Senior Manager Automation Lead

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:

Supply Chain Engineering

Job Sub Function:

Automation Engineering

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Raritan, New Jersey, 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 seeking a Senior Manager, Automation to lead automation engineering, operational technology (OT), and control systems for the Raritan CAR T manufacturing site. This role combines people leadership with deep technical expertise in industrial control systems, integration, commissioning, and regulated system validation. The Senior Manager will own automation strategy, architecture, deployments, validation, and lifecycle support to ensure safe, compliant, and efficient manufacturing operations that meet product quality and delivery objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide direct leadership and development for a team of automation and OT engineers; establish hiring priorities, performance objectives, and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

• Define and drive the site automation strategy and roadmap: standards, reference architectures, design patterns, and governance aligned to manufacturing and quality requirements.

• Lead delivery of automation projects from requirements through design, programming, factory and site acceptance testing, commissioning, CSV (IQ/OQ/PQ), and handover to operations.

• Responsible for architect, specify, and oversee the configuration and deployment of PLC/DCS, SCADA/HMI, and field instrumentation/I/O to support CAR‑T and Lenti process.

• Accountable for the site process historian—ensuring continuous, secure, validated capture and availability of time‑series process and event data to support traceability, operations, analytics, and regulatory compliance.

• Ensure integration of control systems with enterprise and manufacturing systems (MES, LIMS, ERP/WMS) through robust, validated interfaces while maintaining chain-of-identity and chain-of-custody requirements.

• Responsible for OT cybersecurity and network segmentation consistent with company policy; partner with corporate IT/cyber teams for secure OT/IT convergence.

• Lead vendor selection, contract technical evaluation, and vendor oversight during implementation and sustainment.

• Collaborate closely with Manufacturing, Quality, MSAT, and Engineering to define requirements, prioritize automation initiatives, and ensure operational readiness.

• Represent the automation function during regulatory inspections and audits.

• Monitor automation performance and support continuous improvement, and lifecycle management.

Qualifications:

Education:

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree is required, focused degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline and/or Master’s degree preferred.

Skills and Experience:

Required

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in industrial automation, control systems, and OT/IT integration; minimum 5 years in regulated pharma/biotech manufacturing.

• Demonstrat