Formulation & Lyophilization Lead Scientist

Zoetis is the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of animal pharmaceuticals. The Lincoln, NE site produces high-quality medicines for dogs, cats and livestock.

4 weeks accrued paid vacation and 13 paid holidays. 401(k) match with company profit sharing. Tuition reimbursement and student-loan repayment program. Comprehensive health, personal and family benefits starting day 1.

This is an individual contributor, site-based role focused on supporting the Global Manufacturing Technology (GMT) team with new product introductions (NPI) from Research and Development (VMRD) into the plant, technology transfers of current processes from one site to another within the network, and supporting manufacturing teams to maintain and improve vaccine production performance. The role requires at least 5 years of experience in a biological or biopharma manufacturing or research environment and involves working independently on multiple NPIs, transfer projects or continuous improvement projects in parallel.

• Work closely with VMRD to co-develop new products suitable for transfer into the production facility.
• Understand the capacity of the current facility and requirements to process fit a new product.
• Identify product constraints during development and suggest improvements to facilitate scale-up and commercial manufacture.
• Act as a member of the site transfer team to transfer the process into manufacturing and take accountability for transferring the process "as is" from VMRD into production.
• Train production personnel on the new process and ensure knowledge is passed onto production teams.
• Support manufacturing in preparing batch records for new products.
• Assess process or analytical gaps in sending and receiving sites and provide technical support during site-to-site technology transfers; travel to receiving sites as required.
• Lead continuous improvement projects: develop process control charts, champion performance of formulation and lyophilization processes, identify improvements to supply reliability, reduce zero yields and scrap, and support procurement in sourcing alternative raw material, components and packaging suppliers.
• Provide technical support for site investigations impacting product supply and investigate new technologies for potential implementation.

• BS or MS in a life-science discipline (virology, bacteriology, immunology, or related engineering) or equivalent biological experience with emphasis on formulation, adjuvant and/or lyophilization sciences.
• Minimum five years of manufacturing process experience and product transfer experience; previous experience with formulation and lyophilization scaling is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated competency in formulation process and analytical method development.

• Laboratory and/or manufacturing experience in biological manufacturing and/or testing with specific experience in formulation, adjuvant and/or lyophilization processes and analysis.
• Working knowledge of vaccine production methods, experimental design and experience in GLP or GMP.
• Basic knowledge of USDA, FDA and EU regulatory systems.
• Strong technical analytical skills and high personal motivation.
• Excellent oral and written communication, interpersonal skills and ability to interact across divisional boundaries.
• Commitment to product quality, continuous improvement and working knowledge of Right-First-Time (RFT) and Lean principles.
• Strong commitment to customer service.

• Lifting, sitting, standing, walking.
• Travel to domestic and international sites may be required (