Senior Scientist, Functional Sciences, Discovery Biotherapeutics Full-time

Senior Scientist, Functional Sciences, Discovery Biotherapeutics

At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.

The position is within Functional Sciences in the Discovery Biotherapeutics department. Our team supports multiple disease areas within BMS for target validation, hit-to-lead screening and functional characterization of antibody therapeutics. We seek a highly motivated individual with experience establishing assays relevant to the target biology, a passion for solving complex challenges and an ability to work collaboratively with scientists from diverse backgrounds. The qualified candidate will have a strong background in cell biology and immunology with a track record of cellular assay development and practical knowledge of biochemistry and protein-protein interactions. This is an individual contributor role with opportunities for matrix management. As part of the Discovery Biotherapeutics organization, the candidate will interface with other Biotherapeutics teams as well as Biology colleagues across sites.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Design and implement relevant cellular screening assays for antibody-based biologics to identify and characterize lead candidates using diverse technologies in immortalized and primary cells
• Develop and execute mechanistic assays based on the antibody therapeutic modality and target candidate profile, such as for T cell engagers, Antibody Drug Conjugates, multi-specifics, agonists/ antagonists
• Generate relevant cell lines or explore commercial sources to design the appropriate functional screening assays including reporter assays, AlphaLISA, flow-or imaging-based effector function readout assays, co-culture systems
• Characterize protein reagents to be used as targets for in vitro selection or assay components by biochemical or cell-based methods
• Participate in target ideation and generation of testable hypotheses for target validation
• Identify new technologies and/or process enhancements leveraging automation and AI/ML tools to improve screening and data analysis workflows
• Serve as Discovery Biotherapeutics assay representative on matrixed multi-disciplinary project teams; design functional screening strategy and present data to stakeholders
• Document experiments meticulously in Electronic Notebook and upload assay data into Benchling

Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills

• Bachelor's Degree with 7+ years of academic / industry experience OR Master's Degree with 5+ years of academic / industry experience OR PhD with 2+ years of academic / industry experience
• Academic degree and research experience in molecular and cell biology with specialization in immunology or oncology strongly preferred
• Ability to apply scientific concepts in immunology and cancer biology along with strong technical skills to design, execute and interpret functional characterization assays
• Hands-on experience in designing and executing cellular assays with a variety of readouts to dissect mechanism of action and function of potential therapeutics; prior experience working with antibodies and biologics is required; experience working on TCEs and/or ADCs would be a plus
• Flow cytometry, Incucyte or imaging experience a must; experience with other cellular assay technologies and instrumentation would be a plus
• Experience with automation and assay miniaturization is desirable
• Experience with analysis and data visualization tools like Graphpad Prism, Spotfire would be a plus
• Experience serving on cross-functional project teams is a plus
• Excellent organizational, analytical and technical skills are required, along with demonstrated initiative-taking and innovative thinking to implement new experimental technologies and develop approaches to solve complex problems
• Excellent communication skills to effectively serve as the Functional Sciences representative in multi-disciplinary project teams
• Ability to work with a sense of urgency and support multiple projects simultaneously
• Passionate scientist and collaborator with a strong work ethic and willingness to mentor junior scientists