Principal Scientist, Vaccine Virology

CSL Plasma•Waltham, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

CSL Seqirus is seeking a Principal Scientist to join its Research Virology and Immunology team in Waltham, Massachusetts. Reporting to the Director, Vaccine Virology & Immunology, this role provides scientific leadership and hands-on laboratory expertise to advance seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines, support existing products, and evaluate new respiratory-virus vaccine opportunities. The scientist leads research programs, develops and optimizes virology and immunology assay platforms, and translates complex scientific data into recommendations that support vaccine development. The role combines program leadership with hands-on experimental work, cross-functional collaboration, mentorship, and scientific communication. It includes preclinical and translational research, oversight of external research partners, assay transfer and qualification, and laboratory work under applicable biosafety, animal welfare, and documentation requirements. The position is fully onsite at the Waltham site five days per week. Occasional domestic or international travel may be required. The expected base salary range at hiring is $145,000–$180,000. Total compensation may also include incentive compensation and equity. Individual base pay depends on qualifications, skill level, experience, competencies, and other relevant factors.

Requirements

PhD in Virology, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, or a related life sciences discipline.
At least five years of relevant postdoctoral or professional research experience.
Strong expertise in classical and molecular virology, including hands-on experience developing, optimizing, and troubleshooting quantitative cell-based assays.
Experience with infectious-virus culture and titration, neutralization assays, molecular virology techniques, and at least one pseudovirus or reporter-virus platform.
Experience designing and interpreting preclinical vaccine or infectious-disease studies and integrating virological and immunological findings.
Strong experimental design, statistical analysis, and data visualization skills, including proficiency with GraphPad Prism or equivalent software.
Demonstrated scientific leadership and project coordination experience, including mentoring or training laboratory colleagues.
Record of scientific achievement through publications, patents, assay or platform development, or contributions to research program advancement.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate across cross-functional, multicultural, and international teams.
Practical experience working safely with infectious agents in BSL-2 laboratories and a strong commitment to biosafety, data integrity, and reproducible science.
Completion of applicable site-specific training and occupational-health requirements.

Nice To Haves

Experience in seasonal or pandemic influenza research, including HA/NA biology, antigenic characterization, influenza vaccine development, or influenza challenge models.
Experience with both HIV-1/lentiviral and VSV-based pseudovirus platforms, BSL-3 laboratories, or ferret respiratory-virus models.
Knowledge of functional antibody assays, including ADCC and neuraminidase inhibition, or cellular immunology techniques such as flow cytometry and ELISpot.
Experience with antigenic cartography, sequence-based analysis, or computational tools such as R or Python.
Experience with CRO oversight, assay technology transfer and qualification, external scientific partnerships, or regulatory-supporting research.

Responsibilities

Lead assigned vaccine research programs as a virology subject-matter expert, translating scientific priorities into experimental strategies, milestones, and deliverables.
Partner with research leadership, project managers, and cross-functional teams to advance programs from early concept evaluation through preclinical development while contributing to critical experiments and scientific decisions.
Design, develop, optimize, and troubleshoot virological and immunological assays supporting vaccine research and product development.
Design and interpret preclinical immunogenicity and protection studies using relevant animal models, including ferrets and rodents, in collaboration with in vivo specialists and external partners.
Investigate vaccine-induced immunity, antigenic breadth, durability of responses, and the contributions of hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, and adjuvants to vaccine performance.
Integrate animal-study findings with human serology and virology data to inform vaccine development and product differentiation.
Apply rigorous experimental design, appropriate controls, and quantitative analysis to generate reproducible, high-quality data.
Interpret neutralization, titration, sequence, and antigenic datasets using appropriate statistical and analytical tools.
Communicate findings, study limitations, and recommendations through scientific reports, presentations, publications, regulatory-documentation contributions, and intellectual-property activities.
Provide scientific oversight of contract research organizations and external collaborators, including study design, technical troubleshooting, data review, and delivery of project objectives.
Support assay transfer, method qualification, and cross-site comparability while maintaining scientific ownership of assigned methods.
Evaluate emerging technologies, scientific literature, and external research opportunities to inform program strategy.
Mentor and train scientists and research associates, provide technical guidance, and promote knowledge sharing and cross-training.
Contribute to research planning, platform development, and continuous improvement while fostering scientific excellence and accountability.
Conduct authorized laboratory research in accordance with applicable biosafety, animal welfare, and documentation requirements.
Support laboratory readiness, risk assessments, and training for BSL-2, enhanced BSL-2, and BSL-3 work as assigned, partnering with biosafety and laboratory operations teams.