About China Automation
Beijing Discovery Center, a Lab of the Future, is AstraZeneca’s build of a maximally automated, end-to-end wet lab in Beijing, run as one lab-in-a-loop with the Beijing AI Center’s dry-lab capabilities. The build pairs AI-driven design with physical automation to accelerate candidate drug (CD) delivery across multi-specific antibodies, peptides, and oligonucleotide-based therapeutics (e.g., siRNA), from hit identification through lead optimization — positioning AZ China R&D as an automation innovation hub, collaborating with the fastest-moving automation partners in China.
About the Role
This role is the technical backbone of the Beijing Discovery Center’s automation strategy. You are the deep subject-matter expert on lab automation technology — bringing thought leadership on where new and emerging automation and robotics solutions can solve the build’s toughest scientific and operational pain points, and translating that expertise into an executable automation architecture and roadmap.
You will own the “what technology, and why,” set the automation architecture, and personally lead its hands-on execution — strategizing and executing, not one or the other — partnering closely with scientific, AI, IT, and other functional teams so technical decisions and program delivery move in lockstep.
You will lead by doing — engaging directly with equipment specifications, integration architecture, and vendor technical evaluations, not just setting direction from a distance. You will be most visible when the build faces a genuinely hard automation technology choice (build vs. buy, which integration architecture, which vendor’s robotics platform) and will personally drive that choice to a well-reasoned resolution. As the build matures beyond blueprint, you will represent AstraZeneca externally as a technical authority in automation, and identify the ecosystem partnerships that keep the center at the frontier of the field.
What You Will Do
Automation Technology Strategy & Innovation
Define the automation architecture and multi-year technology roadmap for the Beijing wet lab, spanning physical automation across multi-specific antibody, peptide, and oligonucleotide (e.g., siRNA) workflows from hit identification through lead optimization
Scan and evaluate emerging automation, robotics, and lab-orchestration technologies — in China and globally — bringing thought leadership on where new and emerging solutions can solve the build’s existing and anticipated pain points
Set technical standards and integration specifications so that physical automation, data automation, and engineering & facilities workstreams connect into a single coherent lab-in-a-loop system
Represent AstraZeneca externally as a technical authority in automation, including at invited conferences and in technical partner discussions
Hands-On Technical Delivery & Execution
Lead the technical design and specification of automated workflows from concept to blueprint to delivery, translating scientific requirements into vendor RFPs and equipment selection criteria
Own the technical evaluation of automation vendors and integrators — assessing platform capability, scalability, and fit against the build’s modality roadmap
Partner with the data automation (IT-led) and engineering & facilities workstreams to ensure the physical automation design integrates cleanly with data architecture and facility/shell requirements
Build and lead the automation technical team as it scales, recruiting and developing specialist automation talent
Troubleshoot technical and scientific bottlenecks in automation workflow design in real time, personally resolving issues rather than escalating by default
Ecosystem & Innovation Partnerships
Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with leading academic institutions and automation/robotics innovators in China’s fast-moving ecosystem, in collaboration with China BD and Alliance Management
Provide technical input and evaluation criteria…