Associate Scientific Director / Scientific Director, Upstream Development

At Bristol Myers Squibb, we are inspired by a single vision – transforming patients’ lives through science.In oncology, hematology, immunology and cardiovascular disease – and one of the most diverse and promising pipelines in the industry – each of our passionate colleagues contribute to innovations that drive meaningful change. We bring a human touch to every treatment we pioneer. Join us and make a difference.

Position: Associate Scientific Director / Scientific Director

Location: Devens - MA

The Global Upstream and Cell Line Development (GUCLD) organization is currently seeking an experienced, creative, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial, and highly talented individual to join our team and contribute to our noble goal of rapidly bringing innovative medicines for our patients. GUCLD is a dynamic biologics upstream process development organization within Bristol Myers Squibb’s GPS-Biologics Product Development. Our purpose is to develop robust, state of the art upstream processes supporting BMS’s sizeable biologics pipeline. The ideal candidate will be a scientific people leader with a passion for continuous improvement, people development, and comfortable in a highly matrixed, collaborative, environment. Our department offers an excellent opportunity to those who want to learn and grow their career while continuing to develop our shared culture of excellence

The AD/ Scientific Director role (title flexible based upon candidate experience) is a key leadership positions within the Devens, MA upstream group, which is part of the larger BMS GUCLD organization. This role will drive high performance leading an upstream mammalian cell culture development team developing robust and scalable mammalian cell culture processes for multiple therapeutic antibody and recombinant proteins. This position requires a proven leader of driving molecule development projects to both lead and participate in internal and partnered projects. Here, this role will actively partner with teams in Cell Line Development, Downstream Development, Analytical, Drug Product Science & Technology, Manufacturing, MS&T, and R&D groups in a matrix, team organization structure. This is a high visibility position with opportunities for continued development of the BMS platform and introduction of new technologies to enable cutting edge processes through collaborations across upstream development teams both within Devens and across the GUCLD network.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, set the agenda, and enhance motivation for a high performing upstream development team.
• Implement upstream process development, optimization, scale-up of biologic manufacturing processes, process characterization and as needed, support of PPQ activities.
• Provide all aspects of upstream process development support to ensure success of matrixed project teams for multiple protein therapeutics and expand, as needed, with new modalities.
• Partner within matrixed Development, Analytical, Clinical Manufacturing, and MS&T to ensure seamless transition and transfer or processes. Coordinate experiments within these matrix teams to ensure rapid achievement of objectives and overall process transfer goals.
• As assigned, lead project and matrix team meetings, coordinate activities for the project team with other process development focus groups.
• Recommend and drive platform improvements as well as novel technology initiatives, such as continuous manufacturing, PAT, omics, etc. via intra- and inter-departmental and external collaborations. Guide the necessary experiments for evaluation and implementation to enhance BMS’ competitive advantages.
• Provide performance feedback, coaching, career development and mentoring to each team member to ensure their success and fulfilment.

Qualifications:

• PhD or M.S. in Chemical/Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Biology, or related field with minimum 10+ years, respectively, relevant experience in mammalian upstream process development.
• Track record of successful implementations of robust upstream processes from development to a commercial setting.
• Track record of demonstratable management skills for multiple projects and technical teams.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
• Effective oral, written, and presentation skills.
• Highly self-motivated and creative with critical thinking skills and problem-solving ability.
• Experience with all aspects upstream process development including fed-batch and perfusion processes, bioreactor operation and scale-up/ scale-down.
• Experience with design of experiments and use of statistics for data analysis.
• Preferred: direct experience in an upstream-related area of specialization - desired areas could include media development, PAT development applications, computational fluid dynamics, high throughput automation.
• Preferred: practical experience with downstream processing and analytical techniques.

Around the world, we are passionate about making an impact on the lives of patients with serious diseases. Empowered to apply our individual talents and diverse perspectives in an inclusive culture, our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives.

Physical presence at the BMS worksite or physical presence in the field is an essential job function of this role which the Company deems critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, employee well-being and engagement, and enhances the Company culture.

To protect the safety of our workforce, customers, patients and communities, the policy of the Company requires all employees and workers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they have received an exception based on an approved request for a medical or religious reasonable accommodation. Therefore, all BMS applicants seeking a role located in the U.S. and Puerto Rico must confirm that they have already received or are willing to receive the full COVID-19 vaccination by their start date as a qualification of the role and condition of employment. This requirement is subject to state and local law restrictions and may not be applicable to employees working in certain jurisdictions such as Montana. This requirement is also subject to discussions with collective bargaining representatives in the U.S.

Our company is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request an approval of accommodation prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application or if you are applying to a role based in the U.S. or Puerto Rico and you believe that you are unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief, during or any part of the recruitment process, please direct your inquiries to adastaffingsupport@bms.com. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

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