Scientist/Sr. Scientist – Protein Engineering Full-time NEW

Associate Scientist, Protein Engineering

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism.

The Biotechnology Discovery Research (BioTDR) division in San Diego is responsible for generating, characterizing, and optimizing biotherapeutics from discovery to candidate selection. We support cross-disciplinary efforts to engineer innovative biotherapeutics that treat metabolic, autoimmune, oncologic, and neurologic diseases. Join our team of scientists working to improve the lives of patients around the world.

This is an opportunity to join the Protein Engineering group at the Lilly Biotechnology Center in San Diego. We are seeking an associate-level scientist with experience in molecular biology, biochemistry, and protein engineering. The successful candidate will engineer, characterize, and optimize antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and alternative scaffolds—with a primary focus on antibody optimization and a supporting role in phage display–based discovery. The ideal candidate is a dedicated teammate with outstanding technical skills who can work collaboratively with the antibody discovery, protein engineering, protein production, protein characterization, and automation groups in San Diego and Indianapolis.

Responsibilities:

• Engineer, characterize, and optimize antibodies, multispecifics, therapeutic proteins, and alternative scaffolds using rational design and library-based approaches
• Execute phage display campaigns including library construction, biopanning, clone screening, and hit identification
• Perform molecular cloning (PCR, Gibson assembly, site-directed mutagenesis, restriction digest/ligation) to support construct generation and library construction
• Develop, optimize, and execute biochemical and biophysical assays (ELISA, BLI/Octet, SPR, SDS-PAGE) to characterize engineered variants
• Analyze sequencing data to confirm construct identity and triage candidates for downstream evaluation
• Contribute to process improvement of molecular biology, display technology, and screening protocols
• Work collaboratively and communicate with project teams to achieve critical research objectives and timelines
• Maintain diligent, detailed, and well-organized records including electronic notebooks, laboratory information management systems, presentations, and reports

Basic Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Protein Engineering, Biotechnology, Cell Biology, or a related field with a minimum of 3+ years of relevant laboratory experience

Additional Skills / Preferences:

• Demonstrated hands-on experience with molecular biology and cloning techniques (PCR, Gibson assembly, restriction digest/ligation, site-directed mutagenesis, bacterial transformation)
• Experience with phage display technology; experience with antibody (scFv, Fab) or single-domain antibody libraries is preferred
• Experience with protein or antibody engineering and optimization approaches
• Proficient in ELISA and binding assay techniques; experience with BLI (Octet) or SPR (Biacore) is desirable
• Knowledge of protein structure and structure-activity relationships
• Knowledge/experience in cell culture and cell-based functional assays
• Experience working with automation platforms
• Computational skills such as Python or R for data analysis, scripting, or bioinformatics workflows
• Familiarity with next-generation sequencing (NGS) data in the context of antibody discovery or directed evolution
• Effective interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills with high attention to detail
• Ability to work independently as well as in cross-functional team settings