The Smart Manufacturing Systems Designer is responsible for the design, implementation, lifecycle support, and continuous improvement of Smart Manufacturing solutions at the site. The role delivers value by improving Right-First-Time performance, reducing manufacturing and review lead times, increasing digital adoption on the shop floor, and enabling data-driven decision-making across Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain.
The role partners with Process Owners, Operations, Quality, Tech, Automation, Global Teams, and Smart Manufacturing leadership to understand manufacturing processes and user needs and translate them into robust, user-centered digital workflows and system solutions. Working within multidisciplinary teams, the Smart Manufacturing Systems Designer supports the full solution lifecycle, from requirements elicitation and process analysis through system design, configuration, integration, testing, validation, deployment, business-as-usual support, and continuous improvement.
The scope includes electronic batch records in the MES, as well as other Smart Manufacturing systems such as low-code applications, electronic checklists and logbooks, scheduling and optimization solutions, process-data platforms, system integrations, analytics, and data visualization products. The role applies an AI-first and digital mindset, using enterprise AI-enabled tools and Smart Manufacturing learning pathways to improve productivity, business outcomes, quality of deliverables, knowledge sharing, and ways of working across the site.
Responsibilities
This role will provide YOU the opportunity to lead key activities to progress YOUR career. These responsibilities include some of the following:
- Lead cross-functional teams to elicit, understand, and document business and user requirements, and translate business processes into clear, actionable system workflows. Partner with global and local teams, ask the right questions, and remove roadblocks to translate shop-floor needs into actionable requirements that can be used for system design.
- Act as system designer for assigned Smart Manufacturing solutions. Translate documented workflows into robust, user-centered system designs and configured solutions across relevant Smart Manufacturing platforms, ensuring alignment with local and global functional, business, and GMP requirements.
- With support from Tech and Automation, design and maintain integrations among Smart Manufacturing systems and with connected enterprise and automation systems, including MES/eBR, data historians, automation/SCADA systems, SAP ERP, and other digital manufacturing tools, ensuring reliable data flows and robust execution of business rules and automated checks.
- Identify applicable use cases and define testing strategies to confirm that solutions perform as intended before deployment. Define and/or create the master data needed to support testing, deployment, and accurate system configuration.
- Create and maintain GMP documentation, including user requirements, design specifications, test documentation, and validation records, to support the implementation and lifecycle management of Smart Manufacturing systems.
- Execute validation testing to confirm that digital solutions meet approved user, business, functional, and regulatory requirements before go-live.
- Support system deployment and go-live activities, including dry-runs, end-user training, troubleshooting, and shop-floor support, to enable effective adoption and a smooth transition to new or updated systems.
- Manage business-as-usual support and drive data-informed continuous improvement of assigned systems. Perform Gemba walks, proactively collect user feedback, and use operational data to identify and implement improvements that keep solutions effective and fit for purpose.
- Partner with business owners and user groups to identify the data needed to support operations and decision-making and develop intuitive data visualization products that provide quick and easy access to actionable information.
- Perform all job responsibilities in compliance with applicable EHS and GMP regulations, guidelines, policies, standard operating procedures, industry practices, and Industrial Excellence initiatives.
Why You?
Basic Qualification
We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals:
- Associate’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering, Automation or related technical discipline
- 3+ years of experience in pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, or other regulated manufacturing environments, and at least one year of experience designing Smart Manufacturing or Digital Systems solutions .
- Design, configure, test, deploy, support, and continuously improve Smart Manufacturing solutions in a manufacturing GMP-regulated environment.
- Experience supporting project execution, testing, and validation of computerized or digital systems in a GMP-regulated environment.
- Knowledge of manufacturing operations and GMP production processes, with the ability to understand shop-floor needs and their application to digital-system design.
- Experience to elicit and document user and business requirements, facilitate process mapping, and translate manufacturing processes and user needs into clear, user-centered system workflows and digital solutions.
- Experience to lead cross-functional discussions and communicate effectively between business and technical stakeholders, translating shopfloor and business language into actionable technical requirements and explaining technical concepts in clear business language.
- Experience in technical writing and preparation of controlled documentation, including user requirements, design documentation, test and validation records, incident reports, SOPs, user guides, and training materials.
- Proficiency with tools used to document and analyze requirements, processes, and workflows, including Microsoft Visio, Excel, and related Microsoft 365 applications.
- Experience with data visualization or analytics tools, such as Power BI, Power Apps, PI Vision, Spotfire, or equivalent solutions, and the ability to present operational information clearly and intuitively to support decision-making.
- Collaboration and stakeholder-management skills across Operations, QA, Tech, Automation, Process Owners, Smart Manufacturing, and global teams.
Preferred Qualification
If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:
- Ability to operate independently in a complex matrix environment, manage competing priorities, and maintain a strong focus on deliverables, business outcomes, quality, and continuous improvement.
- Demonstrated learning agility, curiosity, and adaptability, with the ability to quickly develop proficiency in new digital systems and emerging technologies and apply them to solve business and manufacturing problems
- Experience designing electronic batch records using Siemens OpCenter Execution Pharma or a comparable Manufacturing Execution System.
- Experience with low-code platforms (e.g. Mendix), digital logbooks, manufacturing scheduling or optimization solutions, data historians, or other Smart Manufacturing technologies.
- Basic scripting or programming experience, such as Python or a similar language, and a foundational understanding of relational databases, data models, or time-series data structures.
- Experience working in Agile, iterative, or product-centric delivery teams, including backlog refinement, minimum viable product definition, incremental deployment, and data-informed continuous improvement.
- Demonstrated ability to influence across organizational boundaries, navigate complex or competing stakeholder needs, and facilitate alignment between local and global teams.
- Champion an AI-first and digital mindset, with experience using AI-enabled, LLM tools to improve productivity, quality, knowledge management, and ways of working.
#LI-GSK
Skills
Business Analysis, Business Requirements Analysis, Data Validation, Decision Making, Project Scoping, Stakeholder Management
Please visit GSK US Benefits Summary to learn more about the comprehensive benefits program GSK offers US employees.
Why GSK?
Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.
People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.
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