Principal Scientist, Biologics Design and Display, Discovery Biologics

Job Description

We are on a quest for cures and are committed to be the world’s premier, most research-intensive biopharmaceutical company. Our teams combine leading drug discovery capabilities and world-class R&D with the purpose of turning breakthrough science into life-changing medicines.

We are seeking an exceptional and experienced Principal Scientist to join Biologics Design and Display team in the Boston Discovery Biologics group.  The successful candidate will champion scientific excellence and innovation as part of the team responsible for conducting in vitro display campaigns to generate novel therapeutic hits and optimized leads. They will lead the design and engineering of novel display libraries and selection strategies. They will stay current with scientific progress and drive continuous advancement of display technologies to consistently deliver high quality biologics as the foundation to support drug discovery programs across multiple therapeutic areas. In addition, in collaboration with project teams and as a member of department working groups, they will drive the advancement of hits and leads through the biologics pipeline.

As a people manager they will lead a small group of laboratory scientists. They will invest in the growth and development of current and future staff, to create a culture of collaboration and accountability to enable shared success. They will work to support the department’s efforts to recruit diverse and highly skilled key talent to the organization and be a champion for diversity and inclusion.  We recognize that the diversity in our team is our strength, and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.  Successful candidates must demonstrate inclusive behaviours in working with a diverse group of researchers to drive our core mission.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the strategy and execution to design and generate novel display libraries

• Execute and lead yeast and phage display-based biologics discovery for critical therapeutic programs

• Execute and lead display-based lead optimization, including display library engineering, QC, and screening strategy

• Incorporate Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) workflow for hit selection and lead optimization

• In collaboration with computational data scientists develop methods for antibody repertoire analysis to support AI/ML-based hit selection and lead engineering

• Support and drive large molecule therapeutic programs from early concept idea to candidate optimization as part of a cross-functional team

• Collaborate across Discovery Biologics with groups responsible for immunization and hybridoma workflows, protein production and engineering, and characterization to drive successful outcomes for a diverse range of therapeutic proteins

• Foster a high-performance culture of collaboration, engagement, self-accountability and inclusion as a people manager and as a team member/leader

• Stay abreast of external advancements in the relevant scientific fields

Qualifications & Experience

• PhD with 8+ years of relevant industry experience

• Experience in advancing protein therapeutics through various stages of discovery

• Strong presentation and publication record

Required skills:

• Deep subject matter expertise and hands on experience in yeast, phage and phage-to-yeast display including hit discovery and lead optimization

• Extensive expertise in antibody display library design and generation

• Expertise in protein structure-based design and engineering and structure-based display library design

• Strong technical knowledge of NGS technology including NGS library generation, QC, sequencing and sequence analysis

• Experience leveraging NGS data for biologics discovery, optimization, and engineering

• Demonstrated track record of advancing the discovery or engineering of biotherapeutics

• Track record of driving scientific or platform innovations

• Experience as a direct people manager and demonstrated track record of talent development and championing a diverse and inclusive culture

• Excellent communication and organizational skills

Preferred skills:

• Ideal candidate will have experience in single cell NGS approaches for antibody discovery

• In depth knowledge of antibody discovery technologies beyond display

• Strong technical knowledge of molecular biology

• Experience in outsourcing and managing external collaborations

Your role at our company is integral to