Sr Principal Eng, Process Engineering (API Manufacturing)

Location: Athens, Georgia, United States; this is an onsite/hybrid role. The position is also available under a Belgium requisition.

Base pay: $122,000–$212,750 per year.

Company

Johnson & Johnson develops healthcare, Innovative Medicine, and MedTech solutions focused on preventing and treating complex diseases.

What you will do

• Lead the intake, scoping, prioritization, and resolution of technical requests for synthetic drug substance manufacturing across global sites.
• Direct early-phase process design, technology selection, scope definition, capital planning, and schedule development for API manufacturing projects.
• Provide expertise in chemical reactions, phase separation, distillation, solvent exchange, crystallization, filtration, centrifugation, drying, milling, and blending.
• Drive robust, standardized, inspection-ready API processes aligned with cGMP, ICH Q7, product quality, process safety, and regulatory expectations.
• Advance digital and data-enabled manufacturing through real-time monitoring, advanced process control, analytics, modeling, simulation, and smart manufacturing.
• Collaborate with R&D/CMC, MSAT, Quality, EHS, Operations, external manufacturers, and other stakeholders to resolve issues and implement reliable solutions.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related technical field.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in synthetic drug substance or API manufacturing.
• Expertise in API purification and solid-state or particle engineering, including crystallization, filtration/centrifugation, drying, and milling.
• Experience with API scale-up, technology transfer, process fixing, reactor systems, solvent handling, and process controls from pilot to commercial scale.
• Strong knowledge of cGMP environments, regulatory expectations, data integrity, documentation, process safety, and API manufacturing equipment.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English is required; willingness to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally is required.

Nice to have

• Experience with containment design for potent materials, dust control, contained transfer, and exposure mitigation.
• Experience with PI/data historians, manufacturing data, and smart manufacturing systems.
• Additional Dutch, Spanish, or Italian language skills.
• Strong customer management, communication, strategic thinking, and cross-functional influencing skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Work with global, multifunctional engineering teams across multiple sites and functions.
• Opportunities to influence API technology direction, standardization, and capability building across the manufacturing network.
• Retirement pension and 401(k) savings plans.
• Vacation, sick time, holidays, parental leave, caregiver leave, bereavement leave, volunteer leave, and military spouse time off.
• Inclusive work environment and accommodations during the interview process.