Principal Laboratory Automation Scientist

Scorpion Therapeutics; Spring House (PA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Scorpion Therapeutics in Spring House, PA seeks a Principal Laboratory Automation Scientist in R&D to define and advance integrated laboratory automation architectures for biopharmaceutical discovery platforms. You will collaborate with automation engineers, scientists, data teams, and vendors to enable AI-ready data strategies that accelerate biologics, small molecules, and high-throughput workflows.

This role emphasizes compliant practices in regulated environments and requires deep hands-on

Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor's degree in Life Science or Engineering and 5–10+ years in automation.
• Hands-on expertise with automated liquid handlers and integrated workcells.
• Strong grasp of sample provenance, data provenance, metadata, and automation architecture.

Responsibilities

• Establish cross-workcell standards and promote interoperability.
• Design scientific workflow architectures to enable scalable biopharma discovery.
• Lead automation transformation initiatives across R&D programs.
• Enable AI-ready data strategies to support biologics, small molecules, and assays.

Skills

Automated Liquid Handling

Integrated Workcells

Scientific Workflows

Automation Architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree in Life Science or Engineering

Job description

Role

Principal Laboratory Automation Scientist in R&D Electrical/Mechatronic Engineering, focused on defining and advancing integrated laboratory automation architectures for biopharmaceutical discovery platforms.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include establishing cross-workcell standards, designing scientific workflow architectures, leading automation transformation initiatives, and enabling AI-ready data strategies to support biologics, small molecule, protein engineering, and high-throughput workflows. The role involves collaborating with automation engineers, scientists, data science teams, and vendors, supporting technology evaluations, and ensuring compliance in regulated environments.

Qualifications

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Life Science, Engineering, or related fields with 10+ years (Bachelor's), 8+ years (Master's), or 5+ years (PhD) relevant automation experience; hands-on expertise with automated liquid handlers, integrated workcells, and scientific workflows; strong understanding of sample and data provenance, metadata, and automation architecture.

Preferred Skills

Preferred skills include experience with digital twins, FAIR data, APIs, event-driven architectures, and biopharma discovery modalities like biologics, NGS, and cell-based assays.

Location

The position is located in Spring House, PA, with potential travel for vendor assessments, site visits, and system deployment.