Principal Scientist

Switzerland, VispToday, Lonza is a global leader in life sciences operating across three continents. While we work in science, there’s no magic formula to how we do it. Our greatest scientific solution is talented people working together, devising ideas that help businesses to help people. In exchange, we let our people own their careers. Their ideas, big and small, genuinely improve the world. And that’s the kind of work we want to be part of.

As a Principal Scientist - Microbial High-Throughput Technologies within our in Microbial R&D Team in Visp you will implement automation and screening technologies and will develop automatable and cell-based screening assays to engineer microbial production strains. You will collaboratively work in an interdisciplinary team to build overarching workflows that link strain engineering, cell-based high-throughput screening and process development with automation and Data Analytics/Bioinformatics to develop our next generation microbial production hosts. You are enthusiastic about innovation, data-driven engineering, and high-throughput technologies and enjoy transferring science into tangible deliverables.

Key responsibilities:

- Drive the implementation of high-throughput technologies (screening and automation) incl. Data Management and Data Analysis for the engineering of microbial production hosts
- Develop single cell-based reporter systems and automatable screening assays for phenotypic characterization of engineered production strains to optimize them for recombinant protein production processes
- As a SME for microbial high-throughput technologies for strain engineering and (single cell-based) high-throughput screening, you will align with other SMEs from Bioinformatics/Data Science and High-throughput Technologies and help to build efficient and standardized workflows throughout the organization
- Manage and coordinate projects, plan and execute experiments with scientific rigor, analyze/interpret and present data in internal and external meetings
- Train and assist colleagues in experimental lab work

Key requirements:

- Ph.D. in Biotechnology, Biochemistry, (Molecular - or Systems) Biology or similar
- Strong background in development of phenotypic screening assays, and cell-based high throughput screening methods (e.g. FACS) or (automated) MTP-based screening
- Experience in Molecular Biology (CRISPR), Synthetic Biology, engineering of microbial recombinant expression systems, and recombinant protein technologies
- Knowledge of next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics workflows, automation or advanced data analysis (e.g. Machine Learning) is a plus
- Experience in cellular pathway engineering, laboratory evolution or in bioprocess development would be advantageous.
- Scientific rigor, initiative and willingness to learn. Ideally, you have an affinity for data management and data science and bioinformatics.
- Excellent communication skills in English complete your profile. German is a plus.

Every day, Lonza’s products and services have a positive impact on millions of people. For us, this is not only a great privilege, but also a great responsibility. How we achieve our business results is just as important as the achievements themselves. At Lonza, we respect and protect our people and our environment. Any success we achieve is no success at all if not achieved ethically.

People come to Lonza for the challenge and creativity of solving complex problems and developing new ideas in life sciences. In return, we offer the satisfaction that comes with improving lives all around the world. The satisfaction that comes with making a meaningful difference.

**Reference: R46769**: