanding of safe design, change control, documentation, cybersecurity, and applicable validation and quality controls
- Able to translate user needs into clear technical requirements, collaborate across functions, and work effectively both independently and as part of a team
- Strong written and spoken English communication skills are required
- Dutch language skills are an advantage
Preferred qualifications:
- Master's degree in computer science, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, or a related field
- Experience with predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, computer vision, robotics, or process optimization
- Experience deploying applications or models at the equipment edge or in a managed cloud environment, including monitoring and lifecycle support
- Familiarity with industrial data exchange standards or protocols such as OPC UA or MQTT
- Experience in regulated manufacturing, equipment qualification, validation, or data integrity practices
- Experience commissioning equipment or working directly with technicians and operators in a manufacturing environment
Core Responsibilities
The AI and Automation Engineer will design and integrate practical automation and AI solutions to improve equipment reliability, performance, and operational efficiency. They will manage the full solution lifecycle, from identifying operational needs and developing technical designs to deploying and sustaining solutions in a manufacturing environment.
Requirements
Candidates must have a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, mechatronics, or a related field, along with at least 2 years of experience in industrial automation or manufacturing analytics. Proficiency in electrical/pneumatic schematics, industrial control systems, and programming languages like Python or SQL is required.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Industry: Biotechnology Research
Company size: 10,001+ employees
About Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue of approximately $40 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, increasing productivity in their laboratories, improving patient health through diagnostics or the development and manufacture of life-changing therapies, we are here to support them. Our global team delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, Patheon and PPD. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.