Robotics Logistics Technical Lead

Mentor Technical Group•Chapel Hill, NC

About The Position

Mentor Technical Group (MTG) provides a comprehensive portfolio of technical support and engineering solutions for the FDA‑regulated industry. As a global leader in life sciences engineering and technical services, MTG has the knowledge and experience to ensure compliance with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device safety and efficacy requirements. With offices in Caguas, PR, Boston, MA, and San Francisco, CA, MTG supports life sciences clients across six global markets, including the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Germany, Canada, and South America. Job Description • Own the end‑to‑end enterprise technical strategy for robotics and ASRS capabilities across the program, defining reference architectures, subsystem boundaries, and interface patterns. • Establish performance and reliability targets, design principles, and scalable solutions across sites, vendors, and operating models. • Lead system integration across PLC/HMI, safety PLCs, robotics/ASRS controllers, and WMS/WES/WCS/EMS platforms. • Define and govern interface control standards, including message contracts, state models, exception handling, and recovery strategies. • Drive architectural decisions across OT networks, industrial protocols, middleware, availability, and cybersecurity requirements. • Establish and lead technical governance processes, including design reviews, architecture boards, and readiness gates. • Ensure traceability from business requirements through design, testing, and acceptance evidence. • Define and enforce engineering quality standards, including naming conventions, alarms, diagnostics, and technical documentation. • Lead commissioning and qualification strategies across FAT, SAT, integrated testing, cutover, and hypercare phases. • Drive complex issue triage, root cause analysis, and resolution during commissioning and startup. • Ensure achievement of throughput, accuracy, availability, and recovery KPIs prior to system acceptance. • Act as the senior technical authority for robotics and ASRS OEMs and system integrators. • Shape technical scope, assumptions, and trade‑offs impacting cost, schedule, and system performance. • Review and approve technical submittals, deviations, and change requests with risk‑based decision making. • Hold vendors accountable for documentation, training, spares, and supportability aligned with SLAs. • Own the safety‑by‑design approach for automated systems, including risk assessments, safeguarding strategies, LOTO, E‑stops, and safety validation. • Coordinate functional safety activities with site EHS and lead hazard closure and safety acceptance. • Ensure operational readiness includes maintainability, training, escalation paths, and a reliability plan that sustains post go‑live performance. • Provide technical leadership for integrated schedules, vendor dependencies, and program‑level planning. • Forecast controls, software, and commissioning resource needs across project phases. • Identify and retire technical risks early, including capacity, resilience, networking, software, and safety risks. • Establish reusable engineering standards and templates, including ICDs, control narratives, alarm and diagnostic philosophy, test protocols, and as‑built requirements. • Govern disciplined change control and configuration management across the lifecycle. • Drive clean handover to Operations and Maintenance with training, troubleshooting playbooks, spare parts strategies, and sustaining engineering ownership.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
10+ years of experience delivering industrial automation systems, including robotics and/or ASRS solutions, with significant responsibility for architecture, integration, and commissioning in warehouse, distribution, or manufacturing environments.
Recognized technical authority with a proven track record of driving architecture decisions and resolving high‑severity, cross‑domain technical issues.
Deep experience authoring and governing controls and software deliverables at scale, including reference architectures, control narratives, alarm and diagnostic standards, test strategies, and network/security architecture.
Expert‑level troubleshooting capabilities across electrical, controls, software, and mechanical systems, including leading issue triage and root cause analysis to closure.
Proven experience leading multi‑vendor technical delivery, including OEMs, integrators, and software providers, through FAT, SAT, commissioning, and turnover.
Strong knowledge of industrial networking and OT/IT integration (e.g., Ethernet/IP, Profinet, OPC UA, VLANs, time synchronization, cybersecurity).
Demonstrated success delivering measurable performance outcomes (throughput, accuracy, uptime, recovery) and establishing sustainment mechanisms beyond hypercare.
Exceptional communication, documentation, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and mentor technical teams.

Responsibilities

Own the end‑to‑end enterprise technical strategy for robotics and ASRS capabilities across the program, defining reference architectures, subsystem boundaries, and interface patterns.
Establish performance and reliability targets, design principles, and scalable solutions across sites, vendors, and operating models.
Lead system integration across PLC/HMI, safety PLCs, robotics/ASRS controllers, and WMS/WES/WCS/EMS platforms.
Define and govern interface control standards, including message contracts, state models, exception handling, and recovery strategies.
Drive architectural decisions across OT networks, industrial protocols, middleware, availability, and cybersecurity requirements.
Establish and lead technical governance processes, including design reviews, architecture boards, and readiness gates.
Ensure traceability from business requirements through design, testing, and acceptance evidence.
Define and enforce engineering quality standards, including naming conventions, alarms, diagnostics, and technical documentation.
Lead commissioning and qualification strategies across FAT, SAT, integrated testing, cutover, and hypercare phases.
Drive complex issue triage, root cause analysis, and resolution during commissioning and startup.
Ensure achievement of throughput, accuracy, availability, and recovery KPIs prior to system acceptance.
Act as the senior technical authority for robotics and ASRS OEMs and system integrators.
Shape technical scope, assumptions, and trade‑offs impacting cost, schedule, and system performance.
Review and approve technical submittals, deviations, and change requests with risk‑based decision making.
Hold vendors accountable for documentation, training, spares, and supportability aligned with SLAs.
Own the safety‑by‑design approach for automated systems, including risk assessments, safeguarding strategies, LOTO, E‑stops, and safety validation.
Coordinate functional safety activities with site EHS and lead hazard closure and safety acceptance.
Ensure operational readiness includes maintainability, training, escalation paths, and a reliability plan that sustains post go‑live performance.
Provide technical leadership for integrated schedules, vendor dependencies, and program‑level planning.
Forecast controls, software, and commissioning resource needs across project phases.
Identify and retire technical risks early, including capacity, resilience, networking, software, and safety risks.
Establish reusable engineering standards and templates, including ICDs, control narratives, alarm and diagnostic philosophy, test protocols, and as‑built requirements.
Govern disciplined change control and configuration management across the lifecycle.
Drive clean handover to Operations and Maintenance with training, troubleshooting playbooks, spare parts strategies, and sustaining engineering ownership.