Senior Scientist I/II, Genomic Technology – NGS Operations Lead

About AbbVie
AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, women’s health and gastroenterology, in addition to products and services across its Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

AbbVie is actively harnessing the power of human genetics and genomics to drive drug discovery and development. In the past several years, we’ve made multiple investments in internal capabilities and external partnerships with leading academic groups and technology companies. In 2016 we created an internal research group, the AbbVie Genomics Research Center (GRC) within Discovery R&D. The GRC is a single organization that supports and drives genomics and genetics research across AbbVie R&D. The GRC has core capabilities and research efforts in Genomic Technologies, Functional Genomics, Computational Genomics, Human Disease Genetics, Pharmacogenetics, and has dedicated support for IT infrastructure. The core mission of the group is to apply genomics and genetics research to target discovery, target validation, translational research, and design and analysis of clinical trials.

The GRC Genomic Technologies Group (G-Tech) supports AbbVie preclinical and clinical research teams by applying genomic profiling technologies with the goal of improving the success rates for drug discovery and development. We apply genomic profiling technologies to identify and validate targets and biomarkers, improve understanding of preclinical models and candidate drug molecules, select/stratify patients and understand patient responses in AbbVie clinical trials. The GRC is seeking to hire a senior-level lab scientist in NGS Operations team to support and drive existing genomic profiling pipelines and to also expand genomic profiling capabilities.  The successful candidate will be responsible for being a technical lead of the team, overseeing day-to-day operations, carrying out NGS-related genomic profiling experiments and communicating results to stakeholders and collaborators, and will also help drive efforts to expand genomic profiling capabilities to serve unmet needs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as a technical lead and independent contributor working with AbbVie GRC stakeholders and AbbVie therapeutic area (TA) scientists to meet the genomic profiling needs from active studies. Effectively communicate and collaborate with stakeholders on experiment design, execution, analysis, and troubleshooting to deliver high quality results under agreed upon timelines. Act as a gate keeper for the communications between G-Tech and stakeholders through LIMS.and other communication systems.
• Closely work with G-Tech Group Leader to oversee day-to-day NGS Operations team of G-Tech, forecast the capacity and inventory, and provide advice and technical expertise to other scientists in the team. Highly autonomous and productive in performing laboratory research, requiring only minimal direction from or interaction with supervisor. Has the potential to be a people manager based on the team’s future need and experience level.
• Manage, operate, and maintain NGS technology platforms, schedules, and training in G-Tech. Process, perform, and review QC analysis of NGS libraries derived from starting materials such as, whole blood, tissues, and cells. Perform initial data QC and first pass analysis of results. Partner with bioinformatics specialists and disease area scientists to interpret results and design follow up experiments.
• Stay current on rapidly evolving NGS genomic profiling workflows including but not restricted to:  RNAseq, whole genome or targeted DNAseq, and single cell sequencing protocols.  Contribute to and support G-Tech’s Assay Development team for technologies development as needed. Prepare written summaries of experimental results and verbally present at team or external meetings.

Qualifications

Position will be hired based on education and experience levels.

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 10 years of experience, Master’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 8 years of experience, PhD and no experience necessary in molecular biology, genomic sciences or a related field.
• Demonstrated record of high proficiency across a wide range of hands-on experience and deep technical knowledge of genomic profiling technologies with emphasis on next generation sequencing platforms and library preparation workflows including: WGS, WES, targeted DNAseq, RNAseq, single cell, and related QC technologies).
• Experience being part of a centralized technology group is desirable. Industry experience is desired but willing to consider individuals with equivalent years of experience in academic or non-industry research settings.
• Expert and detailed knowledge of genomic sample processing, sample QC, genomic profiling data QC and analytical methods.
• 2+ years hands-on experience with LIMS, sample tracking, automation, and workflow optimization is preferred.
• Previous lab, project and people management experience is desired.
• High attention to detail, self-motivated, critical thinking, strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to work in fast-paced, dynamic environment and to independently and help other team members carry forward multiple projects in parallel.

Significant Work Activities
N/A
Travel
No
Job Type
Experienced
Schedule
Full-time
Job Level Code
M
Equal Employment Opportunity
At AbbVie, we value bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to develop new and innovative solutions for patients. As an equal opportunity employer we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.