Scientist - II (Associate)

Qualifications

Education Requirement:

• BS/BA degree in biochemistry, biophysics, or a related discipline with a minimum of 1–5 years of industry experience; or
• MS degree in biochemistry, biophysics, or a related discipline with 2 or more years of industry experience, preferably with a focus on assay development and compound profiling within a drug discovery environment.

Skills & Experience

Required Skills:

• Basic knowledge of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology.
• Prior experience with basic biochemical and/or biophysical techniques.
• Highly motivated, driven, and willing to take initiative to learn new scientific methodologies.
• Strong team player.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Comfortable using a PC, proficient in Windows-based operating systems, and basic applications for data analysis (e.g., spreadsheets, databases).

Preferred Attributes:

• Proven ability to independently design, develop, and implement biochemical and biophysical screening assays using detection modalities such as TR-FRET, FP, LC-MS, radiochemical, surface plasmon resonance (BIAcore), fluorescence-based thermal shift (TdF), and/or isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC).
• Hands-on experience performing steady-state and transient-state kinetic experiments to study enzymes and inhibitors.
• Experience with automated liquid handlers (e.g., Echo, Bravo, Biomek, Hamilton) and data analysis/presentation software (e.g., TIBCO Spotfire, Excel, PowerPoint).

Key Notes:

• Lab-facing biophysics/biochemical assay position requiring rapid ramp-up; not suitable for fresh graduates.
• Prioritize experience with TR-FRET/FRET, ADP-Glo, fluorescence polarization, and similar biochemical assay formats; ELISA is less relevant.
• Liquid handling experience is a plus but not required; basic pipetting/instrument awareness is sufficient.
• Ideal candidates have approximately 3–5 years of industry experience; PhD candidates will not be considered.
• Day-to-day work is primarily lab-based: routine assay execution, data analysis, documentation, troubleshooting, and communication of unusual results.
• Candidate should be fairly independent after training but collaborate on less routine experiments or troubleshooting.
• Helpful software experience includes TIBCO Spotfire and GraphPad Prism; other tools can be trained.
• Biophysics group consists of ~12 people within a larger Boston department (~95) and a global department (~350–400).

Responsibilities

• Develop and/or run quantitative biochemical and biophysical assays to support identification, characterization, and optimization of small molecule ligands from high-throughput screening campaigns and medicinal chemistry efforts.
• Conduct biochemical and biophysical studies to elucidate modes of ligand interaction and mechanisms of action on target proteins.