Principal Scientist, Lab Automation

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com

Job Function:

Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development

Job Sub Function:

Biotherapeutics R&D

Job Category:

Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations:

Malvern, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description:

About Innovative Medicine:

Our expertise in Innovative Medicine is informed and inspired by patients, whose insights fuel our science-based advancements. Visionaries like you work on teams that save lives by developing the medicines of tomorrow.

Join us in developing treatments, finding cures, and pioneering the path from lab to life while championing patients every step of the way.

Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/innovative-medicine

We are searching for the best talent for a Principal Scientist, Lab Automation role to be in Malvern, PA.

Purpose:

The Laboratory Automation & Robotics team is recruiting for an Integrated Automation Principal Scientist to lead design, development, and implementation of end-to-end laboratory automation workcell systems to drive high-throughput analytics for cell therapy pipeline candidates, with a particular focus on GxP applications.

You will leverage scientific and robotic systems expertise to lead the design and implementation of laboratory automation workcell solutions for various cell therapy analytical workflows, such as antigen binding, molecular, cell-based, and flow cytometry. You will collaborate with the Assay Automation team, Engineering, Assay Development, Data Science, IT, and end-users to drive hands-free automation implementation. You will play an integral role in improving sample throughput/capacity, while reducing hands-on time, time-to-result, repetitive strain, and assay variability.

You will be responsible for:

• leading the design, development, and implementation of hands free end-to-end analytical workcell solutions (Driven by Biosero Orchestrator/Green Button Go®)
• collaborating with Assay Automation, Engineering, and Methods Development to influence and align on system components and workflow orchestration
• collaborating with Laboratory Operations, Data Science, and IT to drive automated data flow within workcell solutions
• optimizing automated systems, expand capabilities, and support technical investigations
• leading automated process/methods qualification, and operator training activities
• collaborating with automation team members to support or maintain automated systems as needed
• knowledge transfer and cross-training
• ensuring data integrity through accurate and timely data capture/entry into appropriate systems
• authoring protocols, work instructions, SOPs, or presentations

Qualifications / Requirements:

Education:

• a minimum of a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Biology or equivalent is required
• a PhD or Master’s degree is highly preferred

Required:

• a minimum of 4 years of experience working in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company is required
• experience leading development and implementation of automated laboratory workflows or high-throughput methods within the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry is required; this includes systems configuration, liquid handling, and method programming
• Experience designing, programming, operating, and troubleshooting end-to-end integrated automation systems, such as Biosero, HighRes® Biosolutions, Hamilton, or Thermo Scientific™ is required
• Experience with device and data systems integrations s required
• Ability to identify/understand sophisticated customer needs, influence peers and organization, and help craft automated solutions for laboratory workflows s required
• Experience leading evaluation and implementation of new and novel technologies s required
• Experience with biological or biochemical assays, including migration of bench techniques to automated systems s required
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills (both written and oral), with the ability to closely collaborate with scientists, vendors, and external teams s required
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams s required

Preferred:

• Prior experience working with lab automation systems in GxP environments, including background with systems validation and regulatory compliance requirements is preferred
• Experience with various programming languages, such as Python, Visual Basic, C, C++, etc. is preferred
• Experience with analytical method development is preferred

Johnson & Johnson is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by federal, state or local law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Johnson and Johnson is committed to providing an interview process that is inclusive of our applicants’ needs. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request an accommodation, please email the Employee Health Support Center (ra-employeehealthsup@its.jnj.com) or contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.