Director - Protein Therapeutics

Gilead

Oxford, United Kingdom

The Protein Therapeutics team in Oxford UK is seeking an experienced and innovative leader to contribute to the engineering of large molecule drug candidates including antibodies, multispecifics or immune cell engagers, and immunocytokines, as well as to the development of new, cutting-edge capabilities at the site. The successful candidate will lead a Biologics Engineering team and oversee biologic projects primarily focused on Inflammation. The core responsibilities include biologics design and optimization to enable discovery projects from conceptualization to drug candidate nomination, and advancement of engineering technologies to enable large molecule drug development. Gilead Sciences Inc. is a highly matrixed organization. Effective collaboration across multiple functions, including those located in Foster City, CA is a crucial attribute of this role.

Essential Duties and Job Functions:

Lead a team of protein engineers to discover and optimize innovative protein therapeutics to address unmet medical needs through differentiated mechanisms of action;
Represent Protein Therapeutics on interdisciplinary project teams and deliver large molecule drug candidates matching the Target Product Profile specifications;
Drive rapid optimization of novel antibody and protein therapeutics through iterative design, build, test, and learn cycles;
Independently carry out lead sequence and format optimizations utilizing rational and in silico design approaches;
Communicate transparently and timely to key stakeholders to build strong partnership and collaboration experiences;
Supervise and mentor scientists to support their continued career development;
Thrive in a fast paced, data-driven, and scientifically rigorous environment;
Maintain compliance with company policies and record keeping.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

Basic qualifications:
- Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology, structural biology, or equivalent degrees in a highly related discipline.
Preferred qualifications:
- Ph.D. and postdoctoral trainings plus significant industry experience.
Broad understanding of industry and competitive landscape;
Significant experience in an industry setting and a record of accomplishments reflected by presentations, high impact publications, or issued patents with demonstrable protein engineering expertise;
Extensive experience advancing protein therapeutics from discovery to development and stays abreast with emerging protein engineering platforms and technologies;
Expertise in structure-based protein engineering and design of multispecifics, immunocytokines, Fc engineering, and fusion proteins;
Skilled practitioner in antibody engineering, including humanization, sequence liability remediation, and/or biophysical property improvement;
Project leadership and core team membership experience in pharmaceutical industry R&D environment across multiple therapeutic areas, with a deep understanding of lead identification and optimization through preclinical development of therapeutic candidates;
Proficient in various molecular biology and recombinant protein techniques, as well as experience (preferred) or familiarity with mammalian cell culture, protein expression, purification, and characterization; familiarity in antibody discovery platforms is a plus;
Experience with computational design tools preferred (e.g. MOE) and biologic informatics system (e.g., Genedata Biologics and Screener);
Team leader and player who is articulate and precise, with emotional intelligence, professional maturity and strong leadership and problem-solving skills.