Senior Scientist, Cell Therapy Process Engineering

Working with Us
Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams rich in diversity. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working-with-us.

The Cancer Immunology and Cellular Therapy Thematic Research Center (CICT) is one of the fundamental research and early development engines delivering therapeutics to patients. Our mission is to drive leadership in the use of immune effector cell-based therapies in hematological and solid cancers. Within CICT, the Cell Therapy Process Research and Engineering (CT-PRE) team works at the exciting interface of engineered T-cell biology and cell therapy process development, in close collaboration with colleagues across the Research and Development organizations, with the goal of advancing novel innovative platforms from early concept design towards implementation for pipeline assets. 

Position Responsibilities

The CT-PRE team is seeking a highly motivated, dynamic, self-driven and collaborative individual to contribute to the exploration and early process development of next generation cell therapies.  This team is responsible for accelerating the assessment of novel drug assets in the preclinical pipeline from research to full development. In the Sr. Scientist role, the successful candidate will lead a team of two scientists/engineers with a lead-from-the-bench approach and focus on developing and implementing clinical scale technologies for gene-edited cell therapy manufacturing processes. The candidate will collaborate cross-functionally to assess the scalability, integration and adoption of new technologies into existing and new gene-edited platforms for pipeline assets. 

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in clinical/manufacturing scale process development for CAR-T cell therapy, prior experience with and understanding of key challenges related to the scaling up and closing of workflows in gene delivery, editing, activation, selection, washing and other technologies. A deep understanding of T cell biology and cancer immunology, and a solid grasp on gene editing techniques are essential skills. This role will provide a challenging but rewarding opportunity for career development in a fast-paced environment and is ideal for a scientist/bioengineer with an innovative cell engineering mindset. A previous experience in the cell therapy industry is highly preferred.

In the role as a Senior Scientist, the ideal candidate:

• Leads from the bench and applies scientific and / or technical skills and functional knowledge to design and conduct experiments and research projects pertaining to viral and non-viral based gene-edited cell therapy engineering.

• Evaluates manufacturing-scale feasibility/performances of research-scale proof-of-concepts and provides inputs on manufacturability success.

• Informs CMC strategy and defines phase-appropriate process development technical roadmaps based on program timelines.

• Works to develop clinical/manufacturing scale processes and build early process understanding, in close collaboration with colleagues in the Development and Research organizations.

• Works cross-functionally to align and execute seamless transition of process automation and integration technology strategies for new platforms and/or assets.

• Applies statistical experimental design frameworks (e.g. DoE) to conduct studies exploring a large multi-factorial design space.

• Leads discussions and makes presentations in multidisciplinary meetings, logically presenting information to convey clear, key messages.

• Works proactively to engage all stakeholders cross-functionally to collect inputs and feedback.

Key Responsibilities

• Work primarily in the laboratory under minimal supervision.

• Generate data to support the development of clinical flow cytometry assays. Activities include, but are not limited to, assay design, optimization, and qualifi