Summary:
This Senior Scientist opportunity is an influential role spanning across their R&D, Process Development and Manufacturing teams. This role has a dual focus firstly, you will be leading both internal and external R&D programmes to design, build and implement bespoke automation platforms. Secondly, to support the building of a talented team of automation experts to ensure all software and technical support is on hand to minimize equipment downtime and optimise its usage. They use automated systems such as Hamilton, Satorious, and Tecan for example.
The company:
They are based in Cambridge and their step change technology that is a combination of stem cell biology and synthetic biology. The purpose of this is to accelerate the discovery, development, and manufacture of cell therapies through the control of synthetic biology circuits.
Their aim is to build a scalable model that enables the production of cells that are actually affected by the targeted disease and accelerate the development of cures. Their focus is currently on human induced Neurological and Skeletal stem cells.
They received significant funding to complement their own plans which has led to a rapid expansion as they meet their current aims and work towards the development of new ideas.
The Role of Senior Automation Scientist:
As a Senior Automation Scientist, you will be leading to the design and then leading the execution of R&D projects as well as ensuring equipment is available and utlised to maximum capacity. The purpose of this research is to deliver process improvement, scale up, and automation processes for the manufacture of iPSC derived cell types. To achieve this, you will be working with a diverse range of teams including IPSC Manufacturing Development, Quality, Production and Business Analysts.
Key Activities:
Provide scientific leadership for the development and implementation of custom automation projects.
Supervision, mentorship and training of more junior team members using your scientific expertise.
Supervise the validation of novel automation systems.
Work collaboratively with users to develop, optimise, and implement SOP’s and assay protocols for automation systems to ensure optimal performance.
Lead deep dive activities for breakdowns to identify root causes and then lead responses.
Optimise and validate high throughput workflows.
Make the most of the team’s and Business Analyst expertise to address equipment running issues.
Establish, monitor and report of key performance data for the Group Lead such as group capacity, failure rates and performance against targets.
Proactively identify people and equipment resources needed to ensure the group continues to move forwards and ensure the company keeps growing rapidly.
Your Expertise:
For this opportunity you will need to have:
A relevant PhD or significant experience in the field
Experience of supervising or leading a team of scientists.
Have experience of working in a cell therapy, stem cell, cell processing or related environment,
Experience of working with iSPC’s is advantageous to your application.
Developing and optimising complex protocols for liquid handling automation – cell line expansion, differentiation, and cryopreservation.
Experience of working in an automated environment e.g., Hamilton, Tecan, Sartorius
Experience of developing, optimising, and implementing workflows, protocols, and procedures.