Senior Research Scientist - Protein Production Team Lead

Elanco•Indianapolis, IN

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Senior Research Scientist and Protein Expression & Purification Team Lead in our Transitional and Early Development group, you will play a central leadership role in discovering, generating, and optimizing the next generation of recombinant protein biotherapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins, and novel vaccine antigens for animal health. In this hybrid laboratory-based and team leadership role, you will direct and expand a team of scientists responsible for the end-to-end protein generation workflow—from DNA construct design through downstream purification and lot-release testing—to enable critical pre-clinical animal studies.

Requirements

Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely related scientific discipline.
A minimum of 3+ years of hands-on experience in the biopharmaceutical industry or a post-doctoral setting with definitive expertise in mammalian protein expression (e.g., transient expression in CHO, HEK293) and multi-step protein purification (e.g., Affinity, IEX, SEC) using automated chromatography systems (e.g., ÄKTA FPLC).
Experience directing multi-person scientific workflows and mentoring laboratory scientists.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in a formal team lead or people management role.
Direct experience engineering, expressing, and purifying complex biologics (e.g., bispecific antibodies, multi-domain fusion proteins, or difficult-to-express antigens).
Familiarity with liquid handlers, automated multi-channel purification systems, or high-throughput titer screening.
Solid understanding of antibody biology, immunology, and the structural determinants of developability and stability.
Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders across Discovery, Analytical Development, and Formulation in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and develop a team of laboratory scientists focused on the end-to-end protein generation workflow, establishing workload priorities and resource allocation.
Serve as the protein sciences subject matter expert (SME) across multiple concurrent biotherapeutic and vaccine discovery projects, providing technical leadership, timelines, and risk mitigation strategies.
Direct the end-to-end protein generation workflow, from expression plasmid design and transient expression in mammalian systems (HEK293, CHO) to multi-step purification strategies utilizing ÄKTA systems and UNICORN software.
Oversee a suite of in-process and lot-release analytics (e.g., CE-SDS, HPLC, BLI/Octet, endotoxin) to ensure the delivery of high-purity, low-bioburden protein lots for pre-clinical studies.
Identify and implement platform improvements, including high-throughput systems and automation, while maintaining exemplary data integrity through electronic lab notebooks (ELNs) and technical reports.