About the Role

You are an enthusiastic protein biochemist who takes pride in your bench execution skills. Your passion lies in display technology, drug discovery and developing novel treatments for patients. You are conscientious, detail-oriented, and organized. Collaboration comes naturally to you, and you thrive in a fast-paced environment where pushing the boundaries of what is possible is the norm.

Responsibilities

• Build, adapt, and automate display systems to facilitate AI antibody design. 
• Establish, develop, and/or optimize cutting edge technologies to enable data generation at scale for AI model training or evaluation
• Design and apply multiple innovative selection techniques to provide data at scale based on ML training needs. 
• Design, setup, optimize, and use automation to characterize affinity and function at the clonal level. 
• Contribute to the preparation of technical reports and presentations.
  
  

Qualifications

• Significant hands-on experience with protein display techniques such as yeast and/or phage display. Experience in library design, build, panning/sorting and validation. 
• Bachelor of Science or Master’s degree in Molecular Biology, Biology, Biochemistry, or related fields with 2-6 years of industrial experience.  . 
• Familiarity with antibody binding assays and automating them (ELISA, SPR, FACS).
• Proficiency in molecular and cell biology techniques, including mammalian tissue cell culture, and basic skills in molecular biology labs.
• Working knowledge of software and programming for large data set analysis.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with meticulous attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively present complex scientific concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, multidisciplinary team environment, fostering cooperation and knowledge-sharing among team members

Schedule Flexibility: Due to the nature of experimental workflows, this role will require availability on weekends (approximately every couple of weeks). 

Employment Type: Contract

Contract Duration: 9 Months

We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, seeking to provide an open, flexible, and friendly work environment to empower employees and provide them with a platform to develop their long-term careers. A Summary of Benefits is available for all applicants. We offer a competitive package that includes base salary, bonus, and equity. The base pay range for this position is expected to be $45-$60 hourly; however, the base pay offered may vary depending on the market, job-related knowledge, skills and capabilities, and experience.

Xaira Therapeutics an equal-opportunity employer. We believe that our strength is in our differences. Our goal to build a diverse and inclusive team began on day one, and it will never end.

TO ALL RECRUITMENT AGENCIES: Xaira Therapeutics does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias or employees. Xaira Therapeutics is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

About the Role
As a Senior Research Associate Scientist in the Protein Engineering group, you will be a crucial member of our interdisciplinary team, comprising highly creative and talented individuals with exceptional expertise in protein characterization and engineering. This group is responsible for enabling AI drug discovery efforts and optimizing lead molecules. You will work collaboratively with protein designers, biologists, and other drug discovery team members.

We’re looking for an extraordinary library builder who can design, generate and scale complex DNA assemblies for our protein engineering and display teams. This role requires extensive experience with combinatorial, designed and naive library building with the relevant microbiological and protein level expertise to express & qualify them once built. This hands-on role is best for someone who can keep NGS, protein biochemistry, and DNA assembly needs in mind when building complex libraries at speed. 

About You
You are an enthusiastic protein biochemist who takes pride in your bench execution skills. Your passion lies in display technology, drug discovery and developing novel treatments for patients. You are conscientious, detail-oriented, and organized. Collaboration comes naturally to you, and you thrive in a fast-paced environment where pushing the boundaries of what is possible is the norm.

What You'll Do and Learn

• Design and apply multiple innovative selection techniques utilizing synthetic libraries, like phage, yeast display, and mammalian display. 
• Utilize FACS sorting, plate-based screening, and NGS to identify binders.
• Setup and use automation to further rank leads for affinity and function. 
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to troubleshoot protein reagents. 
• Train and mentor junior team members, providing guidance on experimental design, data analysis, and troubleshooting.
• Maintain accurate and detailed records of experiments, protocols, and results in accordance with company standards and regulatory requirements.
• Interpret and present scientific findings at research meetings. Provide scientific input and propose follow-up experiments.
• Collaborate and communicate across diverse research teams to successfully achieve scientific goals.
• Contribute to scientific publications, patents, and presentations to disseminate research findings both internally and externally.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of science or master degree in Molecular Biology, Protein Biochemistry, or related fields with 5+ years of industrial experience.
• Hands-on experience with yeast display system and library building.
• Cloning complex assemblies with multi-part golden gate, gibson, and other techniques
• Experience with DNA synthesis CROs.
• High proficiency in yeast display to protein targets, soluble and membrane.
• Proficiency in molecular and cell biology techniques, such as DNA extraction, PCR, enzymatic DNA treatments and library preparation QC for NGS..
• Mammalian tissue culture.
• Antibody engineering and discovery experience.
• Flow cytometry experience (both analytical and sorting). 
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with meticulous attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively present complex scientific concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, multidisciplinary team environment, fostering cooperation and knowledge-sharing among team members.
• Experience using LIMS and Benchling systems.

Nice to have Skill(s)

• Experience in protein purification techniques (including affinity, ion exchange, HIC, SEC) and in chromatography hardware and software (Cytiva AKTA, Agilent HPLC).
  
  

Compensation

We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, seeking to provide an open, flexible, and friendly work environment to empower employees and provide them with a platform to develop their long-term careers. A Summary of Benefits is available for all applicants. We offer a competitive package that includes base salary, bonus, and equity.  The base pay range for this position is expected to be $110,000 - $138,000 annually; however, the base pay offered may vary depending on the market, job-related knowledge, skills and capabilities, and experience.

Xaira Therapeutics an equal-opportunity employer. We believe that our strength is in our differences. Our goal to build a diverse and inclusive team began on day one, and it will never end.

TO ALL RECRUITMENT AGENCIES: Xaira Therapeutics does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias or employees. Xaira Therapeutics is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.