Sr Associate Scientist, Analytical Ops

Gilead Sciences•Foster City, CA

About The Position

At Gilead, we’re creating a healthier world for all people. For more than 35 years, we’ve tackled diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19 and cancer – working relentlessly to develop therapies that help improve lives and to ensure access to these therapies across the globe. We continue to fight against the world’s biggest health challenges, and our mission requires collaboration, determination and a relentless drive to make a difference. Every member of Gilead’s team plays a critical role in the discovery and development of life-changing scientific innovations. Our employees are our greatest asset as we work to achieve our bold ambitions, and we’re looking for the next wave of passionate and ambitious people ready to make a direct impact. We believe every employee deserves a great leader. People Leaders are the cornerstone to the employee experience at Gilead and Kite. As a people leader now or in the future, you are the key driver in evolving our culture and creating an environment where every employee feels included, developed and empowered to fulfil their aspirations. Join Gilead and help create possible, together. Job Description Gilead Sciences is seeking a creative and highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join the Analytical Development organization. This role will focus on developing nextgeneration spectromicroscopy strategies (Raman, FTIR, OPTIR, MALDI MS ,) to characterize longacting injectable (LAI) drug depots and understand their intissue chemical and solidstate behavior. This position provides a unique opportunity to integrate advanced spectroscopy, multimodal imaging, chemometrics, and machine learning to address key scientific questions related to drug release, depot stability, and injectionsite responses.

Requirements

PhD in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Materials Science, Optics Science, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related discipline.
Hands on experience with Raman and/or FTIR spectroscopy.
Proficiency in Python and/or MATLAB for spectroscopic data processing,multivariate analysis, and deep learning for image segmentation.
Strong scientific curiosity, problemsolving ability, and independent research skills.
Demonstrated track record of conference presentations or peerreviewed publications.

Nice To Haves

Experience with techniques such as OPTIR, digital microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, quantitative phase microscopy, SEM/EDS, XRPD, MALDIIMS, HPLC, LCMS.
Experience with building and maintaining advanced or non-linear spectroscopy/microscopy instruments.
Background in solidstate characterization, LAI formulation, or tissuebased imaging workflows.
Familiarity with chemometric platforms (e.g., PLS Toolbox).
Excellent communication skills and ability to work in a matrixed, multidisciplinary environment.

Responsibilities

Develop and optimize Raman, FTIR, OPTIR, and MALDI MS methods to characterize depot chemistry and solidstate forms across synthetic media and exvivo tissues.
Perform stressinduced solid form transition studies (pH, oxidative stress, moisturedriven transformations) for model LAI systems.
Build machinelearning and chemometric models (CLS, PLS, PCA, imagebased segmentation) to map drug distribution, degradation, and polymorphic transitions.
Characterize drug depots in porcine dermis, fat, and muscle tissue to assess intissue transformations and correlate analytical findings with histopathology and ISR outcomes.
Integrate multimodal datasets (Raman/IR/MALDI) into unified chemical imaging workflows to support formulation development.
Collaborate closely with Formulation, DMPK, DPP, and Toxicology teams on crossfunctional LAI development.
Present research in internal forums and contribute to highimpact external publications and conferences.