Associate Director, Laboratory 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:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Malvern, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Spring House, 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 an Associate Director, Laboratory Automation.  This position is a hybrid role and can be located in Malvern or Spring House, PA.

Purpose: The Therapeutics Development and Supply (TDS) organization is responsible for the development, clinical supply, marketed product support, and life cycle management of Biotherapeutics.  Within TDS, the Cell & Gene Therapy group supports method development and validation, process and formulation development, release, and stability analytics via automated workflows. The Cell Therapy Laboratory Automation and Robotics team is expanding and in search of an Associate Director, Laboratory Automation to lead design, development, and deployment of end-to-end laboratory automation systems for commercial cell therapy Quality Control (QC) analytics.

You will leverage scientific, GxP, and robotic systems expertise to lead the design and implementation of new laboratories to deliver hands-free laboratory automation solutions for commercial cell therapy analytics, such as flow cytometry, antigen binding, molecular, cell-based, capillary electrophoresis, and chromatography.  You will collaborate with Facilities Engineering, Lab Automation, Assay Development, Process Development, Data Science, Information Technology (IT), and end-users in order to deliver significant capacity, while reducing hands-on time, time-to-result, repetitive strain, and assay variability.

You will be responsible for:

• Building and leading a team of laboratory automation engineer/scientists focused on delivering value through new facilities and integrated automation solutions.
   
• Leading the design, development, and implementation of hands free end-to-end analytical workcell solutions, driven by control software such as Biosero Green Button Go.
   
• Collaborating with Assay Automation, Engineering, and Methods/Process Development to influence and align on system components or workflow orchestration across automation modules.
   
• Collaborating with Engineering & Property Services, Laboratory Operations, Data Science, and IT to drive automated data flow within automation solutions.
   
• Leading  automated process/methods qualification, and operator training activities.
   
• Leading optimization of automated systems, expand capabilities, and support technical investigations.
   
• People and matrix team leadership, knowledge transfer, and cross-training.
   
• Occasionally consulting on laboratory automation for partner teams throughout Johnson & Johnson.

Qualifications / Requirements:

Education:

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline is required.  Master’s or Ph.D. in Biology, Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline is preferred.
   

Experience and Skills:
Required:

• 8+ years of laboratory automation experience is required.
   
• GxP laboratory experience is required.
   
• Experience leading a technical/scientific team with a proven track record of delivery is required.
   
• Experience leading the development and implementation of automated laboratory workflows or high-throughput methods within the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry, including systems configuration, liquid handling, and method programming, is required.
   
• Experience designing, programming, operating, and troubleshooting end-to-end integrated automation systems, such as Biosero, HighRes Biosolutions, or Thermo Scientific is required.
   
• Experience with device and data systems integration is required.
   
• Experience leading the evaluation and implementation of new and novel technologies is required.
   
• Experience with biological or biochemical assays is required.
   
• Experience with the migration of bench techniques to automated systems is required.
   
• Must have excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills.
   

• Must have strong organizational skills.
   

• The ability to identify/understand sophisticated customer needs, influence peers and organization, and help craft automated solutions for laboratory workflows is required.
   
• The ability to closely collaborate with scientists, vendors, cross-functional teams and external teams is required.

Preferred:

• Experience in building new GxP laboratory facilities 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 & 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, external applicants please contact us via https://www.jnj.com/contact-us/careers, internal employees contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.

#LI-Hybrid

 

 

Required Skills:

 

 

Preferred Skills: