Company: Princes Group
Location: Bradford
Posted: April 25th, 2026
Reporting to the Site Electrical Engineer at Bradford. The role will facilitate the deployment and maintenance of the Princes Automation & Control Applications at the Bradford site.
The role provides plant support on integrated solutions for level 0 & 1. It integrates all practices into the wider Group strategy for delivering Automation Control & Instrumentation solutions to the Bradford site.
At level 0 the role will be expected to integrate and maintain key industrial components used in the manufacturing process, e.g., sensors, valves, process control systems, Industrial PCs & PLCs. The level 1 support will require diagnosis, debugging and programming at the PLC level to rectify problems and connect to other automated systems.
This engineering resource should provide effective support of levels 0 and 1. The Princes MES team supports the SCADA and Wonderware on site, and these applications will need occasional automation support as required. The role will be expected to perform key support activities that reduce reliance on third‑party support suppliers and support the Site Electrical Engineer in reducing machine obsolescence to ensure future equipment resilience.
The role also provides a structured link between the Site Engineering function and the Site Operational systems and teams. It is required to provide support to engineering and manufacturing operations through the development, maintenance and administration of all aspects of the electrical process control systems infrastructure and instrumentation.
The scope includes all automated manufacturing systems on site: PLC, HMI, PCC, measuring instrumentation and devices. It also serves as the site’s competent person in electrical systems, guiding and supporting the whole Engineering team, Operational teams, Continuous improvement and Projects teams. The key aim is 100 % uptime of systems and infrastructure, eliminating breakdowns within agreed budgets and maintaining product Food Safety, Legality, Integrity, Authenticity and Quality standards by ensuring all associated policies and procedures are adhered to.
Ensure all electrical and controls are designed and maintained to ensure safe operation. Conduct risk assessments.
Process control domain system administration and maintenance.
Specification, maintenance and administration of all site PLC, HMI, PCC and other automated systems, including code backups, fault finding, disaster recovery modifications, maintenance monitoring, version control, validation, upgrades, bug fixes, system documentation and procedure updates, and licensing.
Administration and maintenance of site process control communication networks: Ethernet, Profinet, Profibus, AS-i.
Configuration management: managing and updating network configurations, operating system versions and network parameters. Fault management: detecting, logging and rectifying network issues or faults.
Competent Person for Process Control & Instrumentation Engineering: equipment specification, inspection and compliance, instrument setup and calibrations, loop tuning and fault diagnosis.
Develop user requirement specifications for new or modified control and instrumentation systems.
Train team members and cross‑functional teams to continuously build site capabilities.
Commissioning and validation including FAT, SAT, IQ, OQ.
Change control agent for equipment, instrumentation and control systems.
Support engineering shutdown planning and execution for calibration and electrical control and process equipment systems maintenance.
Support business continuity risk assessment and strategy planning including obsolescence reviews.
Maintain and update control and instrument CAD drawings and other documents.
Contract support for all site instrument calibrations, process control system support and software license contracts, and building management system service support contract.
Manage self, contractors and project engineers on site and under your control.
Provide development skills to support the implementation of automation and control systems at the PLC and device layers within the system architecture.
Conduct FIT gaps: liaise with OEMs to ensure future line installations are configured for future applications and identify current production line PLC configuration gaps.
Prepare automation solutions and maintenance strategies: liaise with OEMs on new installations and manage existing production line PLC programs.
Ensure compliance with Group Electrical and Automation Standards.
Prepare and update reference documentation for site teams and handover documentation for the service desk transition.
Authorise and maintain any version updates for the integrated plant deployed applications.
Establish and manage test rigs/environments and ensure effective monitoring and support of deployed integrated plant applications. Establish an engineering environment to model and assess developed PLC solutions.
Support deployment plans: perform testing and factory acceptance of new solutions, develop training materials for rollout, provide site roll‑out training, and offer predefined audit methodology to verify compliance with Group CI strategy.
Develop and deliver automation site support for deployed Automation, Control & Instrumentation systems, escalating to site engineering management or external support when necessary. All support conducted within the site engineering framework based on best practice.
Maintain safety, quality and hygiene by adhering to integrated management system procedures and statutory requirements. Embrace a culture of safe behaviour and contractor health and safety.
Support continuous improvement, audit A, C & I systems and participate in Short Interval Control meetings using MES data to tackle root causes of downtime.
Communicate closely with Site operational teams on key project implementations, manage stakeholders and support teams safely and effectively.
Develop and mentor cross‑functional teams, align resources with site and group strategy, challenge work practices to improve operational performance, and foster a culture of ownership for ongoing development of automated integrated solutions.
United Kingdom
Bradford
Operations
Onsite
The Princes Group has over 7,000 employees with offices and production sites in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, France and Mauritius. Princes manufactures 350 different food and drink products responsibly sourced and enjoyed by consumers every day. All of this is possible because we strive to be an employer of choice, where our colleagues are proud to represent our business.
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