Associate Director, Sr Principal Business Analyst

Role Summary

The Associate Director, Business Analyst in the LIMS/ELN Product Team will play a pivotal role in aligning scientific research needs with IT solutions, focusing on Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) and Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN). This hands-on senior role involves working with researchers, lab personnel, and IT teams to gather requirements, design solutions, and ensure the effective implementation and support of LIMS and ELN applications. The role will also lead adoption of GenAI and agentic-AI capabilities (e.g., Benchling Connect and MCP/Actions, orchestration across instruments and data platforms) to streamline experimental planning, automate routine steps, and improve data quality, while meeting security, privacy, and GxP expectations.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning: Work with Product Owner to develop and execute strategic plans for LIMS and ELN systems to support research objectives and organizational goals. Identify and prioritize initiatives in collaboration with research colleagues. Define an Agentic Lab roadmap—prioritizing AI use cases such as experimental design assistance, plate-map planning, instrument hand-off, QC triage, result interpretation, and draft report generation; align with validated vs. non-validated boundaries.
• Product Management: Assist Product Owner to oversee the lifecycle of LIMS and ELN products, from ideation to deployment and continuous improvement. Ensure that products meet user needs and regulatory requirements. Build product roadmaps. Own the AI feature backlog and success metrics (e.g., steps automated per workflow, % straight-through runs, reduction in rework).
• Requirements Gathering: Collaborate with senior researchers, lab personnel, and other stakeholders to understand and document their needs and requirements for LIMS and ELN applications.
• Solution Design: Work with IT and software development teams to design and propose solutions that meet the identified requirements, ensuring alignment with best practices and regulatory standards.
• Support: Oversee the configuration, customization, and deployment of LIMS and ELN systems. Provide hands-on support during implementation phases to ensure smooth transitions and minimal disruption to lab operations. Manage Jira boards, create user stories, and specifications for developers and testers. Support end users in the use of LIMS, ELN, and other scientific applications, and troubleshoot user issues. Conduct structured and one-off training in the use of LIMS, ELN, and other scientific applications.
• Testing and Validation: Oversee the development and execution of test plans to ensure that LIMS and ELN applications meet the specified requirements and function correctly. Develop and execute user acceptance testing (UAT) with end-users.
• Training and Documentation: Create and deliver advanced training materials and sessions for end-users. Develop comprehensive documentation, including user guides, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and system specifications.
• Continuous Improvement: Monitor the performance and usage of LIMS and ELN systems, gather feedback from users, and identify opportunities for enhancements and optimizations.
• Compliance: Ensure that all LIMS and ELN solutions comply with relevant compliance requirements, quality standards, and best practices in the life sciences industry.
• Initiative Implementation: Assist Product Owner to manage and track initiative timelines, deliverables, and milestones. Communicate implementation status and updates to stakeholders and management.
• Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with end users to ensure effective support for LIMS and ELN initiatives.

Qualifications

• Required: Education: Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field. Advanced degree is strongly preferred.
• Required: Experience: Minimum of 7-10 years of experience as a Business Analyst, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership role, preferably in a life sciences research or laboratory environment. Extensive experience with LIMS and ELN systems is highly desirable.
• Required: Technical Skills: Proficiency in LIMS and ELN applications, as well as familiarity with database management, data integration, and software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies.
• Required: Analytical Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific requirements into technical solutions.
• Required: Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively interact with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Required: Gen AI: Hands-on experience delivering agentic AI use cases in enterprise workflows—preferably in labs or scientific informatics.
• Required: Working knowledge of prompt engineering, tool use/function calling, retrieval pipelines (vector or hybrid search), and evaluation frameworks for LLMs.
• Required: Familiarity with Benchling platform concepts (Registry, Inventory, Notebook, Workflows, Insights, Connect/MCP, Actions/Webhooks) and how to wire agents to these capabilities.
• Required: LIMS/ELN Platforms: Experience working with LIMS/ELN platforms.
• Required: Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with regulatory requirements and quality standards in the life sciences industry, such as GxP.
• Preferred: Experience with specific LIMS and ELN platforms (e.g., Genedata, Dotmatics, Revvity, Sapio, Benchling).
• Preferred: Certification in Business Analysis (e.g., CBAP, CCBA) or Project Management (e.g., PMP).
• Preferred: Familiarity with data analytics and reporting tools.
• Preferred: Experience with GenAI, Prompt engineering and LLM-assisted reporting.

Additional Requirements

• On-site/occupancy: Site-essential roles require 100% onsite at the assigned facility; site-by-design roles may be hybrid with at least 50% onsite; field-based/remote-by-design roles require travel as an essential job function.
• Travel and accommodations: Ability to travel to visit customers, patients, or business partners and to attend meetings as directed; the company provides accommodations where applicable and requests can be made prior to accepting an offer.