Role Profile
Senior Engineering Technician
Typical job description:
Senior engineering technicians manage the maintenance and repair of a pharmaceutical production area. They lead a small team of engineering technicians, and manage medium-sized projects from start to finish. Their aim is to provide technical expertise and deliver a cost-effective and reliable maintenance service that keeps production running efficiently.
Key Processes:
The exact nature of the work will depend on the size of the employing organisation.
However, it will almost certainly involve:
- Provide an engineering service that includes maintenance, repair and improvement of equipment;
- Coordinate the activities of the engineering team;
- Implement quality improvement systems such as Lean Sigma;
- Provide specialist technological knowledge and experience to the Product Stream;
- Participate in regulatory and compliance audits;
- Write and develop design specifications;
- Ensure that the team’s engineering service meets company and regulatory standards;
- Manage small to medium-sized projects;
- Represent the engineering group on larger projects or process improvement groups.
Entry Level:
Through a recognised advanced apprenticeship (NVQ/SVQ 3 in Engineering Maintenance) or
HNC/D in an Engineering related subject.
Search for related degrees or courses:
Industry Standard:
ILM Level 2 – Team Leading;
CPD – see knowledge.
Competencies:
- Substantial post-apprenticeship experience (normally at least five years);
- Good communication skills;
- Problem-solving ability under pressure;
- Leadership skills;
- Ability to work unsupervised;
- Flexibility to respond to changing business needs;
- A proactive approach;
- Experience working within a project environment.
Knowledge needed for the role:
- Wide range of engineering/process skills and knowledge;
- Pharmaceutical engineering principles;
- Experience of automated filling and packaging equipment;
- Knowledge of clean area manufacture;
- Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards;
- Programmable Logic Control (PLC) systems;
- A good understanding of regulatory standards such as the Health and Safety at Work Act and COSHH.
Pay and conditions:
Salaries are generally around £32,000 to £36,000 a year.
Technicians can work a variety of shift patterns. They mainly work in either a high quality, clean chemical plant environment or in a clean and sterile factory area where they need to wear protective clothing such as caps, safety shoes and white coveralls or gowns.