Industrial Automation Specialist

Colas is a Canadian leader in transportation infrastructure - materials, construction, and maintenance. From roads to rail, airports to ports, we build some of the most important projects that connect our communities.

Backed by our network of Colas companies across Canada and the Colas Group worldwide, Colas offers a wide range of innovative and sustainable solutions for the construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure.

Join the largest transportation infrastructure group in the world and help connect Canada.

Help Shape the Future of Talent at Colas Canada

Colas Canada is a national leader in transportation infrastructure, delivering materials, construction, and maintenance solutions that connect communities. Our approximately 8,000 employees across more than 300 Canadian locations combine local expertise with the global reach of Colas Group, the world’s largest transportation infrastructure company.

We are seeking a strategic, practical, and relationship-driven Manager, Learning & Development to lead enterprise learning, leadership development, onboarding, and capability-building across Colas Canada.

Reporting to the Vice President, Materials, you will be responsible for supporting Keystone manufacturing sites to provide field-level automation expertise and support for Materials activities in Canada. This role combines a foundation in technical knowledge in the automation field with strong project management skills required to drive automation efforts and, ultimately, operational improvements by enhancing the level of automation and process control within Materials activities.

Why Join Colas Canada?

• Build something from the ground up, assessing sites, identifying automation gaps, and implementing solutions.

• Make a visible operational impact across quarries, ready-mix plants, and potentially circular-economy operations.

• Work nationally, with approximately 40% travel across Canadian operations and significant time in the field.

• Partner across the business, working closely with local teams, Equipment, Materials, procurement, and other stakeholders at a national level.

• Have real ownership and autonomy, with clear expectations, regular checkpoints, and the freedom to drive priorities.

What We Offer

We offer a competitive total rewards package, including:

• Annual base salary of $92,000–$110,000
• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits
• Retirement and financial well-being programs
• Paid vacation and approved time-off programs
• Professional development and career-growth opportunities
• Exposure to senior leaders and operating companies across Canada and the global Colas organization

Final compensation will reflect the successful candidate's qualifications, experience, internal equity, and the scope of the role.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 12 months, you will:

• Assess the Canadian operations and complete a clear automation and process-monitoring gap analysis across priority sites.
• Establish a prioritized roadmap identifying which quarries, ready-mix plants, and other operations should be addressed first.
• Move from assessment into implementation, successfully delivering automation improvements at selected priority plants.
• Build strong partnerships with the field, becoming a visible, trusted resource for local operations, Equipment, Materials, and other stakeholders.
• Create accountability and follow-through, ensuring commitments made to business units are tracked and delivered.
• Demonstrate measurable operational improvement through automation, including areas such as production, equipment reliability, and preventive maintenance.

What You Will Lead

Technical Knowledge

• Analyze, assess and benchmark Keystone Canada assets in terms of automation and process monitoring readiness.
• Assess parts and labour required for implementation and prepare budget requirement.
• Act as key technical support for the Materials department on a national level.

Project Management

• Conduct site level technical needs assessment and prepare SOW for parts & labour in collaboration with the local team.
• Prepare RFQ’s, in conjunction with the procurement team, to gather competitive pricing and timeline to execute.
• Develop automation investment business cases and ROI analysis.
• Prepare CAPEX requests and monitor approved CAPEX spend versus budget.
• Align with Capex team, as required, regarding budget and timing.
• Coordinate, and assist as needed, execution of the work.

Collaboration

• Work with the local team, Materials department at a national level along with the Central team to prioritise automation and process monitoring needs for Keystone activities in Canada.
• Coordinate automation and process monitoring activities with representatives from the Colas Canada Inc subsidiaries.
• Work with all levels of the organization to recommend and implement new opportunities to leverage automation (eg. AI and preventive maintenance)
• Develop and monitor KPI to measure production improvement, equipment reliability, preventive maintenance compliance and preventive maintenance adoption through Automation

What You Bring

• College diploma or technical college diploma.
• 3 to less than 5 years of experience.
• Education and experience in industrial automation, electromechanical, or an equivalent field.
• Good knowledge of Excel.
• Excellent written and verbal interpersonal skills and an analytical mind.
• Strong sense of initiative, high productivity, ability to work independently, and willingness to learn.
• Fluid in French or English. Bilingual is preferred.

Our Values: Respect. Commitment. Pioneering. Sharing

At Colas Canada, we believe in treating people with respect, delivering on our commitments, embracing innovation, and sharing knowledge to help others succeed. These values shape our culture, guide our decisions, and enable us to build strong teams, serve our communities, and deliver infrastructure that connects Canada.

Job Posting Information

• This posting is for a new role.
• Colas Canada may use artificial intelligence-assisted tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment and selection process.

DIVERSITY IS IMPORTANT TO US
At Colas, we believe our workforce should reflect the diversity of the communities we connect. By living our core values of , respect, commitment, pionneering and sharing, we welcome all those who help create the links that bring us together. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of age, ethnicity, national origin, religious beliefs, disability, marital or family status, gender, gender identity or expression.