Associate Director – Antibody Discovery and Optimization

About Enlaza Therapeutics

Enlaza Therapeutics is a biotech company developing an innovative synthetic biology platform to create a disruptive new class of biologic therapeutics. We are dedicated to the development of these novel therapies to help patients suffering from cancer and other serious diseases.

Role Description

This position is for a leader in the field with expertise in antibody discovery, engineering, and sequence optimization to help drive our drug discovery programs. We seek an individual that is highly proficient in both the technical and strategic aspects of immunization and phage campaigns and has experience in engineering sequences for development candidate nomination. This position will lead a team to work directly on the development of biotherapeutics for serious diseases, and will be involved in the identification, characterization, optimization, and selection of lead molecules for multiple programs. This is an excellent opportunity to work with an experienced team and interface directly with multiple research groups, including platform engineering, upstream process development, protein sciences, pharmacology, analytics, and leadership. The ideal candidate will be an enthusiastic, motivated, and innovative individual who is excited to lead a dedicated team.

Responsibilities

• Lead a discovery team of scientists and work closely with other teams, including CMC and upstream process development, to advance sequences to development candidate nomination.
• Responsible for leading a team to deliver discovery outcomes that meet the required needs of project teams.
• Oversee the design, generation, and execution of naïve antibody/VHH phage display libraries for multiple programs.
• Design, initiate, and oversee immunization campaigns at various CROs.
• Coordinate the characterization of antibodies/VHHs selected from phage libraries or immunizations, including interpreting, organizing, and presenting the results.
• Optimization of antibody sequence including affinity maturation, humanization, and liability removal.
• Opportunity to grow into project team leadership roles.

Requirements

• PhD in Biochemistry, Bioengineering, or related scientific field, with 8+ years of hands-on experience with antibody discovery and protein engineering.
• Experience with DNA library design and construction, including naïve and affinity maturation libraries.
• Experience with small-format antibody humanization and knowledge of sequence liabilities and developability assessment.
• Experience managing people and leading teams.
• Proficiency with PyMOL, MOE, or similar software for protein structure analysis, protein engineering, and library design.
• Highly collaborative with excellent communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and cross-functional team environment.
• Additional experience in the following areas is desirable but not required: Protein expression and purification from E.coli, proficiency in interpreting data from the following assays: analytical SEC, LCMS, SPR, and BLI.

Compensation

In addition to a competitive compensation package with stock options, the company also offers a comprehensive benefits package for our employees and their families, which includes medical, dental, vision, and supplemental disability insurance.

Job Type

Full-time

Annual Salary Range

$170,000.00 – $185,000.00

Supplemental Pay Types

Bonus pay

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Employee assistance program
• 401(k)
• Retirement plan
• Life insurance
• Relocation assistance
• Parental leave
• Flexible schedule
• Flexible vacation
• Year-end winter break