Scientist, Protein Therapeutics

Job Description

Gilead's mission is to discover, develop, and deliver therapies that will improve the lives of patients with life-threatening illnesses worldwide. The Protein Engineering group is a specialized team within the Protein Therapeutics department that is responsible for the optimization and engineering of large molecule drug candidates. We seek a highly motivated Scientist in Protein Therapeutics to contribute to the engineering of novel antibody binding domains, fusion proteins (e.g. cytokines), and multispecific formats. The successful candidate will support cross-functional project teams to develop novel biologics for clinical development.

In this laboratory-based role, the successful candidate will support efforts to optimize large molecule therapeutics. The candidate will implement structure-based design and molecular biology approaches to rapidly generate engineered large molecule therapeutics for diverse target classes.

Additional job requirements:

• Drive rapid optimization of novel antibody and protein therapeutics through iterative design, build, test, and learn cycles.
• Advance engineering technologies to enable development of novel antibodies, multispecifics, immunocytokines, and other biologics.
• Characterize the binding and functional properties of large molecule drugs.
• Interpret protein structural models to aid in rational protein design.
• Represent the Protein Therapeutics department on inter-disciplinary project teams and guide preclinical development of large molecule therapeutics.
• Maintain familiarity with scientific literature and independently design, execute, analyze, and interpret experiments.
• Effectively communicate and present project goals and experimental findings to diverse audiences.
• Organize and execute multiple projects in a collaborative team setting.
• Thrive in a fast paced, data-driven and scientifically rigorous environment.
• Maintain compliance with company policies and record keeping.

Basic Qualifications

Applicants must have a degree in structural biology, biochemistry, molecular biology or a related field.

Bachelor's Degree and Seven Years Experience

OR

Masters' Degree and Five Years Experience

OR

Ph.D. and Zero to Three Years of Relevant Professional Experience

Preferred Qualifications

Ideal candidate will have experience in most of the following areas

• Experience with multispecific antibody format design, including design of fusion proteins (e.g. immunocytokines, etc).
• Proficient in mammalian cell culture, protein expression, purification, and characterization.
• Proficiency with structure-based (e.g. PyMOL, MOE, Chimera, AlphaFold, ImmuneBuilder, etc) protein engineering and design is required. Experience using computational design software (e.g. Rosetta, MPNN, etc) is a plus.
• Familiarity with in vitro protein biophysical characterization approaches (e.g. Octet, Carterra, SPR, FACS, etc).
• Proficient in molecular biology techniques (e.g. PCR fragment assembly, vector design, and site-directed mutagenesis).
• Familiarity with antibody engineering, including experience with antibody variable domain reformatting, humanization, sequence liability remediation, and/or biophysical property improvement.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.
• Ability to multi-task and self-motivated with excellent problem-solving skills.