Senior Scientist, High-Throughput Mammalian Production

Company Summary

Lila Sciences is a privately held, early-stage technology company pioneering the application of artificial intelligence to transform every aspect of the scientific method. Lila is backed by Flagship Pioneering, which brings the courage, long-term vision, and resources needed to realize unreasonable results. Join our mission-driven team and contribute to the future of science.

Our Life Sciences effort is leveraging AI and high-throughput automation for valuable therapeutic discovery and development across biological modalities.

At Lila, we are uniquely cross-functional and collaborative. We are actively reimagining the way teams work together and communicate. Therefore, we seek individuals with an inclusive mindset and a diversity of thought. Our teams thrive in unstructured and creative environments. All voices are heard because we know that experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way.

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, please apply.

The Role 

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Scientist to lead the expression, purification, and scale-up of protein production for multiple therapeutic modalities including novel and challenging proteins. This role focuses on developing cutting-edge expression technologies, optimizing purification strategies, and translating small-scale discoveries into robust, scalable manufacturing processes.  

Key Responsibilities 

• Develop and optimize high-throughput mammalian cell-based production platforms for recombinant antibodies, and challenging proteins such as membrane proteins, multi-domain constructs, or heavily post-translationally modified proteins. 
• Engineer and refine novel protein production methods, including AI-driven vector design, co-factor optimization, and expression tuning.
• Design and validate scalable purification workflows, including chromatography, filtration, and refolding strategies to ensure high-quality protein yields.
• Implement and refine automated workflows for cell culture, transfection, and protein purification. 
• Collaborate with automation engineers to integrate liquid handling robotics and high-throughput analytics into production pipelines. 
• Design and execute process development experiments to improve yield, quality, and reproducibility. 
• Mentor junior scientists and contribute to a dynamic, fast-paced research environment. 

Qualifications 

• Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, or a related field with 3–5 years of industry experience; or M.S. with 7+ years of relevant experience in high-throughput mammalian expression. 
• Expertise in mammalian transient and stable expression systems (e.g., Expi CHO, Expi293). 
• Hands-on experience with automated liquid handling platforms (e.g., Tecan, Hamilton, Bravo) and high-throughput bioreactors (e.g., Ambr). 
• Strong background in cell culture process optimization to improve productivity and scalability. 
• Experience in protein production workflows, including purification and analytical characterization (e.g., SEC, SDS-PAGE, HPLC, ELISA, BLI). 
• Programming experience in Python or other scripting languages for automation or data analysis is a plus. Experience and eagerness to apply AI to scientific workflows is a must 
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills. 

Working at Lila, you would have access to advanced technology in the ar