Sr. Scientist, Protein & Cell Sciences

Flagship Pioneering, Inc.•Somerville, MA

2h•$126,000 - $181,500

About The Position

Metaphore Bio, a generative AI drug design company creating a new class of functional antibodies, is seeking an accomplished protein scientist and leader to run and continually optimize the process that turns computationally designed antibodies into well-characterized, developable therapeutic proteins. The role offers an opportunity to apply protein biochemistry and antibody purification expertise alongside an AI platform and contribute to moving a new modality from sequence to drug candidate. The Sr. Scientist will join the Protein Sciences team within Research and Discovery. The role focuses on protein expression, purification, and analytical characterization supporting platform development and therapeutic discovery programs. The successful candidate will bring hands-on experience with mammalian expression systems, protein biochemistry, and assay development, and will work independently while collaborating with a multidisciplinary team.

Requirements

PhD, or BS/MS degree with equivalent experience, in protein biochemistry, molecular biology, chemical engineering, structural biology, analytical chemistry, or a related field, with 5+ years of industry experience.
Experience producing, purifying, and analytically characterizing proteins in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical setting, with responsibility for recurring weekly production of milligram-to-gram quantities.
Strong hands-on experience with mammalian cell culture and transient transfection.
Proficiency with protein purification systems, including FPLCs and autosamplers, and analytical systems, including UHPLCs, used to assess protein quality and function.
Experience with biophysical characterization methods such as BLI, SPR, DSF, DLS, or related approaches.
Demonstrated ability to independently design, troubleshoot, and optimize experiments.
Strong organizational skills, scientific rigor, and written and verbal communication skills, with a record of establishing robust systems.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, collaborative, cross-functional environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience with antibody discovery workflows and biologics development.
Experience with automated multi-step midscale purification.
Experience with production from linear DNA templates.
Experience with bi- and multispecific antibody formats.
Experience managing direct reports or mentoring junior scientists.
Familiarity with data capture systems and structured documentation practices.
Exposure to assay development and validation for discovery or translational applications.

Responsibilities

Design and execute workflows for recombinant protein production, including transient mammalian expression, purification, and quality assessment.
Contribute to designing, executing, and troubleshooting experiments to improve throughput, reproducibility, and data quality.
Partner with Antibody Discovery, Antibody Engineering, Computational Biology, and other cross-functional teams to support integrated project execution.
Mentor junior team members and serve as a subject matter expert in recombinant production and protein stability metrics.
Establish and maintain strong documentation practices, experimental rigor, and reproducible workflows.
Prepare study reports, summarize data, and present results clearly to internal stakeholders.
Support continuous improvement of lab operations, including adopting new methods, tools, and workflows as needed.