Associate Director, Laboratory Automation Systems

Johnson & Johnson; Spring House (PA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson in Spring House, PA is seeking an Associate Director, Laboratory Automation Systems to lead the automation platform across discovery and analytical workflows.

The role owns portfolio governance, KPIs, and lifecycle management, partnering with IT, Data Science, Facilities, and external vendors to standardize and accelerate scientific workflows. Based on-site in Spring House, this role drives adoption and continuous improvement.

Job description

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 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, Tier 1 integrators, Tier 2 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-