Pharma Applications Engineer

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from Space

X, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

Varda is seeking a Pharma Applications Engineer to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for leading efforts to develop, deploy, improve, and manage all Pharma applications. You will manage the implementation of these solutions through the entire product life cycle, from opportunity identification to support and sustainment. You will work cross-functionally with teams across Varda to lead initiatives to enhance company processes, execution insight, and infrastructure robustness.

Projects will include a wide range of desired outcomes, including cycle time reduction, cost reduction, improved decision-making, risk reduction, and other key operational efficiencies. Your contributions will immediately impact functional operations and provide an opportunity to contribute to Varda's overall growth and success. This role will report to the Director of Enterprise Applications.

This is a full-time, exempt position located in our El Segundo headquarters.

Responsibilities

* Serve as the embedded technology partner for a pharmaceutical business unit, supporting data management solutions to facilitate spend tracking and automation for data analysis, while administering core lab systems to ensure data integrity and compliance readiness.

* Administer and optimize enterprise platforms (ERP, CRM, ELN, LIMS, QMS) to support current R&D needs while preparing to scale with clinical pipeline.

* Design and build custom analytics dashboards and reports using tools like Power BI, SQL, and Python to help facilitate spend tracking.

* Enable systems to help automate manual data management tasks to help eliminate manual bottlenecks, ensure compliance with best practices with respect to ELN/LIMS and/or QMS to reduce cycle times, and improve data capture at the source.

* Develop and maintain internal applications (low-code/no-code and custom-built) that automate repetitive tasks and augment data tasks across the pharma org.

* Evaluate and support integrations between LIMS, ELN, instrument software, and downstream data processing tools that balance speed-to-value with long-term maintainability.

* Where needed, support data integrity principles, audit logs, and user controls that are aligned with compliance standards GxP, FDA 21 CFR Part 11)

* Provide desktop support to resolve application issues, coordinate with vendors on escalations, and manage release cycles for system updates and patches.

* Create training materials and lead hands-on enablement sessions to drive user adoption and reduce shadow IT across the pharma organization.

* Support evaluation, pilot, and deployment of AI-powered tools to enterprise standards.

* Facilitate and enable data governance and quality standards set by the pharma organization

* Assist IT and Infosec with permissions-based access, tracking, and compliance.

* Evaluate new tools, platforms, and vendors to support make/buy decisions for data systems to ensure pharma systems integrate cleanly into the broader enterprise architecture.

* Track and report on system health, adoption KPIs, and project status to pharma leadership and enterprise stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications

* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Analytics, Engineering, or a related technical field.

* 3+ years of experience supporting or managing enterprise applications (ERP, CRM, QMS, or LIMS) in a pharma-regulated or compliance-driven environment.

* The capability to gather business requirements from stakeholders and take a project from initial concept to finished product.

* Ability to work with end users to rapidly iterate prototype applications by solving end-user issues.

* Hands-on experience with business process mapping and…