Associate Director, Laboratory Informatics and Platform Automation

 About the Role...

Valo Health is seeking an Associate Director to lead laboratory informatics and platform automation across its drug discovery organization. The role owns strategy, implementation, and operational performance across both domains, builds the scientific data infrastructure connecting bench data to Valo’s Opal Computational Platform, and leads a technical team. The ideal candidate brings deep domain expertise and a proven track record of people leadership in a fast-paced R&D environment.

What You’ll Do… 

Your primary areas of responsibility will be:

• Own strategy, implementation, and operations across laboratory informatics systems (LIMS, ELN, SDMS, data analysis tools) and hardware automation platforms (HTS, compound management, instrument integration).
• Define roadmap priorities with scientific and technical stakeholders; translate needs into actionable plans and deliver reliable solutions.
• Partner with the Data Platform team to build data infrastructure, including ontologies, pipelines, and LIMS integrations; design workflow integrations that streamline operations and enable downstream AI/ML use.
• Gather requirements from stakeholders to guide development across SDMS, ELN, and visualization tools; oversee user requirement specifications and UAT.
• Implement data security and IP protection standards in partnership with Data Governance teams.
• Oversee data ingestion pipelines and LIMS integrations, ensuring integrity, compliance, and harmonization of legacy and current experimental data.
• Partner with scientific power users and facilities to manage vendor relationships, including contract renewals, installations, application support, and user training; oversee resource prioritization, cost monitoring, and lifecycle planning with contracts, finance, and IT.
• Serve as the senior point of expertise for informatics and automation, building strong relationships across Biology, Chemistry, DMPK, and Data Sciences.
• Monitor operational performance and resolve technical issues across informatics and automation platforms.
• Lead automation platform operations including High-Res Cellario, Biosero Green Button Go, and compound management; evaluate and drive acquisition of new hardware to meet evolving scientific needs.
• Lead and develop the technical team, including hiring, mentoring, and career development.
• Stay current with emerging trends in informatics and automation and apply new approaches to strengthen platform capabilities.

What You Bring… 

• PhD with 10+ years in laboratory informatics and/or automation in drug discovery, or BS/MS with 15+ years.
• Life sciences background in Screening, Biology, Chemistry, DMPK, multi-omics, or NGS.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams and deliver high-impact informatics and automation programs in pharma or biotech R&D.
• Experience developing roadmaps, translating scientific needs into technical plans, and managing competing priorities.
• Experience across the full informatics software lifecycle: requirements gathering, design, implementation, UAT, and lifecycle management.
• Deep knowledge of LIMS, ELN, SDMS, and automation systems; experience integrating HTS automation, mass spectrometry, and compound management with tools such as Dotmatics and Snowflake.
• Strong communication skills and ability to influence decisions at all levels.
• Proven track record managing complex software infrastructure and vendor interoperability.

You May Also Bring...

• Experience with SaaS platforms, cloud services, and API integrations.
• Hands-on experience with High-Res Cellario work cells and Biosero Green Button Go workflows.