Senior Scientist – Protein Engineering

Role Description

We are seeking a skilled and experienced Synthetic Biologist or Protein Engineer to join our client’s R&D team. The Senior Scientist will report directly to the CTO in this high-visibility role and be responsible for leading, managing, and executing complex R&D initiatives involving synthetic biology, protein engineering, antibody engineering, and machine learning. The Senior Scientist will act as the primary scientific lead for multiple high-priority external partnerships and collaborations. From a technical perspective, the role will largely involve designing and building yeast surface display libraries, performing and monitoring experimental assays, analyzing next-generation sequencing data, and presenting results internally and externally. The ideal candidate will have impeccable communication and organizational skills, allowing them to effectively manage multiple projects simultaneously. To be successful in this role, candidates must be ambitious, detail-oriented, and comfortable in a rapidly growing and highly dynamic biotech start-up environment. In this role you are given a chance to take initiative and develop your opportunities. Compensation for this role is salary plus equity in the company.

Responsibilities

• Lead, design, manage and execute internal and external R&D programs aimed at discovering and optimizing therapeutics
• Lead and participate in discussions to determine R&D strategy and define project specifications with external partners and collaborators
• Collaborate closely with the Computational Biology Team to analyze massive protein-protein interaction datasets while addressing key research questions
• Independently author detailed, accurate, and accessible documentation of experiments and data
• Present scientific findings to the internal team and to external partners
• Transfer developed and optimized processes to the Production Team, assist with troubleshooting, and write and revise process documentation
• Mentor, train, and manage junior members of the R&D and Production Teams
• Stay current with scientific literature and present to the team on relevant topics

Qualifications Required

• Ph.D. in Life/Chemical/Physical/Engineering Sciences and 5+ years of post-doctoral or industry experience
• Impressive technical track record at top-tier academic institutions or companies
• Synthetic biology experience and strong molecular biology skills
• Experience with DNA encoded libraries (yeast/phage display, yeast-two-hybrid, etc.)
• Self-motivation, intellectual curiosity, and excitement to carry out interdisciplinary research involving complex experimental and bioinformatics pipelines
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Strong organizational skills

Preferred

• Experience in the role of scientific lead or PI on complex research projects
• Strong statistics and data science skills in Python (Pandas, Matplotlib, SciPy)
• Experience with protein engineering, antibody engineering, and drug discovery
• Technical proficiency with at least 1 macromolecular modeling suite, preferably Rosetta
• Familiarity with next-generation sequencing platforms, including sample preparation and analysis for Illumina and Oxford Nanopore