Senior Principal Research Scientist, Protein Sciences (Biotech)

Location: South San Francisco, California, United States; onsite four days per week

Salary: $180,000–$223,000 per year

Company

Precision medicine oncology company developing targeted therapies, including small-molecule drugs and antibody-drug conjugates, for genetically defined solid tumors.

What you will do

• Contribute hands-on in the laboratory while coordinating Protein Sciences priorities for drug-discovery programs.
• Develop and optimize protein-expression and purification strategies for challenging proteins and protein complexes using bacterial, insect-cell, and other expression systems.
• Design constructs, perform expression testing, purify and characterize proteins, troubleshoot experiments, and deliver fit-for-purpose reagents.
• Collaborate with Bioassays, Biophysics, Structural Biology, Biology, Medicinal Chemistry, and Data Science on integrated experimental strategies.
• Supervise, mentor, and develop research associates and PhD-level scientists while providing practical experimental guidance.
• Select and coordinate CROs, manage technical transfers and work plans, review data quality, and communicate scientific recommendations to project leadership.

Requirements

• PhD with 9+ years of hands-on experience in recombinant protein production using bacterial and insect-cell expression systems.
• Ability to independently develop and troubleshoot purification strategies for challenging proteins, protein complexes, and construct variants.
• Experience with SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, concentration determination, analytical SEC, thermal-stability methods, aggregation assessment, and SEC-MALS.
• Experience selecting and managing CROs or other external partners, including technical transfer, data review, troubleshooting, and quality assessment.
• Experience supervising and developing research associates and PhD-level laboratory scientists.
• Excellent oral, graphical, and written communication skills.

Nice to have

• Experience with mammalian expression systems.
• Familiarity with global proteomics, phosphoproteomics, chemical biology, or chemoproteomics.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative, inclusive, and data-driven research environment focused on precision oncology.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, with the company paying 100% of employee premiums and 90% of dependent premiums.
• 401(k), employee stock purchase plan, wellness programs, merit-based salary increases, short-term incentives, and potential stock option awards.
• Occasional domestic conference travel may be required, expected to be less than 1% of annual time.