Associate Director, Laboratory Automation Systems

Biopharma Careers; North Carolina; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson in Spring House, PA, is seeking an Associate Director of Laboratory Automation Systems to lead the automation platform across discovery and analytical workflows. You will coordinate scientists, automation engineers, IT, and QA to deliver scalable automated capabilities.

Responsibilities include portfolio governance, KPI definition, and lifecycle ownership, ensuring safe, compliant, and high-impact automation across multiple workcells.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Science or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years in laboratory automation or related field.
• Experience leading scientists and automation teams.
• Strong understanding of workflows, data, and lifecycle support.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and change control.

Responsibilities

• Lead laboratory automation scientists and matrix contributors delivering integrated automation systems.
• Own portfolio prioritization and governance, resource planning, and lifecycle ownership.
• Define platform KPIs and integrate user adoption and performance reviews.
• Oversee design, qualification, optimization, and sustainment of automated workcells and systems.
• Collaborate with IT, Data Science, AI, Engineering, Facilities, and Quality teams.

Skills

Laboratory automation

Team leadership

Vendor management

Executive communication

Program management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

At Johnson & Johnson,we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build aworld where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured,where treatments are smarter and less invasive, andsolutions 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 jnj.com .

As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world. We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual. At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit.

Job Function:

R&D Product Development

Job Sub Function:

R&D Electrical/Mechatronic Engineering

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

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 Systems to be located in Spring House, PA.

Purpose:

The Associate Director, Laboratory Automation Systems will lead the laboratory automation platform organization that turns scientific workflow needs into deployed, adopted, and sustained automated capabilities. The role is accountable for team leadership, portfolio governance, standards, user adoption, system lifecycle, benefit realization, and the practical operating model required for multi-workcell automation.

This role bridges laboratory automation scientists, automation and robotics engineers, IT/data teams, AI teams, scientific users, facilities, EHS, quality, procurement, and external partners. It does not replace engineering ownership of physical systems; it ensures the scientific automation platform is fit for purpose, adopted by users, supported over time, and continuously improved.

You will be responsible for:

Portfolio and Operating Model

Leading laboratory automation scientists and matrix contributors delivering integrated automation systems across discovery and analytical workflows.

Owning portfolio prioritization, resource planning, demand intake, business case input, risk management, governance, stage gates, backlog management, change control, key performance indicators (KPIs), and lifecycle ownership.

Establishing practical operating models for workflow intake, scientific readiness assessment, user acceptance, hyper-care, support critical issues, method updates, release management, documentation, training, and routine performance review.

Defining and managing platform KPIs such as uptime, throughput, first-pass success, run completion, data completeness, sample traceability, user adoption, hands‑on time reduction, and scientific impact.

Systems Delivery and Sustainment

Overseeing design, implementation, qualification, optimization, hyper‑care, and lifecycle support of automated workcells and orchestrated systems.

Ensuring scientific workflows, automation designs, sample flows, consumable logistics, data flows, biosafety, user training, facilities needs, EHS constraints, support models, and sustainment plans are considered as one integrated system.

Coordinating with engineering leadership to ensure physical workcell readiness, safety design, utilities, serviceability, maintainability, and machine‑side reliability support scientific workflow needs.

Driving standardization of requirements, UAT, method documentation, workflow handover, training, run readiness, exception management, and continuous improvement practices.

Partner and Vendor Governance

Partnering with Discovery, Analytical Development, IT, Data Science, AI, Engineering, Facilities, Procurement, Quality, EHS, Operations, Legal, Finance, and external partners.

Selecting, challenging, and managing automation vendors, Tier1 integrators, Tier2 equipment suppliers, software providers, consumable suppliers, and external engineering partners from the scientific workflow and lifecycle support perspective.

Representing laboratory automation systems in governance forums, budget discussions, vendor reviews, facilities planning, BT/ISD architecture discussions, and strategic roadmap reviews.

Developing talent, playbooks, knowledge management practices, communities of practice, and career pathways for laboratory automation scientists and adjacent automation roles.

Additional Responsibilities:

Support technology evaluations, proof‑of‑concept studies, workflow readiness assessments, user demonstrations, and vendor evaluations for future automation capabilities.

Contribute to laboratory automation standards, workflow templates, data handoff expectations, training materials, and playbooks.

Support audit, inspection, or quality documentation requests where automated scientific workflows intersect with regulated or quality driven environments.

Participate in lessons learned and continuous improvement activities to improve future automation delivery and adoption.

Qualifications/Requirements

Education:

A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Life Science, Analytical Science, Laboratory Automation, Engineering, Computer Science or a related field is required. An advanced degree is preferred.

Experience and Skills:

Required:

10+ years of relevant laboratory automation, scientific automation, analytical automation, discovery automation, or workcell integration experience, including team or matrix leadership.

Proven record leading integrated laboratory automation systems, high-throughput scientific workflows, or digital laboratory platforms.

Experience leading scientists, automation specialists, engineers, vendors, or teams through complex programs.

Strong understanding of scientific workflows, laboratory automation, sample management, data flow, user adoption, and lifecycle support.

Experience managing vendor relationships, technical scope, requirements, testing, implementation, training, hyper‑care, change control, and performance improvement.

Strong executive communication, prioritization, partner management, change management, and operating model development skills.

Preferred:

Experience building or leading a laboratory automation team or platform organization.

Experience with multi‑workcell orchestration, automated storage, sample logistics, AI‑ready laboratory data strategy, support models for 24/7 operation, SDLs, digital twins, or closed‑loop learning.

Experience developing automation playbooks, governance models, stage gates, RACI matrices, standards, KPIs, and continuous improvement systems.

Other:

Travel may be required for vendor assessments, FAT/SAT activities, site visits, system builds, workshops, training, technology scouting, or cross-site deployment support.

Why Join Us

This role supports the transition from isolated automation projects to integrated, reliable, AI-native, and ultimately self‑driving discovery laboratory systems. The work helps connect scientific intent with robust physical execution, reproducible data, model feedback, and scalable operational capability.

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 under federal, state or local law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section503 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.

If you are under 18 years of age, you (the candidate) may need to obtain the necessary working papers or other documentation required by state law to start the assignment, as well as get a parent’s consent for the background check.