Scientist – Cell Culture Automation Full-time

Join Lilly's Automation Engineering Team

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We are seeking a highly experienced cell culture automation scientist to join Lilly's Automation Engineering team, enabling automated cell culture initiatives within the Genetic Medicine RNA Therapeutics program at the Boston Seaport R&D site. Reporting to the Director of Automation Engineering in RNA Therapeutics, this role operates within a multidisciplinary team responsible for deploying and qualifying automated cell culture systems that improve the throughput, reproducibility, and scalability of RNA discovery workflows. The primary focus is ensuring that automated cell culture platforms are biologically validated, operationally reliable, and successfully adopted by scientific teams, with a near-term emphasis on qualification of newly installed systems and development of workflows for Lilly-relevant cell lines.

A central objective of this role is to translate complex biological requirements into reproducible, automation-compatible workflows that produce consistent, high-quality data and support downstream research objectives in RNA therapeutics. The ideal candidate is a highly experienced cell culture scientist who operates independently across biological and automation domains, rapidly assessing platform capabilities, identifying gaps between biological requirements and system performance, and driving workflows to a validated, production-ready state. They bring a demonstrated track record of working at the interface of cell biology and laboratory automation in an industry environment, including prior ownership of biological qualification or process validation studies on automated platforms.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary scientific interface between the automation engineering team and cell culture scientists, ensuring biological requirements are accurately captured and implemented in automated workflows
• Independently own and implement biological qualification of automated cell culture platforms from study design through final report sign-off
• Develop and optimize cell culture protocols adapted for automated execution across multiple well-plate formats and cell line types
• Operate automated liquid handling platforms to implement, monitor, and troubleshoot cell culture workflows in routine and qualification contexts
• Perform ongoing cell health monitoring including routine mycoplasma testing and image-based confluency and viability assessment
• Identify and resolve biological and operational performance issues on automated platforms, distinguishing system variability from biological variability
• Establish documentation, SOPs, and reusable workflow standards to support maintainability, reproducibility, and scalability of automated cell culture operations
• Enable knowledge transfer to internal scientists to support long-term operation of qualified platforms
• Partner with automation engineers to refine platform configuration, liquid handling parameters, and workflow integration based on biological performance data
• Maintain complete, traceable experimental records in Benchling in accordance with Lilly documentation standards
• Contribute to continuous improvement of platform reliability, biological performance, and workflow coverage as the automation program expands

Basic Qualifications:

• BS or MS with 8+ years of industry experience in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related scientific field, with hands-on responsibility for automated cell culture workflows.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

• Demonstrated track record of independently driving biological qualification or process validation studies on automated liquid handling platforms in an industry setting.
• Expert-level mammalian cell culture across multiple cell line types and well-plate formats, with direct experience adapting protocols for automated execution.
• Hands-on experience operating Hamilton or equivalent automated liquid handling systems in a cell culture context, including troubleshooting of liquid handling behavior and workflow performance.
• Experience qualifying automated cell culture workflows spanning passaging, seeding, media exchange, feeding, sampling, expansion, harvest, and imaging steps.
• Experience with routine cell health monitoring methods including mycoplasma testing and image-based confluency or viability analysis.
• Proven ability to author biological qualification reports, SOPs, and technical documentation to a standard suitable for internal audit or regulatory review.
• Experience with adherent human cell lines relevant to gene therapy or RNA therapeutics research environments.
• Experience operating in fast-paced R&D environments with defined milestones and evolving requirements.
• Proficiency in ELN platforms such as Benchling or equivalent, and standard data analysis tools.
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to work effectively with both scientific and engineering partners.
• Ability to operate as a senior individual contributor with full ownership of assigned biological workstreams and independent decision-making within scope.