Sr. Principal Global Automation Engineer

Alcon Research • Fort Worth, TX

3d • Onsite

About The Position

At Alcon, we're passionate about enhancing sight and helping people see brilliantly. With more than 25,000 associates, we innovate fearlessly, champion progress, and act swiftly to impact global eye health. We foster an inclusive culture, recognizing your contributions and offering opportunities to grow your career like never before. Together, we make a difference in the lives of our patients and customers. Are you ready to join us? Alcon’s manufacturing group has ambitious plans to blend modern manufacturing technologies with digital technologies. To lead the charge for automation, we are seeking a Sr. Principal Global Automation Engineer with deep, hands‑on expertise in physical automation hardware and industrial systems. This role requires a proven track record designing, deploying, and scaling automation solutions across global manufacturing environments, with a strong emphasis on hardware architecture, system integration, and on‑site execution rather than software development at our Fort Worth, TX location. This position is best suited for a senior-level engineer who has built, installed, and run automation systems in real factories, not someone whose experience is primarily software, simulation, or code development. The ideal candidate brings significant experience with industrial automation hardware, including PLCs, HMIs, robotics, motion control, sensors, vision systems, safety systems, control panels, and industrial networks. This individual has personally led factory‑floor implementations, equipment commissioning, line startups, retrofits, and capital equipment integration, working directly with OEMs, system integrators, and internal manufacturing teams. This role serves as a senior technical leader and global subject matter expert on automation systems and manufacturing technology. They will create and own global specifications templates for procurement of automation equipment to ensure adherence to best practices, corporate requirements, and enable “plug and play” functionality into Alcon’s digital ecosystem. The position will identify strategic vendors across core manufacturing technologies and collaborate with the vendors and procurement to gain efficiencies. While an understanding of controls logic and automation software is required, the primary value of this role is physical system design, hardware selection, electrical/mechanical integration, and real‑world operational execution. Direct ownership of equipment design, installation, commissioning, and validation. Leadership in standardization of automation equipment, panels, and field devices. Strong collaboration across diverse manufacturing sites and technologies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent years of directly related experience (or high school+15 yrs; Assoc.+11 yrs; M.S.+4 yrs; PhD+3 yrs)
• 7 Years of Relevant Experience.
• The ability to fluently read, write, understand and communicate in English
• Advanced knowledge of industrial automation hardware systems and architectures
• Ability to diagnose and resolve complex mechanical, electrical, and controls‑hardware issues
• Location : Onsite
• Travel Requirements : up to 10%
• Relocation Assistance : Yes
• Sponsorship Available : No

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical, controls, automation, systems engineering, or other related field
• 7 years with Bachelor’s, 4 years with Master’s, all with hands on experience in industrial automation engineering, experience in a GxP environment (med device, pharma) ideal
• High technical horsepower with extensive depth and breadth in industrial automation systems
• Experience in designing, building, commissioning, optimizing, and decommissioning manufacturing automation systems
• Demonstrated expertise in automation integration of PLCs (Allen Bradley, Beckhoff) and SCADA systems (Ignition) into enterprise manufacturing data systems (MES, ERP, Siemens, SAP)
• Organizational agility within a global manufacturing organization through understanding the complexity of implementing new technologies and systems across diverse sites and cultures.

Responsibilities

• Direct ownership of equipment design, installation, commissioning, and validation.
• Leadership in standardization of automation equipment, panels, and field devices.
• Strong collaboration across diverse manufacturing sites and technologies.

Benefits

• Alcon provides robust benefits package including health, life, retirement, flexible time off for salaried associates, paid time off for hourly associates and much more

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees