Senior Scientist I/II, Bioprocess Development

Flagship Pioneering•Cambridge, MA

13d•Onsite

About The Position

Flagship Pioneering is seeking a Senior Scientist I/II, bioprocess development and microbial production subject matter expert and in-lab technical lead for a high impact, novel biological platform. This role will focus primarily on fermentation process development, translating early-stage biological systems into scalable and manufacturable processes. The successful candidate will work collaboratively at the interface between microbial engineering and bioprocess optimization.

Requirements

PhD in biochemical engineering, microbiology, chemical engineering, or a related discipline
Scientist I: At least 5-7 years of professional experience, including 1+ years hands-on developing microbial fermentation processes in an industrial or translational setting
Scientist II: At least 8-11 years of professional experience, including 3+ years hands-on developing microbial fermentation processes in an industrial or translational setting
Demonstrated expertise in fermentation process development & scale-up, including optimizing parameters such as oxygen transfer, feeding regimes, media composition, etc.
Experience optimizing high-cell-density microbial fermentations
Hands-on experience developing and optimizing microbial fermentation across scales (e.g., 250 mL bench reactors through 50 L pilot-scale systems)
Experience designing and executing fermentation experiments using systematic optimization approaches, such as DOE or structured process screening

Nice To Haves

Experience working with external partners (CROs, CMOs, or manufacturing facilities) to develop or transfer fermentation processes, including preparation of process documentation and technical oversight
Experience developing fed-batch fermentation processes across a range of industrial microbial hosts, including bacteria, yeast, and filamentous fungi
Experience improving production performance through close collaboration or co-ownership of targeted strain engineering activities

Responsibilities

Design, execute, and iterate on bioprocess experiments to support scalable fermentation process development including collaboration with Strain Development on strain improvements to support bioprocess productivity and robustness, media development, feeding design, mass transfer optimization, and process control
Translate biological discoveries into robust production systems by improving yield, productivity, and process reproducibility
Contribute to implementation and buildout of experimental frameworks for systematic process improvement, including DOE-based optimization and fermentation analytics
Execute technology transfer to external CROs, CMOs, or manufacturing partners as subject matter expert as needed