Laboratory Automation Lead

CK Group are recruiting for a highly motivated Laboratory Automation Lead to join a leading biotechnological company in Newcastle. The successful candidate will have the potential to transform laboratory operations and, in time, lead it.


Company:

A newly formed biotechnology organisation focused on building a biological and digital platform for biological assets. They have state-of-the-art microbial engineering facilities (including automation equipment), which the successful candidate will help develop and optimise in order to advance internal R&D activities.
 

The Role:

• Develop and optimise automated protocols for a variety of life sciences laboratory processes using state-of-the-art laboratory automation tools (e.g. liquid handling robots, colony pickers, DNA sequencers, Flow cytometry, Digitally controlled bioreactors, microscopy, etc).
• Program and maintain automation software and equipment to perform engineering biology, synthetic biology, microbiology, and molecular biology activities.
• Collaborate with scientific teams to understand experimental needs and translate them into effective automated workflows.
• Integrate data collection and analysis tools into automation scripts to ensure high-quality output and traceability integrating with the existing software platform.
• Troubleshoot and refine automated processes to reduce errors and increase throughput.
• Train team members on the use of automation technology and develop user-friendly interfaces for non-expert users.
• Contribute to customers and project outputs delivery.

Your Background:

• MSc or PhD in synthetic biology/engineering biology laboratory automation/bioengineering.
• Proven experience in laboratory automation within the fields of engineering biology, synthetic biology, microbiology, or molecular biology.
• Experience with design and execution of high-throughput experiments.
• Strong programming skills, particularly in scripting for automation platforms (e.g. OpenTrons, CyBio Felix, Hamilton, Tecan, or Beckman Coulter systems) with software engineering good practices (e.g. version control, documentation, debugging, etc).
• Experience with biological processes such as cell transformation, cloning, PCR, and next-generation sequencing.
• Proficiency in data analysis and software integration for laboratory systems.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.

 
Desirable Skills:

• Background in synthetic biology or genetic engineering.
• Bioinformatics and synthetic biology design software and tools (e.g. SBOL).
• Knowledge of regulatory standards and quality control in a laboratory setting.

 
Apply:

It is essential that applicants hold entitlement to work in the UK. Please quote job reference 103095 in all correspondence.