Opex-Senior Automation Engineer- Advanced Manufacturing

    ~$115,614 - $214,711Market Estimate
    United States
    Full-Time
    Senior (7+ yrs)
    Engineering & Development
    Posted on September 2, 2026

    Who will you be working with?

    You will partner with cross-functional teams across, operations, product engineering, maintenance, quality, procurement, information technology (IT), operational technology (OT), environmental health & safety (EHS), and business leadership to deliver advanced manufacturing automation solutions across the global supply chain(GSC) consisting of all business segments.

    This role collaborates closely with manufacturing sites, business unit leaders, technical specialists, external automation suppliers, and system integrators to identify, develop, deploy, and automation solutions that improve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost performance.

    How will you make a difference?

    As part of the Automation & Advanced Manufacturing organization, you will serve as a technical leader with a focus on Machining and Fabrications processes, supporting multiple manufacturing sites and business units. You will help develop automation standards, evaluate emerging technologies, share best practices, and drive repeatable automation solutions across the manufacturing network.

    As a member of the Automation & Advanced Manufacturing team, you will lead and support the development, justification, design, implementation, and optimization of manufacturing automation systems across a diverse industrial manufacturing environment.

    This role combines hands-on project execution with enterprise capability development. You will serve as a key technical resource for robotics, automation, controls, advanced manufacturing systems, and automated joining technologies, with welding and joining automation serving as a primary area of technical expertise.
    Responsibilities include, evaluating automation opportunities, developing technical concepts and business cases, supporting capital project execution, and driving the standardization and replication of successful solutions across multiple manufacturing facilities.

    What do we want to know about you?

    Required Qualifications

    • Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Mechatronics, Automation/Controls, Robotics Engineering or related discipline.
    • Strong background in welding automation, robotic welding, or automated machining and fabrication processes.
    • 7+ years of industrial automation, manufacturing engineering, robotics, controls, or advanced manufacturing experience.
    • Demonstrated leadership of significant automation and capital projects.
    • Strong understanding of robotics, controls, safety, machine integration, and manufacturing processes.
    • Experience developing automation concepts, specifications, scopes, and business cases.
    • Project leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills.
    • Ability to travel as required to support enterprise manufacturing sites.

    Preferred Qualifications

    • Robotic welding and automated joining systems
    • Industrial robots (FANUC, ABB, KUKA, Yaskawa/Motoman)
    • PLCs, HMIs, industrial networking, and controls integration
    • Machine vision and inspection systems
    • Certified welding experience
    • Automated material handling
    • MES, SCADA, OEE and data collection systems
    • FAT, SAT, commissioning and production launch
    • Lean Green Belt Certification

    What will your typical day look like? Responsibilities

    • Lead automation projects from concept through production launch.
    • Evaluate manufacturing processes and identify automation opportunities.
    • Develop technical concepts, capital estimates, and ROI business cases.
    • Serve as enterprise technical capability owner for welding and joining automation.
    • Develop automation standards, specifications, and preferred technologies.
    • Support multiple manufacturing sites and business units based on business priorities.
    • Lead/support vendor selection, RFQs, design reviews, FAT, SAT, commissioning, and startup.
    • Troubleshoot and optimize existing automation systems.
    • Identify and replicate successful solutions across sites.
    • Support Automation & Advanced Manufacturing roadmap and technology strategy.
    • Evaluate emerging technologies including robotics, vision, simulation, and AI-enabled manufacturing.
    • Mentor site engineering resources and provide technical leadership.

    Company:  Wabtec

    Provides technology-based locomotives, equipment, systems, and services for freight rail and passenger transit industries.
    10001+ employees
    Industrial
    HQ: United States