Staff Automation Process Engineer

Personalis, Inc. is a leader in advanced cancer genomics for enabling the next generation of precision cancer therapies and diagnostics. The Personalis NeXT Platform® is designed to adapt to the complex and evolving understanding of cancer, providing its biopharmaceutical customers and clinicians with information on all of the approximately 20,000 human genes, together with the immune system, from a single tissue sample. In population sequencing, Personalis operates one of the largest sequencing operations globally and is currently the sole sequencing provider to Veterans Affairs' Million Veteran Program. To enable cancer and population sequencing, Personalis' Clinical Laboratory was built with a focus on clinical accuracy, quality, big data, scale and efficiency. The laboratory is GxP-aligned as well as Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988-certified and College of American Pathologists-accredited.

Summary:

The Staff Automation Process Engineer within the Process Development and Automation Engineering Group contributes to the development and implementation of automation systems and workflows to support the processing of samples in a clinical diagnostics and research laboratory environments.  This individual collaborates within a team of scientists and engineers upon projects to conceptualize, design, develop, and implement solutions designed to optimize the performance and increase the efficiencies of the laboratory processes. The Staff Automation Process Engineer will manage 1 or 2 Junior Automation Engineers.

Responsibilities:

• Principal responsibilities of this position include automation projects leadership and direction.
• Lead the development and integration of the automation systems and related software tools, preparing the documentation for equipment validation and operating procedures.
• Writing scripts for liquid handling robots.
• Building rapport with end-users, lab supervisors and process owners, and coordinate with cross functional teams to ensure the successful implementation in the labs.
• Define and lead the automation systems development, testing and qualification requirements to support IVD product development and support FDA submissions.
• Support the documentation efforts for equipment validation and operating procedures.
• Lead troubleshooting efforts, analyze data and help drive key process related decisions.
• Lead, train and manage Junior Automation Engineers.

Requirements:

• BS or MS degree in Biotechnology or closely related engineering or scientific field, with a minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience.
• Technical proficiency and experience in automation systems development and integration for the life science industry; especially with robotics and liquid handling systems is required.
• Hamilton Venus 3 or 4 programming experience is required.
• Strong project management skills, organizational skills, and written and verbal communication skills are required.   
• Preparing User Requirement and Testing Procedure, Standard Operating Procedures, and related documentations; and overseeing the functional and validation testing, IQ/OQ/PQ.
• Flexibility and self-initiative required to support several simultaneous projects.
• Biotech, pharmaceutical, Lab automation providers, or clinical-laboratory experience is highly desirable.
• Experience leading and mentoring Junior Engineers.

Personalis is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Minorities/Females/Veterans/Disabilities. Personalis offers a competitive compensation package. 

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