Associate Principal Scientist - Cell Culture Development

About the role

Lonza is looking for an Associate Principal Scientist (m/f/d) to join its Mammalian Cell Culture Development team in Visp. The role combines scientific leadership with hands-on laboratory work, driving upstream development activities and collaborating with cross-functional teams and customers to deliver high-quality bioprocessing solutions.

Key responsibilities

• Lead, design and execute complex upstream process development, including small-scale studies up to 10 L, in line with quality and safety standards, and generate the data and documentation needed for tech transfer to Pilot and GMP facilities.
• Act as subject matter expert for CHO cell culture, giving scientific guidance, troubleshooting support and decisions to internal and external teams.
• Build and maintain strong customer relationships through transparent communication and scientific excellence.
• Design, optimize and implement robust scale-down and scale-up models.
• Author and review documentation such as study plans and development reports.
• Support training and knowledge sharing, and contribute to continuous improvement and workflow optimization.

Required profile

• BSc with 7+ years or MSc with 5+ years of relevant industry experience in mammalian upstream process development.
• Proven ability to plan, coordinate and run laboratory-scale experiments in a dynamic, cross-functional environment.
• Excellent communication skills; technical English required.
• Willingness to support operations on weekends or public holidays several times per year.
• Strong team orientation, organizational skills and problem-solving mindset.

Required skills

• Hands-on CHO cell culture: AMBR250/AMBR15, shake flasks, stirred-tank bioreactors and depth filtration.
• Scale-up/scale-down principles, bioprocess troubleshooting and tech transfer.