Principal Scientist, Animal Genetic Engineering (Antibody Discovery)

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, or Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States

Salary: $117,000–$201,250 per year

Company

Johnson & Johnson develops healthcare solutions through Innovative Medicine and MedTech, with a focus on preventing, treating, and curing complex diseases.

What you will do

• Design and prioritize wild-type or transgenic mouse engineering strategies to improve antibody discovery for membrane proteins, GPCRs, and other difficult targets.
• Develop scientific rationales, engineering plans, study plans, and validation frameworks for leadership and governance review.
• Scientifically manage CRO partnerships covering construct design, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, founder generation, and colony establishment.
• Design and execute studies validating engineered animals in end-to-end antibody discovery campaigns.
• Lead immunogen and immunization strategy, evaluate germinal center and immune responses, and benchmark activation-based sorting against antigen-bait approaches.
• Collaborate with antibody discovery, protein sciences, immunology, and therapeutic area teams while communicating results to leadership.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in immunology, molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, or a related discipline, with typically 3+ years of relevant post-graduate experience.
• Strong expertise in B cell biology, germinal center responses, class switching, affinity maturation, immunoglobulin genetics, immune tolerance, memory B cells, and plasma cell differentiation.
• Hands-on experience with mouse genetic engineering, including transgenesis, CRISPR/Cas9, knock-in or knock-out generation, humanized model design, construct design, or colony management.
• Experience with antibody discovery workflows, immunization, immunogen strategy, in vivo immune responses, and hybridoma, B-cell, or single-B-cell technologies.
• Proficiency in flow cytometry/FACS, B cell sorting, ELISA, and ELISpot, together with strong experimental design and data-analysis skills.
• Understanding of IACUC processes, animal welfare regulations, and the 3Rs; ability to lead platform programs independently and mentor junior scientists.

Nice to have

• Direct antibody discovery experience involving membrane proteins, GPCRs, or ion channels.
• Experience managing external CROs and overseeing quality, timelines, and deliverables.
• Knowledge of humanized immunoglobulin loci, alternative genetic backgrounds, tolerance-breaking strategies, or antigen-presentation approaches.

Culture & Benefits

• Inclusive work environment centered on individual dignity, diversity, and equal opportunity.
• Participation in pension, savings, and 401(k) plans, subject to plan terms.
• Eligibility for a long-term incentive program.
• Vacation, sick time, holiday pay, parental leave, caregiver leave, bereavement leave, volunteer leave, and military spouse time-off benefits.