Principal Scientist, Protein Design (AI)

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States; 70% in-office and 30% flexible work model

Company

hirify.global develops mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics for infectious, immuno-oncology, rare, and cardiovascular diseases.

What you will do

• Lead the design and execution of in vitro selection and mammalian cell-surface screening campaigns.
• Design high-throughput display campaigns for complex, multimeric glycoprotein antigens.
• Build scalable screening systems and advance directed-evolution capabilities, including new selection pressures and mammalian display modalities.
• Partner with computational protein design teams by generating high-quality datasets and actionable design feedback.
• Support screening of de novo designed proteins, including minibinders and VHHs.
• Mentor scientists and represent in vitro selection capabilities in cross-functional discovery and platform discussions.

Requirements

• PhD in Immunology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Protein Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of post-PhD industry or equivalent experience leading in vitro selection, mammalian cell-surface display, or directed-evolution efforts.
• Deep expertise in mammalian display systems, high-throughput selection strategies, and experimental assay design.
• Demonstrated ability to drive complex screening campaigns from design through execution.
• Working knowledge of computational, structure-based, or AI-driven protein design workflows.
• Ability to work within the Cambridge, Massachusetts 70/30 in-office model.

Nice to have

• Expertise in glycoprotein antigen expression and engineering, including folding, trafficking, cleavage, stability, and glycan effects.
• Experience with library design and construction, DNA assembly, NGS-based readouts, and quantitative enrichment analysis.

Culture & Benefits

• In-person collaboration, direct mentorship, and a collaborative research environment.
• Healthcare coverage and voluntary benefit programs.
• Fitness, mindfulness, and mental health resources.
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support.
• Paid vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and year-end shutdown.
• Savings and investment opportunities plus location-specific benefits.