Automation Engineer

The purpose of this position:

• The key purpose of this role is to provide structured, strategic and leadership within the automation and control discipline across Heineken Beverages manufacturing operations.
• The role develops and governs automation standards, architecture, frameworks and lifecycle practices; influences site and project decisions; improves manufacturing reliability and performance; strengthens PCD cybersecurity; and enables the controlled implementation and enhancement of digital manufacturing technologies.
• The role works across sites and functions to ensure automation solutions are safe, reliable, maintainable, secure, integrated, scalable and aligned with Heineken requirements and long-term business priorities.

Key responsibilities: 

Automation Manufacturing Reliability and Continuous Improvement:

• Provide cross-site technical leadership to improve the reliability, maintainability and performance of automation and control systems.
• Establish and govern reliability standards, maintenance strategies and performance measures for PLC, SCADA, HMI, industrial networks, drives, instrumentation and associated control infrastructure.
• Analyse systemic failures, repeat breakdowns and automation-related production losses; lead structured root cause analysis and ensure sustainable corrective and preventive actions are implemented.
• Support sites with complex or high-impact automation incidents while strengthening site capability and ownership.
• Identify and prioritise opportunities to improve throughput, quality, energy performance, process stability, OPI and cost through automation and advanced control.
• Develop reusable troubleshooting practices, standard diagnostics, technical guidance and lessons-learned mechanisms across the manufacturing network.

Automation Projects and Obsolescence Management:

• Provide technical assurance and lifecycle governance for automation capital projects, upgrades and obsolescence programmes.
• Define automation project requirements, design principles, acceptance criteria and handover standards.
• Review and approve control philosophies, functional design specifications, architectures, software designs, network designs and supplier proposals for compliance with approved standards.
• Participate in design reviews, risk assessments, FAT, SAT, commissioning, performance verification and operational handover for strategic projects.
• Develop and maintain automation asset lifecycle and obsolescence frameworks, site risk profiles, technology roadmaps and prioritised replacement plans.

Automation Technology, Architecture and Integration:

• Define and govern fit-for-purpose automation technologies and integration patterns across the control and manufacturing landscape.
• Own and maintain reference architectures, approved technology standards, software libraries, naming conventions, interface principles and engineering practices for automation and control systems.
• Evaluate emerging and existing technologies against business value, cybersecurity, interoperability, supportability, scalability and lifecycle requirements.
• Ensure reliable integration between field devices, control systems, SCADA, historians, MES, utilities platforms, reporting solutions and approved enterprise services.
• Guide industrial communication and data integration using approved protocols, segmented architectures and clearly defined ownership boundaries between OT and IT.
• Maintain strategic relationships with OEMs, system integrators and technology partners; influence roadmaps and ensure solutions remain aligned with Heineken architecture and support models.
• Create governance mechanisms for deviations, technical decisions, solution assurance and controlled introduction of new technology.

PCD Cybersecurity and Compliance:

• Strengthen cybersecurity and compliance within the Process Control Domain through standards, risk management and technical governance.
• Translate Heineken PCD security requirements into practical automation engineering standards, implementation roadmaps and assurance controls.
• Govern secure network segmentation, access control, remote access, backup and restore, patching, malware protection, account management, logging and recovery practices for automation assets.
• Support PCD risk assessments, audits, vulnerability remediation and incident response, ensuring actions are prioritised according to operational and business risk.
• Embed security-by-design into automation projects, system changes, supplier access and technology lifecycle decisions.
• Define evidence, documentation and compliance routines required to demonstrate that controls are implemented, sustained and periodically tested.
• Collaborate with PCD Security, IT, site engineering and external partners to resolve risks without compromising safety, quality or production continuity.

Digital Manufacturing Implementation and Enhancement:

• Enable sustainable digital manufacturing solutions by ensuring robust automation data foundations, controlled integration and measurable operational value.
• Provide automation leadership for historian, MES, OPI, energy, condition monitoring, analytics and other approved digital manufacturing initiatives.
• Define data acquisition, contextualisation, tag, interface, time synchronisation, data quality and ownership standards from shop-floor systems to authorised digital platforms.
• Ensure digital solutions are industrialised, supportable, cybersecure and integrated into site operating and maintenance routines rather than remaining isolated pilots.
• Partner with operations, engineering, digital, data and IT teams to translate business problems into scalable automation and data solutions.
• Assess solution performance after implementation and drive enhancements based on adoption, reliability, data quality and realised business benefits.

Standards, Governance, Capability and Strategic Influence:

• Build a consistent and sustainable automation engineering capability across Heineken Beverages through governance, assurance and knowledge leadership.
• Develop, maintain and deploy automation policies, standards, frameworks, specifications, templates and technical procedures aligned with global and local requirements.
• Establish governance forums, compliance assessments, maturity reviews and performance reporting to provide visibility of automation risks, priorities and progress.
• Influence investment plans and management decisions by presenting clear technical risk, lifecycle, cost and business-impact information.
• Provide coaching, technical mentoring and structured capability development for site automation engineers, technicians, project engineers and relevant stakeholders.
• Facilitate cross-site communities of practice, knowledge sharing, benchmarking and replication of proven solutions.
• Define competency expectations and support succession and training for the automation and control discipline.
• Act as a recognised subject matter expert and escalation point, balancing enterprise standardisation with site requirements and operational realities.

Safety, Health, Environment and Quality:

• Ensure that automation strategies, designs, changes and work practices protect people, product, plant, information and the environment.
• Apply management-of-change, functional safety, quality, environmental and legal requirements to automation engineering activities.
• Ensure control system modifications are appropriately assessed, tested, approved, documented, backed up and recoverable before release to production.
• Promote safe engineering behaviours and ensure suppliers and partners comply with site and Heineken SHE requirements.

The successful candidate must have the following experience/skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Mechatronics, Process Control, Instrumentation, Automation or a related engineering discipline.
• Relevant professional registration, postgraduate qualification or recognized automation, industrial networking, cybersecurity or project certification would be an added advantage.
• Minimum 10 years relevant experience in industrial automation and control within a manufacturing or process environment, including experience with PLC, SCADA/HMI, industrial networks, drives, instrumentation and system integration.
• Demonstrated experience in automation projects, reliability improvement, technology lifecycle or obsolescence management and cross-functional technical leadership.
• Experience operating across multiple manufacturing sites, developing standards or providing technical governance at business, regional or Centre of Excellence level would be an added advantage.