Associate Scientist II, Clinical Serology

Company Profile: Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX) is a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. The Company is developing broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent, broad-spectrum, carrier-sparing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) being developed for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The Company is re-engineering the way highly complex immunizations are made through modern synthetic techniques, including advanced chemistry and our exclusively licensed XpressCFTM cell-free protein synthesis platform. Unlike conventional cell-based approaches, the Company’s system for producing difficult-to-make proteins and antigens is intended to accelerate its ability to efficiently create and deliver high-fidelity vaccines with enhanced immunological benefits. Vaxcyte’s pipeline also includes VAX-31, a 31-valent PCV candidate; VAX-A1, a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to prevent Group A Strep infections; VAX-PG, a therapeutic vaccine candidate designed to slow or stop the progression of periodontal disease; and VAX-GI, a vaccine program designed to prevent Shigella. The Company is driven to eradicate or treat invasive bacterial infections, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. For more information, visit www.vaxcyte.com. Vaxcyte, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, went public in June 2020 and currently has a team of approximately 180 employees and anticipates continued, significant growth. Following equity offerings in October 2022 and April 2023, which generated over $1.1 billion in net proceeds, the Company’s balance sheet is further strengthened to advance its pipeline of novel vaccines, including VAX-24. These financings followed positive data readouts from Vaxcyte’s Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study evaluating VAX-24 in adults aged 18-64 and Phase 2 study in adults 65 and older. The Company believes these results support a best-in-class potential for VAX-24, which was designed to replace the current standard-of-care in adults and children. VAX-24 is being investigated for the prevention of IPD, which can be most serious for infants, young children, older adults and those with immune deficiencies or certain chronic health conditions. Given the global impact of pneumococcal disease remains significant, the public health community continues to advocate for vaccines that can offer broader protection to prevent IPD. Vaxcyte’s PCV franchise, consisting of VAX-24 and VAX-31, is designed specifically to address this need and has the potential to deliver the broadest protection for this very serious disease. We believe that our PCVs could receive regulatory approval based on successful completion of clinical studies utilizing well-defined surrogate immune endpoints, consistent with how other PCVs have obtained regulatory approval in the past, rather than requiring clinical field efficacy studies. Summary: Vaxcyte is looking for an energetic and talented Associate Scientist II to manufacture and test all reagents required for immunoassay detection of multi-valent vaccines. In particular, the reagents we are using need to be conjugated to different entities and then characterized and catalogued for our multiplexed assays. Extreme control of this assay is required to maintain DS shelf life and more importantly, ensuring DP compounding is successful in relation to the final dose of each DS in the clinic.  We require an Associate Scientist II who will continue the development and optimization of assay suites for our current 3 programs, and for upcoming research projects. This person will be part of a larger team that will continue this development.  The role requires an extremely high level of organization, and the ability to maintain large volumes of data for the various DS and DP entities. In addition, the successful candidate will require significant experience in developing, trouble shooting and running ELISA-type assays, including generation of the critical reagents, which includes generating high-affinity antibodies specific to the antigen. 

Essential Functions:

• Help continue the development and optimization of assay suites for our current 3 programs, and for the following research projects.
• Have an extremely high level of organization, and the ability to maintain large volumes of data for the various DS and DP entities.
• Demonstrate experience in developing, trouble shooting and running ELISA-type assays, including generation of the critical reagents, which includes generating high-affinity antibodies specific to the antigen.

Requirements:

• BSc/MSc 3-6 + years in Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Organic Biochemistry considered, or equivalent combination of