Director of Automation

GEA Pharma is a global leader in stand‑alone equipment and fully integrated production lines for pharmaceutical manufacturing, including dispensing, transporting, granulating, drying, coating, pelletizing, tablet pressing, and inspection. For more than 50 years, GEA Pharma has delivered innovative, flexible, and compliant processing solutions—from R&D‑scale systems to full‑scale batch production under cGMP conditions. We are seeking a Director of Automation to lead our electrical, controls, and software engineering teams in the design, development, and commissioning of automation solutions for our pharmaceutical equipment portfolio. This senior leadership role provides strategic, technical, and operational direction for an international team, ensuring excellence in design, compliance, delivery, and customer satisfaction. As a member of the site Senior Leadership Team, you will help shape and deliver initiatives that improve company performance and support GEA’s long‑term strategic objectives. Responsibilities / Tasks Strategic & Technical Leadership Lead automation software, hardware, and controls engineering teams delivering batch and material‑handling execution systems. Define and execute long‑term automation roadmaps for software and hardware platforms, ensuring alignment with business strategy and emerging technologies. Ensure automation designs and engineering practices comply with all relevant industrial and regulatory standards, including GAMP, FDA, CE, ATEX, IECEx, NEC, EN13849, EN62061, and IEC62443‑4‑1. Drive continuous improvement in engineering quality across documentation, software, hardware, and control panels. Department Planning, Capacity & Governance Create, maintain, and report on departmental resource and capacity plans to ensure delivery against project milestones and business commitments. Conduct regular project reviews with stakeholders, providing governance, issue resolution, and performance transparency. Support hot‑prospect planning and ensure the department is prepared for upcoming opportunities. Define, maintain, and enforce departmental procedures to ensure efficient workflows and consistent execution. Budget Ownership & Financial Performance Manage and report on departmental budgets, project forecasts, and financial performance. Ensure projects are delivered efficiently and within financial constraints, controlling departmental non‑recoverable costs. Drive cost‑reduction initiatives internally and in collaboration with project management, supply chain, and other teams. Make data‑driven decisions that optimize efficiency, quality, and project profitability. People Leadership & Capability Development Build a strong leadership pipeline and develop future leaders through structured capability‑building programs. Drive in‑house competency development to strengthen internal capability and reduce reliance on external resources. Develop and maintain external resource partnerships to supplement departmental capacity when required. Manage the departmental skills matrix and lead training programs to ensure the team’s technical and leadership growth. Customer & Commercial Engagement Maintain a strong customer‑centric approach, ensuring timely responses, high satisfaction, and professional engagement. Support sales teams with technical input for front‑end quotations and proposals. Provide expertise to after‑sales service teams for upgrades, retrofits, and maintenance support. Travel as required to support customer engagements, project execution, team activities, and company initiatives. Your Profile / Qualifications Education: Degree or Master’s in Automation or related field 10+ years of experience in automation engineering, with at least 3 years in a leadership role. Extensive experience in automation within life sciences or similarly regulated industries. Strong knowledge of automation standards, regulatory frameworks, and functional safety. Proven track record of leading engineering teams and delivering complex automation projects. Demonstrated experience in budget ownership, financial reporting, and cost‑control initiatives. Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and decision‑making skills. Customer‑focused, quality‑driven, and committed to delivery excellence. Collaborative leader who inspires teams, drives accountability, and navigates complexity effectively. Did we spark your interest? Then please click apply above to access our guided application process. GEA is one of the largest suppliers of process technology for the food industry and a wide range of other industries. The international technology group focuses on process technology and components for sophisticated production processes in various end-user markets.