Associate Director, Biotherapeutic Engineering & Bioconjugation

Novartis • San Diego, CA

5d

About The Position

As Associate Director of Biotherapeutic Engineering & Bioconjugation, you will have an opportunity to join the Biologics Research Center (BRC) as a leader at the cutting edge of discovery and development of innovative medicines. BRC builds the biologics pipeline in collaboration with Biomedical Research (BR) Disease Areas and Platforms via a breadth of technologies for discovery of antibody, protein, gene therapy and RNA-based therapeutics. We are seeking a highly motivated scientist and leader specialized in engineering biologics and developing bioconjugates to join the Biotherapeutic Engineering and Bioconjugate (BEC) group within BRC in San Diego, California. The BEC group drives a diverse portfolio of pipeline programs and innovation for bioconjugates, therapeutic proteins, multifunctional antibodies and beyond. Through innovative and rational protein design the BEC group works collaboratively with Disease Area groups to broaden the use of biologics into therapeutic applications where conventional antibodies have limitations. Job Description Your key responsibilities are, but not limited to:

Requirements

• PhD with at least 10 years relevant experience as an expert in protein engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to recruit, retain and develop diverse and agile associates with different expertise, seniority to ensure long term talent development and succession planning.
• Background in leading and mentoring a research group consisting of associates of all levels and acting as a manager of mangers.
• Proficiency in antibody molecular biology, protein expression, purification, chemical modification, analytics, biophysical characterization, functional characterization and functional assay design and interpretation.
• Familiarity with all aspects of antibody discovery, optimization, production, and transition to development/manufacturing groups.
• Familiarity with preclinical and early clinical development of biotherapeutics.
• Awareness of biomarker development, clinical assays, manufacturing, safety profiling, and clinical trial design.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience with computational protein design/modelling and structure analysis as well as library-based approaches to attenuate function and developability properties of protein therapeutics.
• Proven experience developing and innovating on mixed modality therapeutics.
• Expertise designing and optimizing Antibody-Oligo Conjugates is highly desired.
• A demonstrated track record of success as judged by publications and patents.
• Highly collaborative spirit inside and outside of department to advance programs to clinic; good communication skills, creativity, and multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to master new subjects and assess diverse scientific content related to the broader field of biologics drug discovery and development in a broad range of disease areas.

Responsibilities

• Leads a team of 4 labs and 15-20 subject matter experts on the San Diego site responsible to drive recombinant therapies to patients.
• Establishes mid- and long-term goals, plan of action and implementation for the BEC team (e.g. annual objectives) in line with BRC and BR strategy and objectives.
• Identifies and addresses obstacles to success both within and across departments.
• Integrating expertise from multiple sites and units, develops strategy and provides scientific leadership at a technical level in our core deliverable areas (Antibody Oligo Conjugates, Antibody Drug Conjugates, multispecifics).
• Represents BEC as BEC Site Head for San Diego including managing the budget of the BEC unit in collaboration with global counterparts in order to meet BRC targets.
• Sets strategy, implements and manages outsourcing for the local BEC team.
• Interfaces with downstream development colleagues to bring lead candidates towards full development.
• Collaborates and coordinates activities with other global BRC and BR units.
• Offers innovative approaches to scientific questions and troubleshoots efforts to develop recombinant protein and antibody-based therapeutics in immune cell engagers, regulated/activatable antibodies, multispecific antibodies, and ADCs and AOCs.
• Identifies Disease Area’s unmet needs and collaborates for a novel therapeutic solution.
• Ensure compliance for contemporaneous and accurate documentation of scientific activities and for ethical, health and safety, and quality assurance metrics.

Benefits

• US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits.
• In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree