Senior Automation Scientist

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:

Chemical Research

Job Category:

Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations:

Toledo, Spain

Job Description:

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is recruiting for a Senior Automation Scientist for the Parallel Medicinal Chemistry team at our site in Toledo, Spain.

Global Discovery Chemistry delivers high quality drug candidates in partnership with all Johnson & Johnson Therapeutic Area (TA) discovery teams. The successful candidate will join a team consisting of chemists with a diversity of skills including Medicinal Chemistry, Automated Synthesis, Computational Chemistry and Cheminformatics, Discovery Process Research, and Analytical Chemistry. They will leverage state-of-the art techniques and instrumentation to develop innovative strategies to design and synthesize drug candidates to advance drug discovery projects across a range of modalities, with a focus on small molecules. Acceleration of discovery programs through application of parallel medicinal chemistry, high throughput experimentation, reaction automation and AI/ML approaches will be a focus.

The individual in this position will find significant leadership opportunity in driving the execution of these strategies, in coordination with Johnson & Johnson colleagues using innovative synthetic chemistry and building new technologies. In addition, the successful candidate will leverage close interactions with data scientists, chemists, biologists and pharmacologists.

This scientist will have the following major responsibilities:

• Key contributor in driving the development of an integrated synthesis platform, managing the synthesis workflow from reagent supply to compound delivery for biological testing.
• Program, operate, and troubleshoot integrated robotic systems.
• Diagnose hardware and software issues, conducting hands-on troubleshooting for automation systems, and working closely with vendors to resolve recurring issues.
• Collaborate with scientific leaders, business operations, and external vendors to coordinate remediation plans and ensure repairs are made promptly.
• Support lifecycle management, troubleshooting, maintenance, and continuous improvement of robotic systems, fostering innovation to meet evolving business needs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on the development of this platform (Global Discovery Chemistry, In Silico Discovery, Discovery Technology, Molecular Pharmacology, etc.), and act as an internal expert on automation and system integration within the Global Discovery Chemistry organization.
• Proactively provide project status updates to key stakeholders, through various channels including in-person and virtual meetings.
• Train other chemists within the team on the use of the automated platform.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Chemistry, Engineering, Robotics, or related fields with 5+ years of hands-on experience with automated synthesis platforms, OR a doctorate in the same fields with 3+ years of experience.
• Proficiency in programming robotic platforms (e.g. Tecan, Chronect, mobile robots…) and integration/scheduling/orchestration software.
• Hands-on experience calibrating, troubleshooting, and maintaining laboratory automation and computer systems is required.
• Preferred experience in high-throughput chemistry workflows (e.g., parallel synthesis, high-throughput experimentation, direct-to-biology), and standard analytical and purification techniques (e.g., UPLC-MS-CAD, preparative HPLC-MS…).
• Proficiency in coding, data analysis and visualization is preferred.
• Excellent written and interpersonal skills with strong relationship management abilities.
• Independent and innovative thinking with effective collaboration skills in a highly matrixed environment.

Johnson & Johnson is an Affirmative Action and 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, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.