AES Leadership Team

Christopher Birnie brings over 25 years of cGMP experience. His expertise in designing, implementing, commissioning, and qualifying process control systems for plant automation and manufacturing operations has made him an invaluable asset to AES. Known for his strategic and tactical acumen, Christopher has a proven track record in technical support, project management, and automation software design, development and implementation, particularly in large capital project executions. 

Since January 2016, Chris has led the software and validation engineering departments at AES, serving both internal and external customers. He has been the technical lead on significant projects, including a large brownfield fill-finish facility, and a large single-use facility scope for all utilities, HVAC, and miscellaneous interfaces for the balance of plant equipment. His role also includes leading the online PAT process control implementation using Raman analytics and overseeing large-scale automation upgrades at biotech facilities. Christopher excels in managing cross-functional teams to resolve issues and meet site goals, and he has developed customizable DeltaV platforms for GMP and GLP control systems. 

Before joining AES, Christopher served as a Senior Automation/Process Engineer and Validation Consultant at PSC Biotech in Singapore, where he led CSV Qualification and Process Qualification for the Novartis BPOS project. His previous roles at Roche/Genentech as a Senior Automation Engineer for Singapore and Oceanside facilities further honed his skills in coordinating upstream automation and CIP efforts for large-scale manufacturing processes.  He also was one of Roche/Genentech’s CIP SMEs during his time.  Additionally, Christopher worked as a Systems Engineer at Finesse Solutions, where he developed software for GMP and GLP control systems and provided extensive customer support.