Oligo Discovery Chemistry Principal Scientist Full-time

GSK Oligonucleotide Conjugation Scientist

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people's lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients' needs and have the highest probability of success. We're uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

The successful candidate will help to establish pre-clinical capabilities within GSK's new oligo synthesis lab. Areas of focus are producing small molecules, lipids, and linkers for ASOs, siRNA, SSO, and RNA editors conjugates, discovery chemistry, and method development. Your expertise will enable us to solve complex chemical challenges, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in oligonucleotide therapeutics.

Responsibilities

• Establish pre-clinical oligonucleotide conjugation capabilities of ASOs, siRNA, SSO, and RNA editors with small molecules, lipids, linkers, and other conjugates with multistep synthesis from the milligram to gram scale.
• Perform hands-on work, establish small molecule, lipid, linker, and other synthetic workflows including designing structure activity relationship studies, implementing synthetic routes, and drafting SOPs in support of next generation chemistry and method development.
• Serve as the small molecule and lipid SME for the team, representing conjugates in various cross matrix meetings.
• Develop and maintain SOPs for synthesis, processing, and purification to ensure high-quality, reproducible results.
• Work with the oligo analytical and conjugate chemistry teams to ensure accountability and excellence in small molecule and lipid conjugate synthesis.
• Collaborate and communicate across various teams to build robust study designs and workflows, or leverage internal resources to deliver on portfolio endpoints.

Basic Qualification

• PhD with 3+ years' experience in chemistry, oligonucleotide synthesis, or chemical biology or related fields.
• 2+ years of industry experience in modern synthetic chemistry methods, particularly with small molecules, lipids, linkers, amidite synthesis, purification, and analysis.
• Experience with HPLC purification techniques such as reverse phase, size exclusion, ionic chromatography potentially using Agilent, Waters, or Cytiva ÄKTA Avant and Pure purification systems, and LC/MS analytics.
• Experience in lipid, PEG-lipid, sterol, dinucleotide, and amidite synthetic chemistry, and biological familiarity of RNA therapeutics (e.g. ASO, siRNA, SSO, RNA Editors, mRNA).
• Team-focused with strong initiative and ability to troubleshoot challenges and implement novel solutions.
• Prior experience with scientific and professional mentorship and project leadership.

Preferred Qualification

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, and the ability to collaborate effectively with a team are required.
• Prior experience with oligonucleotide synthesis and nucleoside chemistry is desirable but not required.
• Demonstrable sense of urgency, flexibility, independence and accountability.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain a high level of integrity while balancing multiple priorities and responsibilities.
• Must be a committed team player prepared to work in and embrace a team-based culture.

This role is fulltime on-site at our Cambridge MA offices.

What we value in you

We value curiosity, accountability, and respectful collaboration. We look for practical problem solvers who communicate clearly and act with scientific rigour. We welcome people with varied backgrounds and perspectives who will strengthen our inclusive team.

How to apply

If you are excited by this opportunity, please submit your CV and a short note describing what motivates you about this role. We look forward to learning how your skills and experience can help us get ahead of disease together.