Principal Scientist, Antibody Discovery and Engineering

Here's What You'll Do

• Lead integrated antibody discovery and engineering campaigns from early concept through lead identification, optimization, and nomination.
• Develop discovery strategies that incorporate target and antigen evaluation, immunization design, B cell screening, display-based engineering, sequence analysis, and data-driven lead selection.
• Design, execute, and oversee antibody generation and optimization workflows, including immunizations, B cell discovery, yeast or other display campaigns, affinity maturation, humanization, format conversion, expression, purification, and characterization.
• Engineer and evaluate antibodies across multiple therapeutic formats, including IgG, Fab, scFv, bispecific or multispecific antibodies, T cell engagers, TCR engagers, CAR-T-related formats, and other novel modalities.
• Characterize antibody candidates using biochemical, biophysical, and functional assays to assess binding, affinity, specificity, epitope diversity, developability, potency, and mechanism of action.
• Partner with antigen design, structural biology, computational biology, and project teams to move programs efficiently from scientific concept to actionable lead molecules.
• Analyze complex datasets, identify scientific and technical risks, and develop practical mitigation strategies that guide program decisions.
• Monitor emerging antibody discovery and engineering technologies and translate relevant advances into ideas that strengthen Moderna's therapeutic discovery capabilities.
• Prepare clear technical reports, project plans, and presentations for internal teams, collaborators, governance forums, and leadership.
• Lead cross-functional scientific discussions, manage external partners, and mentor scientists or research associates as appropriate.

Here's What You'll Need (Basic Qualifications)

• PhD in immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry, protein engineering, cancer biology, or a related discipline, with 5+ years of relevant post-PhD industry experience in antibody discovery, antibody engineering, or biologics discovery.
• Demonstrated track record independently leading therapeutic antibody discovery campaigns from concept through lead identification, optimization, or nomination.
• Deep technical expertise in antibody biology, antibody structure and function, discovery platforms, and therapeutic antibody optimization.
• Hands-on experience with immunization-based antibody discovery, including antigen design, immunization strategy, B cell screening, single-cell sorting, B cell culturing, antibody sequence recovery, and NGS-informed repertoire analysis.
• Strong expertise in display technologies for antibody engineering, affinity maturation, specificity optimization, developability improvement, and molecular-format optimization.
• Strong molecular biology and antibody engineering skills, including cloning, library construction, sequence analysis, expression construct design, antibody expression, purification, and analytical characterization.
• Expertise in antibody characterization assays and platforms, including affinity determination, epitope binning, competition assays, specificity profiling, developability assessment, Biacore, Carterra, Octet, ELISA, MSD, multi-parameter flow cytometry, or related technologies.
• Experience developing, executing, and troubleshooting functional cell-based assays relevant to therapeutic antibody discovery.
• Proven ability to design, manage, and critically evaluate outsourced antibody discovery, engineering, and characterization workflows at CROs.
• Strong project leadership skills, including the ability to manage multiple programs, timelines, stakeholders, datasets, and external partnerships simultaneously.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific issues into clear recommendations.
• Collaborative, proactive, resourceful approach to working in a fast-paced, cross-functional, matrixed research environment.

Here's What You'll Bring to the Table (Preferred Qualifications)

• PhD in relevant discipline and 7+ years of hands on antibody discovery and engineering including prior experience with yeast or mammalian display technologies for antibody discovery and optimization.
• Experience with advanced antibody-based therapeutic formats, such as T cell engagers, TCR engagers, bispecific or multispecific antibodies, ADCs, CAR-T or CAR-NK-related approaches.
• Familiarity with immune-cell biology, primary-cell assays, functional immunology assays, or immune-cell redirecting therapeutic mechanisms.
• Experience applying antibody discovery or engineering approaches across oncology, autoimmune, infectious disease, or other therapeutically relevant areas.
• Familiarity with antibody sequence analysis, bioinformatics, structural modeling, AI/ML-enabled discovery tools, or developability prediction platforms.
• Track record of scientific impact through publications, patents, presentations, therapeutic discovery programs, or implementation of new discovery technologies.
• Experience mentoring junior scientists, leading project teams, or influencing cross-functional scientific strategy.