Director, Automation Program Lead

🚀 About Lila Sciences

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai    

At Lila, we are uniquely cross-functional and collaborative. We are actively reimagining the way teams work together and communicate. Therefore, we seek individuals with an inclusive mindset and a diversity of thought. Our teams thrive in unstructured and creative environments. All voices are heard because we know that experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way.

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, please apply.

🌟 Your Impact at Lila 
Lila Sciences is seeking an accomplished and strategic Director, Automation Program Lead to lead the delivery of critical automation initiatives across our life sciences ecosystem. In this high-impact leadership role, you will drive end-to-end execution of complex technical programs, spanning automated biological workflows, cross-functional team coordination, and resource orchestration.

You’ll partner closely with scientific and automation leaders, and product stakeholders to ensure that innovative, high-throughput solutions are implemented efficiently, robustly, and at scale. This role demands a unique blend of strategic foresight, deep technical expertise, and operational excellence in laboratory automation systems and biological process optimization.

• Lead Strategic Automation Initiatives: Own end-to-end delivery of complex automation programs—from planning through execution—across multiple platforms and scientific domains. Act as the strategic interface between scientific stakeholders and automation engineers, aligning technical capabilities with research goals. Identify, prioritize, and resolve process bottlenecks in automated biological workflows, championing scalable solutions organization-wide.
• Drive Technical Focus: Streamlined cross-functional coordination by optimizing communication channels and reducing unnecessary meetings, increasing team focus on impactful technical execution and delivery. Lead technical reviews and milestone communication to maintain alignment and visibility across scientific and engineering teams.
• Establish Standards and Best Practices: Drive the development and adoption of core infrastructure, workflow standards, and operational models that improve consistency and scale.
• Enable Organizational Scale: Build systems that support efficient knowledge transfer, training, and continuous improvement across a rapidly growing automation ecosystem.
• Report and Communicate with Executive Clarity: Provide regular updates on program health, resource utilization, and technical risk to senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

• MS/PhD in Biology, Bioengineering, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience leading laboratory automation initiatives, with at least 5 years in a strategic or senior leadership capacity
• Deep technical expertise with automated liquid handling platforms (e.g., Hamilton STAR, Dynamic Devices Lynx, Agilent Bravo) and system integration
• Strong command of scheduling and orchestration tools (e.g., Green Button Go, Cellario, Overlord)
• Proven track record managing complex, cross-functional technical projects with multiple stakeholders and dependencies
• Expert-level understanding of biological assay automation, method development, and validation
• Experience leading technical teams and mentoring junior staff in a high-performance environment
• Strong proficiency in project management tools (e.g., JIRA, Confluence) and process optimization frameworks
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to clearly convey technical strategies, decisions, and progress across audiences—from engineers to executives

✨ Bonus Points For

• Working knowledge of scripting/programming languages used in automation (e.g., Python)

🌈 We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

🤝 A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.