Sarah Thomas

A product development leader with 20+ years of experience delivering complex molecular biology assays, NGS reagents, and point-of-care devices from concept to market. Proven ability in building ISO 13485-compliant product development frameworks and leading multidisciplinary, cross-site teams (UK/US/SGP). Ability to translate complex scientific innovation into scalable, commercially viable products. proven bridge between technical innovation and commercial strategy, experienced in nurturing clinical collaborations and managing high-stakes product pipelines in high-growth biotech.

Effective leadership, team building and communication skills, demonstrated through managing cross-site project teams, line management and mentoring.

Director, Operations at biomodal (2026-01 – Present)

• Lead on a strategic transformation of laboratory and manufacturing infrastructure, translating long-term growth plans into phased operational delivery.
• Act as a central PMO/ program leadership function providing portfolio visibility and driving prioritisation and alignment across the organisation.
• Line manager for the Quality Assurance team including hiring, development and performance management.
• Established organisation-wide Health & Safety governance including cross-functional committee.
• Ownership of laboratory operations, including equipment management, servicing and maintenance, and operational systems.
• Prepared structured updates, reporting, and programme materials to support senior leadership discussions and decision-making.

Associate Director, Product Development Process Lead at biomodal (2023-10 – 2026-12)

• Built and deployed an ISO13485-compliant product development operating system, improving governance, visibility, and delivery consistency.
• Established portfolio-level oversight of product development pipeline, enabling and leadership alignment.
• Led strategic planning of product development programmes, aligning technical delivery with organisational priorities.
• Developed and embedded programme governance structures, improving cross-functional coordination and execution.
• Core team lead (c.30 people) for development of an epigenetic methylation library preparation product.
• Establishing best and most efficient practice for product development (Critical Parameter Management, DoEs, stability studies).
• Led strategic transformation of laboratory and manufacturing infrastructure aligned to scale-up requirements.
• Coordinated clinical collaborations, aligning technical, operational, and customer-facing activity.

Staff/Senior Staff Engineer/Scientist, Systems Integration at Illumina (2019 – 2023)

• Successfully lead a cross-site team (UK, US) of system integration engineers and scientists to deliver automated Illumina library preparation methods.
• Guided a cross-site team of system integration engineers and scientists from the UK, US, and Singapore, to deliver on-market improvements to the iSeq sequencing instrument.
• Successfully lead the UK Systems Integration Team producing the Illumina NextSeq 1k/2k.
• Part of the Illumina Strategic Automation Team, influencing and guiding the automation roadmap for Illumina.
• Co-Lead for a European staff engagement initiative.
• Acting Head of UK Systems Integration Team (22 people).
• UK Senior Leadership Team for Covid Response.

Senior/Staff Scientist, Reagent Development at Illumina (2014 – 2019)

• UK reagent team lead for the Illumina iSeq, developing and optimising SBS reagents for the illumina iSeq platform.
• Successfully led a cross-site department effort to author and publish a series of handbooks detailing best practices for reagent development.
• Lead a cross-site reagent team (UK, US) to successfully develop Illumina's first blue-green, two-channel sequencing chemistry for the NextSeq 1k/2k sequencing instrument.
• Line management of a team of UK-US employees.

Senior/Higher Scientific Officer at Animal and Plant Health Agency (2006 – 2014)

• Lead developer of the AMPlite platform, a point of care testing device for zoonotic diseases.
• Development and validation of qPCR and isothermal amplification assays for zoonotic diseases.
• Supervisor for a PhD student, developing rapid point of care diagnostic tests for bacterial pathogens for use in veterinary surgeries.
• Organising and delivering training courses for the UK Biological Engagement Program in Azerbaijan, a MOD initiative.
• Development and validation of Identibac nanoarrays to detect virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria, quality control of products, customer service, developing and delivering training courses.
• Guest lecturer at the University of Surrey in equine disease diagnostics.
• Direct line management of three staff.

PhD in Mutational Resistance to Linezolid and other Anti-Gram-Positive Antibiotics in Staphylococci – Public Health England (2003 – 2006)