Senior Scientist I

About the role

We are looking for a motivated candidate to support late-stage process development of Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADCs) and other emerging conjugation modalities. Primarily, the candidate will independently design and perform conjugation experiments, perform downstream operations such as Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF) purifications, and analyze experimental and analytical results either running analyses independently or via sample submission to Analytical Development colleagues. This late-stage development work will ultimately support process characterization, commercialization, and regulatory submissions for ADC therapies in AbbVie's development pipeline. The candidate is expected to work with managers and key stakeholders or collaborators to effectively plan and communicate experimental timelines and results. ADC development work is inherently interdisciplinary and cross-functional, so a strong candidate will be able to quickly learn and develop functional knowledge of adjacent development areas to understand how those interface with conjugation process development.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a high degree of productivity in lab to support conjugation process development: independently design, execute, and interpret key experiments to answer scientific questions.
• Perform conjugation and purification operations at reaction scales ranging from ~mL scale reactions up to a 10L reactor.
• Perform routine sample preparation and operation of HPLC-based analytical assays.
• Understand scale dependence of chemical reactions or purifications, or engineering scale factors.
• Document and share results via electronic laboratory notebooks, internal technical presentations, and technical reports.
• Learn, understand, and master relevant laboratory techniques, and serve as a subject matter expert and mentor for junior scientists in lab.
• The candidate will understand and adhere to corporate standards regarding code of conduct, safety, and GXP compliance.
• Work collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team, including analytical chemists, process chemists, and manufacturing personnel.

Qualifications

• BS with 10+ years', MS with 8+ years', and PhD with 0+ years' industry experience.
• Degree in chemistry or chemical engineering.
• Strong scientific communication and interpersonal skills to drive collaboration within the conjugation process development team and with cross-functional partners.
• Thorough understanding of organic chemistry, theoretical conceptualization of reaction mechanisms, and practical fluency with wet-lab operations and running chemical reactions.
• Extremely knowledgeable in HPLC/UPLC instruments: familiar with equipment care and maintenance best practices for shared lab equipment, ability to perform basic troubleshooting of HPLC systems.
• Ability to multitask and meet timelines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with drug-conjugate chemistry or conjugation process development is not necessary but strongly preferred.
• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in organic chemistry, or experience in small molecule chemistry.
• Experience in design-of-experiments (DoE), quality-by-design (QbD), and development of statistical and mathematical models.