Automation Strategy Lead
John DeereAbout the role
There are over 7 billion people on this planet. And by 2050, there will be 2 billion more... many moving into urban centers at an unprecedented rate. Making sure there is enough food, fiber and infrastructure for our rapidly growing world is what we're all about at John Deere. And it's why we're investing in our people and our technology like never before! Here the world's brightest minds are tackling the world's biggest challenges. If you believe one person can make the world a better place, we'll put you to work. RIGHT NOW.
John Deere is an equal opportunity employer, including disabled & veterans.
Primary Location: United States (US) - Illinois - Moline
Function: Product and Process Mgmt (CA)
Title: Automation Strategy Lead - 122653
Onsite/Remote:Onsite Position
Your Responsibilities
The Automation Strategy Lead is responsible for defining and driving the automation strategy for the Ag & Turf US/Mexico division located in Moline, IL or Waterloo, IA. This role partners with factory leadership, engineering, operations, Smart Connected Factory, and enterprise stakeholders to identify, prioritize, standardize, and scale automation capabilities that deliver measurable business value across the manufacturing network. The successful candidate will own a portfolio of automation opportunities and capabilities, translating factory needs and business priorities into a cohesive roadmap that advances safety, quality, productivity, flexibility, and operational excellence. The role serves as the bridge between factory demand, enterprise strategy, and emerging technologies, ensuring automation investments are strategically aligned, governed, scalable, reusable, and sustainable.This position provides leadership through influence, driving alignment across factories and functions while establishing the standards, governance processes, and operating models necessary to accelerate adoption of automation capabilities and advance the evolution toward increasingly autonomous manufacturing systems. Additionally, you will:
- Define and continuously evolve the divisional automation strategy and multi-year roadmap aligned to business priorities and manufacturing objectives.
- Identify, evaluate, and prioritize automation opportunities across the Ag & Turf US/Mexico manufacturing network based on business value, scalability, and strategic alignment
- Partner with factory leadership and cross-functional teams to understand operational challenges, define future-state capabilities, and align automation investments to business priorities.
- Lead governance processes that ensure consistent prioritization, portfolio transparency, risk management, and effective investment decisions across automation initiatives.
- Establish and promote automation standards, architectural principles, and reusable solutions that enable consistency, maintainability, and scalability across manufacturing locations.
- Define and evolve automation operating models, capability roadmaps, and organizational approaches required to sustain and scale automation capabilities across the division.
- Collaborate with operations, engineering, IT, OT, quality, maintenance, safety, finance, and Smart Connected Factory teams to develop and deploy integrated automation capabilities.
- Represent the voice of the factory through structured demand intake, stakeholder engagement, and prioritization processes that ensure automation investments address the most valuable operational opportunities.
- Track business outcomes and ensure automation investments achieve expected value in areas such as safety, quality, productivity, cost, delivery, and operational performance.
- Monitor industry trends, benchmark peer organizations, and evaluate emerging technologies to inform future automation strategy and capability development.
- Support business case development, capital planning, and portfolio investment decisions related to automation strategy and deployment.
- Champion organizational adoption of automation capabilities and foster alignment across factories and functional teams
VISA Sponsorship is NOT available for this position
What Skills You Need
- 8 or more years of experience in manufacturing, automation, engineering, operations, digital manufacturing, technology strategy, or related disciplines.
- Demonstrated experience developing and executing automation, manufacturing technology
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