Senior Scientist I (Analytical Characterization)

Every Exelixis employee is united in an ambitious cause: to launch innovative medicines that give patients, and their families hope for the future. In this pursuit, we know our employees are our most valuable asset. After operating in the challenging biotech sector for 25 years, we have a proven track record of resiliency in the face of adversity. The success of our lead product has provided a solid commercial foundation allowing us to reinvigorate our research efforts and grow our team in areas such as Drug Discovery, Clinical Development and Commercial.

As we expand our global partnerships and further reinvest in R&D to help us discover the next breakthrough for difficult-to-treat cancers, we’re seeking to add talented, dedicated employees to power our mission.

Cancer is our cause. Make it yours, too.

SUMMARY/JOB PURPOSE:

As a member of the biotherapeutics group, the incumbent will play a key role in supporting the group’s discovery and preclinical development efforts by possessing skills and experience in antibody and protein characterization and assay development. The incumbent will be responsible for identifying and characterizing multispecific antibody leads for further development as potential therapeutic candidates as ADCs.  The ideal candidate will have excellent skills and experience in antibody characterization including but not limited to assessment of purity, biochemical properties, developability, and stability.  Experience in the downstream purification and analytical development is a plus.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Characterize the identity, purity, biochemical and biophysical attributes of recombinant antibodies and proteins to support the group’s discovery prioritization and preclinical development efforts.

• Provide scientific input on protein science activities (upstream, downstream, characterization) on cross-functional teams to support the discovery and preclinical development of biotherapeutic candidates.

• Play a key role in assessing protein structure/function during discovery efforts as well as analytical development as applied toward the evaluation of biologics for developability and large-scale manufacturing.

• Comply with company health and safety policies and general laboratory practices (including documentation, i.e., ELN).

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• No supervisory responsibilities

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

Education:

• Ph.D. in a relevant scientific discipline such as molecular biology, biochemistry, biology or microbiology with zero (0) or more years of experience in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry; or,

• Master’s degree in a relevant scientific discipline such as molecular biology, biochemistry, biology or microbiology and a minimum of five (5) years of experience in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry; or,

• Equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience:

• Experience and knowledge in assay development for protein characterization techniques including, but not limited to, chromatographic methods (SEC-HPLC, HIC-HPLC, RP-HPLC), mass spectrometric methods (intact mass, subunit mass, peptide mapping), affinity measurements (SPR, BLI), and biophysical characterization (DSF, SLS, DSF, cIEF).

• Hands on laboratory experience in general protein and antibody characterization (SDS-PAGE, Western Blot, etc.).

• Experience writing summaries, reports, presenting scientific data/results to internal and external collaborators.

• Experience with state-of-the art technologies to support ongoing protein/antibody characterization needs.

• Experienced in the purification of proteins and antibodies using various modes of chromatography (affinity, size-exclusion, ion-exchange and HIC) is a plus.

Knowledge/Skills:

• Solid understanding of protein/antibody biochemical and biophysical characterization and performing structure (or sequence) activity relationships for candidate selection.

• Ability to set goals with an understanding of priorities and impact to program, the department and the organization.

• Strong communication skills for interacting cross-functionally within Exelixis on project teams and with external CRO scientists and representatives.

• Ability to design and execute activities/studies aimed at characterizing recombinant proteins/antibodies independently, to interpret experimental results and to formulate conclusions and next steps based on the data generated.

• Familiarity with general components of biologics