Senior Scientist – Immunology and biotherapeutics
About The Position
The Senior Scientist will join Novartis’s Cambridge immunology team within the Immunogenicity and Mechanistic Immunology unit of the Biologics Research Center. The unit conducts immune profiling and immunogenicity assessment to characterize and optimize biotherapeutics, including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs), across disease areas. Working in multidisciplinary matrix project teams, the scientist will design and conduct immunology-focused studies to evaluate how AOCs and related xRNA biotherapeutics interact with immune cells and pathways. The work will generate mechanistic insights to inform therapeutic design, candidate selection, translational biomarker strategies, and early safety risk assessment, with an emphasis on immunological understanding and assay excellence. The role involves developing and executing complex immune profiling assays, analyzing and interpreting results, communicating findings, and collaborating across research and development functions. This position is on-site in Cambridge, Massachusetts; relocation support is not available.
Requirements
- Ph.D. with 0–1 year of experience, or an MSc in a life science field (preferably immunology or cell biology) plus 2–5 years of research experience in human immunology or cell biology in industry or academic settings.
- Deep expertise in human immunology and immune assay development, preferably using primary immune cells, multicellular assay systems, tissue-relevant models, or disease-relevant ex vivo platforms.
- Experience assessing immunogenicity, immune activation, cytokine release, anti-drug immune responses, or immune-related liabilities for biologics or emerging therapeutic modalities.
- Ability to critically analyze data, learn and combine new techniques and concepts quickly, and design and prioritize experiments.
- Proficiency with immunological and molecular readouts such as flow cytometry, immunoassays, qPCR, transcriptomics, or imaging.
- Scientific curiosity, initiative, commitment, flexibility, organization, and presentation skills.
- Ability to work independently and as a team member, with open communication with groups and collaborators.
Nice To Haves
- Working knowledge of xRNA biotherapeutics, AOCs, or antibody-based delivery platforms.
- Experience in orthogonal omics data analysis.
Responsibilities
- Design, establish, and execute immunology-focused profiling strategies to evaluate immune cell activation and modulation, cytokine release, innate immune sensing, adaptive immune responses, and disease-relevant functional outcomes.
- Independently execute and analyze complex assays involving primary immune and non-immune cells, multicolor flow cytometry, and functional immunological assays.
- Generate hypotheses; design and execute experiments; critically analyze and interpret data; prioritize experiments; and design follow-up studies.
- Generate mechanistic immunology data packages to support candidate optimization, translational biomarker hypotheses, safety risk assessment, and decision-making across discovery and early development programs.
- Collaborate with teams in immunology, disease biology, oligonucleotide biology, antibody engineering, bioanalytics, toxicology, and translational medicine to align assay strategy with program needs.
- Communicate and present results, prepare reports, and represent the unit in project teams.
- Develop novel assays or analysis tools based on project needs across disease areas.
- Maintain familiarity with scientific and technical literature relevant to projects.
Benefits
- Health, life, and disability benefits.
- 401(k) with company contribution and match.
- Vacation, personal days, holidays, and other leaves.
- Performance-based cash incentive.
- Depending on role level, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.
- A variety of other benefits.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
