Protein Engineering Scientist

Corteva Agriscience • Johnston, IA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

At Corteva Agriscience, you will help us grow what’s next. No matter your role, you will be part of a team that is building the future of agriculture – leading breakthroughs in the innovation and application of science and technology that will better the lives of people all over the world and fuel the progress of humankind. Corteva Agriscience is seeking a highly motivated and innovative Protein Engineering Scientist to join the Protein Engineering Group within Protein Sciences & Analytical Core Technologies (PSACT). This role will contribute to the design, optimization, expression, and characterization of proteins that enable biotechnology and gene-edited seed product development. We are seeking a scientist with a strong foundation in biochemistry, protein structure-function relationships, and molecular evolution technologies who is excited to apply those skills to complex real-world product challenges. This role is well suited for candidates with experience in protein therapeutics, biologics discovery, enzyme engineering, antibody engineering, or related pharma/biotech protein platforms who want to bring advanced protein engineering approaches into agricultural innovation. The Protein Engineering Scientist will play a key role in advancing trait discovery and development by applying modern protein engineering approaches, including library design, screening, directed evolution, and high-throughput design-build-test-learn workflows, to deliver impactful solutions aligned with R&D and business strategies. This position will work in a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary environment, partnering closely with discovery, analytical, and development teams to accelerate portfolio progression while maintaining strong scientific rigor, data quality, and operational excellence. This role will be on-site at our Corteva Seed Global Business Center located in Johnston, IA.

Requirements

• Ph.D. (or equivalent experience) in biochemistry, protein engineering, structural biology, molecular biology, chemical biology, or a related field.
• Strong background in protein biochemistry and understanding of protein structure, stability, folding, and mechanism/function relationships.
• Hands-on experience in protein engineering, including one or more of the following: directed evolution display technologies (phage, yeast, ribosome, mRNA, or related platforms) library design and screening/selection rational or semi-rational protein design
• Experience with recombinant protein expression and purification workflows.
• Experience applying biochemical and analytical methods to characterize proteins, such as LC/MS, HPLC, ELISA, SDS-PAGE, binding assays, or biophysical characterization methods.
• Strong data analysis skills and ability to use experimental data to drive decisions and iteration cycles.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a collaborative, team-based R&D environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a high level of scientific rigor and attention to detail.

Nice To Haves

• Industry experience in pharma, biotech, biologics discovery, enzyme engineering, or platform technology development.
• Experience optimizing proteins for developability attributes such as stability, manufacturability, solubility, and expression.
• Familiarity with high-throughput screening workflows, automation, or design-build-test-learn platforms.
• Experience with computational protein design or integration of in silico methods with experimental workflows.
• Familiarity with regulated environments or contributing to data packages that support downstream development decisions.

Responsibilities

• Design, engineer, and optimize protein variants to improve activity, specificity, stability, expression, and overall developability.
• Apply biochemistry, protein structure-function knowledge, and molecular design principles to solve protein performance challenges.
• Develop and execute protein engineering strategies using approaches such as directed evolution, library design, mutagenesis, and screening/selection workflows.
• Execute protein expression, purification, and characterization workflows using recombinant systems and analytical techniques.
• Interpret biochemical, biophysical, and functional data to guide protein engineering strategy and next-step designs.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to advance proteins from early discovery through optimization and development decision points.
• Contribute to development and continuous improvement of protein engineering platforms, screening workflows, and automation capabilities.
• Maintain high standards of scientific rigor, reproducibility, data quality, and documentation.
• Support generation of high-quality data packages and reagents for research, technology, and development milestones.
• Stay current with emerging protein engineering and analytical technologies and help translate external innovation into internal capability building.

Benefits

• Numerous development opportunities offered to build your skills
• Be part of a company with a higher purpose and contribute to making the world a better place
• Health benefits for you and your family on your first day of employment
• Four weeks of paid time off and two weeks of well-being pay per year, plus paid holidays
• Excellent parental leave which includes a minimum of 16 weeks for mother and father
• Future planning with our competitive retirement savings plan and tuition reimbursement program

What This Job Offers

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