Sr. Scientist, Immune Repertoire Discovery

Moderna’s Therapeutics Research group is seeking a Senior Scientist to implement scalable platforms for T cell repertoire analysis from patient and disease-relevant samples. This role will drive T cell profiling and antigen-specific TCR discovery and functional validation across oncology, autoimmunity, and other therapeutic areas to inform translational biology, therapeutic design, and AI/ML model training. The candidate will also help identify, characterize, and prioritize TCRs with potential utility for therapeutic development, including TCR-T, TCR engager, and other TCR-based modalities.

Responsibilities

• Establish and execute scalable workflows for TCR specificity mapping from patient samples, disease-relevant samples, and internal or external datasets.
• Support antigen-specific T cell discovery using approaches such as single-cell profiling, TCR sequencing, functional screening, reporter assays, cell-based assays, or NGS-enabled readouts.
• Design and execute experiments to identify, validate, and prioritize disease-relevant T cell responses and TCR candidates for downstream therapeutic evaluation.
• Contribute to translational oncology, autoimmunity, and other disease-area workstreams by applying TCR specificity-mapping workflows to support immune monitoring, mechanism-of-action studies, and therapeutic hypothesis generation.
• Generate high-quality, well-annotated biological datasets that can support downstream computational analysis, AI/ML model development, therapeutic discovery, and translational interpretation.
• Partner with bioinformatics, computational biology, AI/ML, protein engineering, translational medicine, and program teams to connect immune profiling outputs with therapeutic design and candidate selection.
• Drive continued innovation of TCR discovery workflows by identifying, piloting, and integrating new experimental or computational approaches that improve scale, sensitivity, reproducibility, or biological resolution.
• Troubleshoot complex assay workflows, evaluate new deconvolution technologies, and recommend improvements to throughput, sensitivity, and data quality.

Requirements

• PhD in immunology, molecular biology, cell biology, cancer biology, microbiology, bioengineering, or related discipline.
• At least 2 years of hands-on post-graduate experience in T cell biology, TCR-pMHC recognition, antigen mapping, T cell repertoire analysis, immune profiling, or related T cell immunology platforms.
• Experience designing, executing, and troubleshooting complex immunology assays or T cell profiling workflows.
• Hands-on experience with one or more relevant technologies, such as single-cell sequencing workflows, TCR sequencing, cell-based assays, reporter systems, functional screening, NGS-based readouts, or high-throughput immunology platforms.
• Experience analyzing and interpreting T cell profiling, repertoire, antigen-mapping, functional screening, or related immunology datasets.
• Demonstrated ability to generate high-quality, reproducible experimental data under active program timelines.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional partners such as bioinformatics, computational biology, translational medicine, therapeutic immunology, protein engineering, or program teams.
• Excellent written, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to communicate experimental results, limitations, and recommendations to multidisciplinary teams.

Skills

• Deep hands-on expertise in antigen-specific T cell profiling, TCR-pMHC recognition, TCR repertoire analysis, functional screening, or related immune discovery workflows.
• Experience identifying or characterizing disease-relevant TCRs from patient samples, tumor samples, autoimmune samples, infectious disease samples, or other biologically relevant sample types.
• Experience with sequencing-based TCR reconstruction, antigen mapping, TCR specificity validation, peptide-HLA biology, or TCR candidate prioritization.
• Experience generating structured biological datasets for downstream model development, therapeutic discovery, or translational interpretation.
• Familiarity with computational analysis of single-cell sequencing, TCR sequencing, repertoire, or functional screening datasets.
• Comfort operating in a platform-building environment where workflows, datasets, and decision criteria are being established and improved over time.
• Contributions to publications, patents, platform technologies, or therapeutic discovery programs in TCR biology, immunology, oncology, vaccines, infectious disease, autoimmune disease, or related fields.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, troubleshoot technically challenging workflows, and contribute to cross-functional project teams in a fast-paced, program-driven environment.
• Desire to make an impact as part of a high-growth, transformational company that is Bold, Relentless, Curious, and Collaborative.

Benefits

• Competitive healthcare, plus voluntary benefit programs to support unique needs.
• Holistic approach to well-being, with access to fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support.
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support.
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year-end shutdown.
• Savings and investments to help plan for the future.
• Location-specific perks and extras.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $130,800.00 - $209,400.00. An individual’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, performance, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate may be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or equity award, subject to company plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

Schedule

Moderna champions an in-person culture with a 70/30 work model, where 70% of the work is conducted in-office to foster innovation, teamwork, and direct mentorship.