Senior Validation Engineer
Keith W Roberts
I am currently working as a Senior Validation Engineer within the Validation Team at ITS and am a document validation specialist with over 20 years experience in both the private and public sector. My background has been predominantly within Higher Education, so I have significant knowledge and expertise in undergraduate and postgraduate degree document validation through many prominent UK Higher Education Institutions, leading to more recent experience overseas (Egypt, India, China) further developing and validating HE curriculum. In more recent times I’ve been using this experience and these many transferable skills established in HE validation to apply to CSV in GMP regulated European Pharmaceutical Companies. It is this more recent experience that has led me to move my career towards validation within the automation industry.
Q&A's
What inspired you to pursue a career in the automation industry, and how did you get started in this field?
I’ve found many specific areas of my prior experience have really helped transitioning from HE validation to validation within the automation industry, including the continued review and approval cycles, attention to close detail and the methodical approach to document authoring. In addition to this, I have had many years of experience in public speaking (lectures and conferences), so am now bringing these skills to ITS, such as getting involved with chairing Pharma Manufacturing Conference Panels for example.
What do you enjoy most about working at ITS, and what sets you apart from other automation businesses in the industry?
Work in the Validation Team at ITS can be very diverse and very rewarding, with the different projects varying in both scale and complexity and no two days ever being the same. The staff at ITS all contribute towards a very collaborative environment and are all very supportive of each other, fostering a really healthy working environment. I’ve recently been involved with further developing my skills and experience with Digital Validation Tools (DVT’s) which I’ve found extremely useful in terms of the future direction the team is moving in and also in relation to developing services ITS can now offer their client base. In addition to this, the team are currently developing the use of AI platforms in validation document generation, which is a contemporary theme very much at the forefront of exploration in validation at this point in time.
What do you like to do outside of work to unwind and recharge, and how do you balance your personal and professional life?
As a family, my wife and I (and our three boys) really enjoy hiking and mountain climbing and have been up most of the largest peaks in the UK and even further afield (Mount Sinai in Egypt in 2023). Personally, I’m a very keen golfer having played for many years (but not having improved much though unfortunately !) and I also enjoy snooker, cycling and swimming. Most of my other time outside of work is spent doing DIY around the house and garden, which I actually really enjoy …. being hands on and attempting most things from hard landscaping to building!