Principal Instrumentation Technician

Lonza•Vacaville, CA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Principal Instrumentation Technician is a fully site-based role in Vacaville, California. The position serves as a liaison between Instrument Services, MSAT, and Reliability Engineering, providing advanced troubleshooting, oversight, guidance, mentorship, and training to strengthen the Instrument Services team’s technical capabilities. The technician also serves as a subject matter expert on the Maintenance Optimization team, helping reduce equipment downtime, eliminate waste, and develop integrated technological solutions. This role provides advanced hands-on troubleshooting for complex instrumentation and mechanical equipment failures, supports equipment design and lifecycle activities, and leads continuous improvement initiatives across site operations. It also contributes to root cause assessments, Quality investigations, Preventive Maintenance improvements, and technical education for maintenance staff, while promoting cGMP compliance and high standards of quality and safety.

Requirements

High school diploma.
At least 5 years of relevant experience in a GMP environment.
Strong understanding of industrial process instrumentation principles and systems.
Ability to lift up to 50 lbs with reasonable accommodations.
Valid driver's license.

Nice To Haves

5 to 10 years of experience in manufacturing process instrumentation, control systems, or analytical instrumentation.

Responsibilities

Provide advanced hands-on troubleshooting for highly complex instrumentation and mechanical equipment failures, resolving out-of-tolerance conditions to optimize, validate, and restore production uptime.
Serve as the Instrument Services subject matter expert on the Maintenance Optimization team and participate in cross-functional governance teams to advise on equipment design, procurement, commissioning, and qualification.
Partner with Production, MSAT, and Reliability Engineering to identify and lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, quality, and cost efficiency.
Conduct root cause assessments for process discrepancies and Quality investigations using systems such as Track Wise/Veeva; implement corrective actions and initiate maintenance documentation updates as needed.
Identify and implement equipment and procedural improvements within the Preventive Maintenance program to maintain alignment with cGMP standards and regulatory requirements.
Act as a team lead to coordinate work and exercise independent judgment on critical site tasks.
Design and deliver continuing technical education to upskill maintenance staff.
Perform active in-process and post-completion field audits to enforce quality execution, verify adherence to maintenance procedures, and prevent rework.