Principal Autonomous Lab Automation Architect

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine; Spring House (PA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in Spring House, PA, seeks a Principal Automation and Robotics Engineer to define the robotics architecture for multi-workcell platforms and to drive automation strategy across discovery programs.

You will own standards for safety, controls, and vendor governance, while mentoring engineers and coordinating with science teams to enable scalable, AI-native laboratory automation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant engineering field is required; an advanced degree is highly preferred.
• 10+ years of automation/robotics experience for Bachelor’s level, 8+ years with a Master’s, or 4+ with a PhD.
• Proven ability to lead technical architecture and governance for complex automated systems.
• Experience with safety, controls, and facility integration in a regulated lab environment.
• Ability to influence senior partners and mentor engineers.

Responsibilities

• Define robotics and physical automation reference architecture for multi-workcell SDL platforms.
• Lead design reviews for automation, facility integration, and readiness across programs.
• Define scalable, modular automation principles for future workcells and equipment.
• Serve as senior technical authority for robotics, controls, safety, and simulation strategy.
• Mentor engineers and participate in governance forums; evaluate vendor proposals.

Education

Bachelor's degree (Mechanical, Electrical, Automation, Robotics, Mechatronic, Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering)

Advanced degree preferred

Strong leadership and mentoring

Technical decision making

Cross-functional collaboration

Robotics

Automation

Controls

Safety systems

Technical architecture

System integration

Digital Twin

AMRs

Machine Vision

Simulation

Tools

Digital Twin

AMRs

Machine Vision

Simulation

Job description

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in Spring House, PA, seeks a Principal Automation and Robotics Engineer to define the robotics architecture for multi-workcell platforms and to drive automation strategy across discovery programs.

You will own standards for safety, controls, and vendor governance, while mentoring engineers and coordinating with science teams to enable scalable, AI-native laboratory automation.