Principal Automation Engineer, Material Handling & Warehouse Automation (JDAS)

Jabil•Tampa, FL

12d•$126,100 - $227,000

About The Position

The Principal Automation Engineer, Material Handling & Warehouse Automation, Regional is responsible for driving the execution, deployment, and improvement of warehouse and production-connected material handling automation solutions across multiple North America EMS sites. This role supports material flow to and from production through scalable warehouse and intralogistics solutions, while working closely with site teams, third-party suppliers, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure successful implementation and sustainment. This role supports both New Product Introduction (NPI) and New Automation Asset Introduction. Although the role is not intended to formally own site projects, the individual must be fully capable of planning, structuring, and driving execution through site teams and external partners. This is not a strategy ownership role and it is not an internal equipment design role. The position is focused on execution, mentoring, supplier coordination, and consistent deployment of supplier-based warehouse and material handling automation solutions within a regional automation framework. This role will support the JDAS operational unit and must understand the warehouse, material flow, and operational requirements associated with JDAS facilities. The role should focus on automation solutions that support: inbound warehouse flow, storage and retrieval, staging and kitting, line-side delivery, production-connected material movement, and outbound handling where applicable. The role should understand environments where warehouse automation and manufacturing flow must remain tightly coordinated, compliance, security, and operational discipline may impose additional requirements on implementation and sustainment, and supplier interaction and system deployment may require more formal controls than in a standard manufacturing environment. Must be able to meet facility-specific compliance and security requirements, including eligibility to support work within ITAR-controlled environments where applicable. Experience in environments requiring adherence to ITAR and export-control restrictions, controlled access requirements, compliance-sensitive manufacturing practices, and formal documentation and operational discipline is preferred. The role must work closely with warehouse, facilities, industrial engineering, manufacturing, and General Automation teams to ensure that warehouse and material handling automation solutions are executed in a manner that supports both operational performance and facility-specific compliance requirements.

Requirements

Strong experience in material handling, warehouse automation, and intralogistics systems.
Strong understanding of warehouse operations and terminology, material flow in manufacturing environments, AMR / AGV / FMR systems, storage systems such as ASRS, VLM, and rack systems, and warehouse software interfaces such as WMS and fleet management systems.
Strong ability to translate operational needs into practical technical solutions, work effectively with third-party integrators and suppliers, guide cross-functional execution across warehouse, IE, facilities, and manufacturing teams, and communicate clearly with site teams, customers, suppliers, and leadership.
Strong project execution capability and program leadership discipline.
Strong troubleshooting capability and continuous improvement mindset.
Working understanding of manufacturing automation environments and production system interfaces.
Ability to mentor others and raise capability across multiple sites.
Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field.
12+ years of experience in warehouse automation, material handling systems, manufacturing environments, and third-party supplier and integrator execution models.
Demonstrated experience driving automation deployment or multi-site implementation, supporting startup, ramp, troubleshooting, and sustainment, working across cross-functional technical and operational teams, and leading execution without relying on formal direct ownership of every task.
Must be able to meet facility-specific compliance and security requirements, including eligibility to support work within ITAR-controlled environments where applicable.
Experience in environments requiring adherence to ITAR and export-control restrictions, controlled access requirements, compliance-sensitive manufacturing practices, and formal documentation and operational discipline is preferred.

Nice To Haves

Experience in environments requiring adherence to ITAR and export-control restrictions, controlled access requirements, compliance-sensitive manufacturing practices, and formal documentation and operational discipline is preferred.

Responsibilities

Drive execution of material handling and warehouse automation initiatives across multiple North America EMS sites.
Support sites in prioritizing opportunities, structuring work, managing execution, and stabilizing deployed systems.
Ensure implementation aligns with regional expectations, standards, and scalable approaches.
Support site teams in aligning warehouse and material flow strategies with new product requirements.
Evaluate the impact of new products on material flow, storage, staging, line-side delivery, and outbound processes.
Ensure warehouse and material handling processes are ready to support production needs during product launch.
Guide and support deployment of new automation systems, including requirements alignment, supplier engagement, technical evaluation, quotation and proposal review, installation, startup, ramp, validation and handoff.
Ensure deployed systems meet throughput, reliability, accuracy, safety, and operational expectations.
Be fully capable of independently running automation projects, including planning and structuring work, task and issue tracking, stakeholder alignment, supplier coordination, execution follow-up, and risk and escalation management.
Apply this project capability to guide and support site teams, even when formal project ownership remains at the site.
Act as a primary technical interface with third-party automation integrators, AMR / AGV / FMR suppliers, warehouse automation suppliers, and infrastructure and software solution providers.
Lead technical discussions, solution alignment, issue resolution, and performance reviews with suppliers.
Ensure strong alignment between warehouse automation systems and production operations.
Work closely with site warehouse teams, facilities, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, and General Automation engineers.
Reinforce that warehouse automation is not separate from manufacturing execution and must integrate cleanly into production material flow.
Mentor facility-level automation engineers and technical resources across the region.
Provide training and guidance on warehouse and material handling automation concepts, supplier engagement and technical reviews, structured execution discipline, troubleshooting approaches, and standard methods and lessons learned.
Help build sustainable capability across sites rather than creating dependency on one person.
Drive improvement initiatives across the region related to material flow efficiency, labor reduction, throughput improvement, delivery performance, storage optimization, system reliability, and operational scalability.
Identify and replicate successful solutions where appropriate.