Job Description
Job Description - Automation & PAT Lead
Title: Automation & PAT Lead – Process Controls and Analytics (19-month contract)
Location: Remote – must maintain at least 3 hours daily overlap with U.S. Eastern Time (GMT-4/-5)
Reporting to: Bridge Project Director / Project Manager
Contract Term: June 2025 – December 2026 (19 months, with option to extend for commercial ramp-up)
Travel: Up to 20 % (vendor FAT/SAT in South & South-East Asia, commissioning visits to the Manus facility)
About the Role
Bridge Business Support Services is delivering a fully automated, FDA-cGMP artemisinin production line (50 t yr-1) that integrates oxygenated continuous photochemistry, in-line analytics, crystallisation, and solvent recovery. As Automation & PAT Lead you will design and deploy the digital nervous system that makes the plant run safely, compliantly, and efficiently—selecting the DCS/PLC platform, integrating process-analytical technology, and guiding vendors from User-Requirements Spec through SAT and data-integrity certification.
Key Responsibilities
Domain
- Control-System Architecture
- Select DCS/PLC/HMI platform (pref. open architecture with OPC UA)
- Draft User Requirements Specification (URS) & Functional Design Specification (FDS)
- Define network architecture, redundancy, and cyber-security controls
- Process-Analytical Technology (PAT)
- Specify & integrate in-line UV/Vis, Raman, flow-IR, oxygen & pressure sensors
- Calibrate PAT models for API concentration, impurity profile, and crystal slurry %
- Ensure real-time data feeds to historian and alarm management
- Software & Data Integrity
- Configure batch-recipe management compliant with 21 CFR Part 11
- Set up audit trails, e-signatures, and secure historian/PI server
- Collaborate with CQV lead on CSV (Computer System Validation) documentation
- Vendor & FAT/SAT Oversight
- Review automation vendor proposals, I/O lists, cause-and-effect matrices
- Lead Factory Acceptance Tests; own punch-list resolution and change-control
- Supervise Site Acceptance Tests and commissioning logic checks
- Interdisciplinary Integration
- Work hand-in-hand with Process Engineer on CPP/CQA mapping and control loops
- Support Safety/HSE studies (interlocks, SIL targets, oxygen & solvent safeguards)
- Training & Handover
- Develop operator HMI screens, alarm philosophy, and control-room SOPs
- Train Manus operators and staff; provide post-start-up remote support for 90 days
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical/Controls Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field
- 10+ years implementing DCS/PLC systems in FDA-regulated API or fine-chemical plants, with at least one continuous-processing project
- Proven experience deploying PAT hardware and chemometrics for real-time quality control
- Deep knowledge of 21 CFR Part 11, GAMP 5, and Computer System Validation lifecycle
- Proficiency with ISA-88 batch control, ISA-95 integration, and OPC UA or MQTT protocols
- Hands-on FAT/SAT leadership and troubleshooting across international supplier base
- Fluent English communication; comfortable leading cross-time-zone teams and presenting to regulators
Preferred Extras
- Experience with continuous flow chemistry, photochemical reactors or oxygen-service process controls
- Familiarity with distributed historian platforms (OSIsoft PI, Aveva Insight) and data-analytics dashboards
- Cyber-security certification (ISA/IEC 62443 or similar)
- Six Sigma or Lean background for control-loop optimisation
What We Offer
- Competitive day-rate or salaried package, invoiced monthly
- Remote-first culture with modern collaboration stack (Odoo, MS Teams, cloud historian)
- Opportunity to pioneer one of the world’s first large-scale continuous artemisinin plants and strengthen global antimalarial supply chains
- Agile, multidisciplinary team that values innovation, safety, and accountability
To Apply:
Email a concise CV and a one-page summary of your most relevant automation/PAT project—including platform, scope, and measurable impact—to careers@bridgebss.com with subject line “Automation & PAT Lead – Artemisinin Project” by 30 June 2025.
Bridge is an equal-opportunity employer committed to diversity, inclusion, and a safe working environment for all.