Associate Director, Protein Engineering

Company Summary: 

What if…you could join an organization that creates, resources, and builds life sciences companies that invent breakthrough technologies in order to transform health care and sustainability?

Apriori Bio is an early-stage biotechnology company with an ambitious and exciting mission: to lay the foundation for Global Pathogen Shield™ protective interventions that that can neutralize a wide range of the most dangerous and rapidly evolving infectious pathogen threats.  The company is developing a revolutionary approach to this challenge and recruiting a team of top-tier scientists to build what it believes will be a powerful, first-in-category R&D platform.

Flagship Pioneering is a bioplatform innovation company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $90 billion in aggregate value. Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.  Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been twice named to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. Learn more about Flagship at www.flagshippioneering.com. 

Position Summary:

Apriori Bio is seeking a Principal Scientist (or Associate Director) with a background in structural virology or structural biology, and experience with computational protein design. The successful candidate will leverage and integrate massive proprietary viral variant data sets with structural insights to drive antigen engineering efforts for the development of next generation viral vaccines. The candidate will interface with our platform team, data scientists, molecular biologists and immunologists to design, generate and test novel antigens derived from viral entry proteins. This role will be a great opportunity to participate in cutting-edge structural virology and antigen design. We are searching for enthusiastic and highly motivated individuals who are comfortable multitasking on both platform and project deliverables.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, plan, and execute/oversee experiments that support research activities, project goals, and platform development in a matrixed organization structure
• Lead the structural design, expression, and validation of novel vaccine antigens with desired properties (e.g. stability, conformation, elicited immunity)
• Collaborate across teams to generate data that inform iterative improvement of vaccine antigen designs (e.g. Platform Team and Translational Immunology)
• Manage and inspire people or teams to deliver on goals and corporate milestones
• Manage external relationships with contract research organizations
• Communicate efforts and progress to internal and external parties

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in structural virology/ biology, biochemistry, or a related field
• 10+ years of post-Ph.D. experience (preferably 5+ in industry)
• Demonstrated experience working with SARS-CoV-2 spike, Influenza hemagglutinin or other viral entry glycoproteins and their characterization
• Demonstrated expertise in computational protein design and engineering (e.g. Rosetta, AlphaFold)
• Experience with the expression, purification, and biochemical characterization of designed recombinant proteins
• Experience managing or leading people and teams
• Familiar with vaccines and vaccinology
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of conveying technical information in a clear and thorough manner
• Comfortable delivering against challenging timelines

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.