Senior Automation Engineer – Laboratory Automation

Job Description Summary

The Senior Automation Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, implementing and maintaining laboratory robotics which support exploratory biology in an automated fashion. The work will be hands-on and will require a broad range of engineering disciplines including project management, troubleshooting electrical and mechanical parts, develop protocols, liquid handling, and provide operating system validation/verification. Our focus is to design, build, maintain and improve large and small automated systems for high throughput screening, automated cell culture, and compound management.

 

Job Description

Internal Job Title:  Senior Automation Engineer

Location: Cambridge, MA, onsite

About this role:

The Senior Automation Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, implementing and maintaining laboratory robotics which support exploratory biology in an automated fashion. The work will be hands-on and will require a broad range of engineering disciplines including project management, troubleshooting electrical and mechanical parts, develop protocols, liquid handling, and provide operating system validation/verification. Our focus is to design, build, maintain and improve large and small automated systems for high throughput screening, automated cell culture, and compound management.

Your responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Working with assay biologists to adapt bench assays to fully automated assays with high throughput screening systems.

• Working with Sample Management teams to support automation to deliver compounds to scientists globally and adapt and implement cutting edge technologies.

• Act as project manager for small and large scale automation projects. The successful candidate will manage, plan, develop, and execute laboratory automation projects from start-up to completion.

• Work effectively with multi-disciplinary groups and individuals to implement solutions that reflect operational efficiencies in terms of throughput, delivery, costs, as well as health, safety and environmental considerations.

• Act as a primary support engineer for laboratory automation and instrumentation within DSc in Cambridge, Ma. Responsible for the setup, operation, and maintenance of state-of-the-art high throughput (HTS) systems.

• Establish, monitor and maintain a stable and productive automation environment through QC and preventative maintenance.

• Assist in the development of SOP’s, maintenance manuals, start-up procedures, etc. and provide training to new users of equipment.

• Must be self-motivated with the ability to multitask and effectively manage timelines.

• Must be able to work independently and in team situations.

Essential Requirements:

• B.S. in mechanical, electrical or bioengineering, or similar engineering discipline.

• 3-5+ years of experience using and implementing automated systems.

• Experience designing, building and deploying automated laboratory workflows in life sciences or clinical laboratories.

• Strong organizational, written, and verbal communications skills required to interact effectively between scientific staff, customers, key stakeholders, and vendors.

• Strong computer skills including MS Office and CAD (preferably SolidWorks).

• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.

• Experience working with laboratory automation, high throughput assays, and cell culture.

Desirable requirements:

• In addition to the experience above, the ideal candidate would have familiarity with the following systems and associated software: HighRes BioSolutions (Staubli/Denso/Precise) robotic platforms, Sartorius CompacT, Tecan EVO, Agilent benchtop equipment, Beckman Echo, Biosero/Green Button Go robotic platforms, GNF Director robotic platforms, etc.

• Basic understanding of C# or equivalent programming language

• Experience working with engineers and scientists to develop new automated platforms

• Experience with automated High Content Imaging systems such as the Yokogawa CV8000, Perkin Elmer Phenix, or equivalent.

• Ability to create innovative solutions to support complex biological assays at scale.

• Experience with machine tools such as mill, band saw, drill press, etc.

Why Novartis: Our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives and our vision is to become the most valued and trusted medicines company in the world. How can we achieve this? With our people. It is