Sr. Scientist, Immune Repertoire Discovery Full-time

Senior Scientist, T Cell Repertoire Analysis

The Therapeutics Research group at Moderna is seeking a talented, experienced, and highly motivated Senior Scientist to implement scalable platforms for T cell repertoire analysis from patient and disease-relevant samples. This individual will drive T cell profiling and antigen-specific TCR discovery and functional validation efforts across oncology, autoimmunity, and other therapeutic areas where defining disease-relevant T cell responses can inform translational biology, therapeutic design, and AI/ML model training. The candidate will also help identify, characterize, and prioritize TCRs with potential utility for therapeutic development, including TCR-T, TCR engager, and other TCR-based modalities.

The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in T cell immunology, antigen-specific T cell repertoire analysis, TCR-pMHC recognition, and functional screening. They will work closely with cross-functional partners in bioinformatics, translational medicine, therapeutic immunology, protein engineering, and program teams to advance Moderna's therapeutic and translational research programs. This is a highly collaborative, hands-on role for a scientist who is excited to build and refine discovery workflows, generate high-quality biological datasets, and translate complex immune profiling results into actionable insights for therapeutic research.

Here's What You'll Do

• Establish and execute scalable workflows for TCR specificity mapping from patient samples, disease-relevant samples, and internal or external datasets.
• Support antigen-specific T cell discovery using approaches such as single-cell profiling, TCR sequencing, functional screening, reporter assays, cell-based assays, or NGS-enabled readouts.
• Design and execute experiments to identify, validate, and prioritize disease-relevant T cell responses and TCR candidates for downstream therapeutic evaluation.
• Contribute to translational oncology, autoimmunity, and other disease-area workstreams by applying TCR specificity-mapping workflows to support immune monitoring, mechanism-of-action studies, and therapeutic hypothesis generation.
• Generate high-quality, well-annotated biological datasets that can support downstream computational analysis, AI/ML model development, therapeutic discovery, and translational interpretation.
• Partner with bioinformatics, computational biology, AI/ML, protein engineering, translational medicine, and program teams to connect immune profiling outputs with therapeutic design and candidate selection.
• Drive continued innovation of TCR discovery workflows by identifying, piloting, and integrating new experimental or computational approaches that improve scale, sensitivity, reproducibility, or biological resolution.
• Troubleshoot complex assay workflows, evaluate new deconvolution technologies, and recommend improvements to throughput, sensitivity, and data quality.

Here's What You'll Need (Basic Qualifications)

• PhD in immunology, molecular biology, cell biology, cancer biology, microbiology, bioengineering, or related discipline.
• At least 2 years of hands-on post-graduate experience in T cell biology, TCR-pMHC recognition, antigen mapping, T cell repertoire analysis, immune profiling, or related T cell immunology platforms.
• Experience designing, executing, and troubleshooting complex immunology assays or T cell profiling workflows.
• Hands-on experience with one or more relevant technologies, such as single-cell sequencing workflows, TCR sequencing, cell-based assays, reporter systems, functional screening, NGS-based readouts, or high-throughput immunology platforms.
• Experience analyzing and interpreting T cell profiling, repertoire, antigen-mapping, functional screening, or related immunology datasets.
• Demonstrated ability to generate high-quality, reproducible experimental data under active program timelines.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional partners such as bioinformatics, computational biology, translational medicine, therapeutic immunology, protein engineering, or program teams.
• Excellent written, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to communicate experimental results, limitations, and recommendations to multidisciplinary teams.

Here's What You'll Bring to the Table (Preferred Qualifications)

• Deep hands-on expertise in antigen-specific T cell profiling, TCR-pMHC recognition, TCR repertoire analysis, functional screening, or related immune discovery workflows.
• Experience identifying or characterizing disease-relevant TCRs from patient samples, tumor samples, autoimmune samples, infectious disease samples, or other biologically relevant sample types.
• Experience with sequencing-based TCR reconstruction, antigen mapping, TCR specificity validation, peptide-HLA biology, or TCR candidate prioritization.
• Experience generating structured biological datasets for downstream model development, therapeutic discovery, or translational interpretation.
• Familiarity with computational analysis of single-cell sequencing, TCR sequencing, repertoire, or functional screening datasets.
• Comfort operating in a platform-building environment where workflows, datasets, and decision criteria are being established and improved over time.
• Contributions to publications, patents, platform technologies, or therapeutic discovery programs in TCR biology, immunology, oncology, vaccines, infectious disease, autoimmune disease, or related fields.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, troubleshoot technically challenging workflows, and contribute to cross-functional project teams in a fast-paced, program-driven environment.
• A desire to make an impact as part of a high-growth, transformational company that is Bold, Relentless, Curious, and Collaborative.