Principal Automation Engineer Optical Inspection SME

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more at jnj.com.

As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world. We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual. At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit.

Job Function:

Supply Chain Engineering

Job Sub Function:

Automation Engineering

Job Category:

Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations:

Wilson, North Carolina, United States of America

Job Description:

About Innovative Medicine

Our expertise in Innovative Medicine is informed and inspired by patients, whose insights fuel our science-based advancements. Visionaries like you work on teams that save lives by developing the medicines of tomorrow.

Join us in developing treatments, finding cures, and pioneering the path from lab to life while championing patients every step of the way.

Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/innovative-medicine

Learn more and apply to this exciting new role!

Senior Automation Engineer will lead internal team members, suppliers, OEMs, system integrators, Digital/IT partners, automation-system owners, and cross-functional stakeholders to deliver OT infrastructure, industrial networking, integration, historian, virtualization, cybersecurity, and lifecycle initiatives in a cGMP manufacturing environment. Own vision requirements and inspection specifications across filling, AVI, device assembly, and packaging. Define inspection scope and measurable acceptance criteria with Quality and equipment specialists, resolving supplier and integration gaps.

Key Responsibilities:

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in manufacturing OT infrastructure, industrial automation infrastructure, or closely related regulated manufacturing systems, with direct responsibility for OT architecture, implementation, integration, troubleshooting, and lifecycle support.
• Specify, configure, and troubleshoot cameras, lenses, illumination, exposure, triggering, and image geometry. Establish stable image acquisition across product formats, equipment speeds, and expected variation in materials and presentation.
• Develop and maintain inspection jobs for particle and cosmetic defects, container and closure features, component presence and orientation, print verification, and barcodes, according to each station’s approved scope.
• Integrate automated inspection equipment and inline vision systems with machine PLCs. Verify trigger and result handshakes, product tracking, reject timing and confirmation, and line stop behavior.
• Develop defect libraries and challenge sets with Quality. Evaluate detection capability, false acceptance, false rejection, repeatability, and performance across formats and operating conditions using approved test methods.
• Lead vision factory and site acceptance testing and commissioning. Support qualification with traceable requirements, representative defect challenges, repeatability studies, and documented resolution of inspection and reject-system defects.
• Troubleshoot missed triggers, poor images, incorrect recipes, product tracking errors, and communication failures. Verify that stale, missing, or incomplete inspection results invoke the defined reject or stop response.
• Define and verify batch context, inspection results, defect images, audit trails, and retention requirements with Quality and IT/OT. Confirm that records and product identity remain traceable through interruptions and recovery.

Key Responsibilities Continued

• Control inspection recipes, thresholds, calibration, software versions, and access permissions. Assess camera, lens, lighting, algorithm, and firmware changes through risk assessment, change control, and appropriate requalification.
• Lead investigations of inspection escapes, false rejects, and recurring faults. Distinguish product defects from imaging, algorithm, handling, and timing problems, and implement corrective actions with Quality and Operations.
• Maintain configuration backups, recovery procedures, and technical documentation. Coordinate OEM support, mentor engineers and technicians, and train operators and maintenance personnel on inspection challenges, setup, and fault recovery.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Automation, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Optical Engineering, or a related technical discipline

Experience and Skills:

Required:

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