“It’s not just about work.” – How (and why) to get a job at AbCellera

It’s safe to say that AbCellera is one of Vancouver’s most prominent anchor companies. Its drug discovery platform is able to search and analyze immune systems to find antibodies that can be used to prevent and treat disease. Sounds impressive? Just wait. Founded only 10 years ago, by 2020 it had achieved the largest-ever IPO for a Canadian biotech company, and clinched a billion-dollar-plus valuation (read: a not-quite-overnight success, but pretty darn fast).

The company’s staff, however, is not just Biology PhDs. Lab coats and beakers do feature – the organization is, after all, building an enormous biotech campus in Mount Pleasant right now – but Neil Aubuchon, AbCellera’s chief commercial officer, points out that a third of the company’s staff work in what he calls “pure technology”. Machine learning, data science, user experience, and other tech industry roles are all vital to supporting the company’s thriving business. Good news: if you want a job at AbCellera, it’s totally fine that you never went to med school (even if your parents are still disappointed).

Want to know how to join the ranks of one of Vancouver’s fastest-growing companies? Here are the highlights of our conversation with Aubuchon, as part of our How to get a job series.

This interview was condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Kate Wilson: What was your journey to AbCellera?

Neil Aubuchon: I started after grad school working on a consumer product for two years prior to my MBA. And I'd have to say that although it was a good experience, it was a little bit unfulfilling. Maybe it sounds a bit existential, but I was kind of like, what am I doing this for? And so I think probably similar to many people who get into the healthcare field, it was like, ‘Hey this is an opportunity to make a difference in people's lives.’ So after I finished my MBA, I joined Eli Lilly out of their U.S. offices, and worked there for 17 years or so in global commercial roles around the world. I've always wanted to come back to Vancouver, but there's been no real role for me to have and no anchor company that existed. So I got as close as Amgen, which is in California. At least it got me to the West Coast. And then after AbCellera had its IPO, I thought to myself, ‘Hey, here's a real anchor company that I could potentially add some value to.’ I started talking to Carl [Hansen, AbCellera CEO] and the founders, and the rest is history.

KW: So you’re the chief commercial officer. Can you unpack what that is, and what you do?

NA: We have partnerships with many world-class companies. And what that means is that we have a small ownership stake in a lot of things. We have 160 programs under contract, and we get downstream royalties. So that's kind of what the business model is. So, of course, in order to do that, you need to answer two questions. One, can you [solve the problem], in terms of the science? And two, what is the commercial potential if you are successful? The company was founded by scientists focusing on those technical challenges. And so my role is really to provide the commercial lead of where we should take our portfolio going forward.

KW: That’s a pretty interesting question to tackle! So how would someone go about joining you and the AbCellera team?

NA: We have the careers page on our website. We have 90-ish roles right now that we're recruiting for. So I'd recommend going on there. We have a three step interview process. So there'll be an initial screen, then you’ll talk to the hiring manager, and then we'll have a bit more of a comprehensive review where we're really checking for that cultural fit.

KW: What does a good culture fit look like at AbCellera?

NA: You need to have the technical skills to be able to do the job. And then we look for, does the person have a team-first mentality? Does the person have independent thinking? Does the person have the ability to act decisively? The company was really founded based on some of those core values, and we look for people that have those values too. We say no to a lot of people that we think aren't going to be good cultural fits here at AbCellera, even if they have the technical ability. So it's really, really important for us.

KW: I can see on this videocall that you’re in a real-life office (not just a convincing Zoom background). Do AbCellera employees work in person, remotely, or hybrid?

NA: We’re building a 680,000 square foot campus here in Vancouver, and we're doing that because we believe in the value of in-person culture. We strongly encourage people to come into the office, but we recognize that it's not going to happen all the time, so we support a hybrid model. People who are local, I would say, are in the office four days a week-ish, but we allow some remote work as well. We do have sites outside of Vancouver – for example, Cambridge, U.K.; Boston; Montreal; and Sydney, Australia. So of course, we go across time zones – people may work from home because of different hours. So we're flexible as long as the work gets done.

KW: Speaking of culture and of your office-first approach, do AbCellera employees get together much outside of work hours?

NA: It's a timely question, because we just had the company's 10-year anniversary. And we just brought all of our employees from around the world to Whistler for a three day retreat. I would say it was probably 75 percent fun and team-building activities. And of course, we did some work-related things. But that's a good reflection of the company. We believe in a team-first culture. Outside of that, we have a cycling group, a running group, a book club – there are so many different groups that people can get together with common interests. It's really not just about work.

KW: Macs or PCs? And what are your other workplace tools?

NA: I don't know the exact split, but it's probably 80 percent PC, 20 percent Mac. So we definitely have some hardcore Mac users here, and you can have that choice when you come.

We use Google Suite, so for internal meetings we have Google Meet, but we also use Zoom for external meetings. A lot of our tools are collaboration tools for scientists. The company has grown so fast that we're actually in the midst of developing a kind of a long-term IT roadmap to consolidate everything.

KW: Let’s talk benefits. What’s available for AbCellera employees?

NA: We have a great benefits package. All of our employees get equity. We’ve gotten this win-win business model, and we want our employees to benefit from that. We have an RRSP program that doesn't even require employee contributions – we make those contributions whether or not the employee does too. That’s pretty unique. We also have an active lifestyle allowance. So anything that gets your heart rate up, within certain limits, we reimburse that – whether it's gym or ski passes, or whatever. We have, I think, good vacation days. But the best benefit we have is two annual shutdowns: one in the summer around Canada Day, and one in the winter between Christmas and New Year's. And those are company-wide closures so they don't count as vacation days. And the best thing about them is that because everyone is off, they’re really intended to allow people to recharge their batteries.

KW: All that being said, what, in your opinion, is the best part of working at AbCellera?

NA: Well, I want to give you two answers. Firstly, the fact that we are trying to revolutionize the way that these medicines are discovered and developed. That is a massive challenge, and it's super exciting to do. We're doing something we believe that no one else is doing in the world. And secondly that you get to work with really good people.