Associate Engineer II, Polysaccharide Upstream Pilot Plant

R&D Partners is seeking to hire an Associate Engineer II in San Carlos, CA.

Position Summary:

A fast-growing vaccine company is looking to a hire an energetic and talented Associate Engineer II to contribute to the Polysaccharide Upstream Pilot Plant function within the CMC team. We are developing a multi-valent polysaccharide-based conjugate vaccine, based on a novel carrier protein produced using the Xpress CF platform. Polysaccharides are a critical component in conjugate vaccines.

The successful candidate will have practical laboratory fermentation experience in executing, supporting, or developing upstream processes related to biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, or vaccine industries. The candidate will be eager to utilize and learn new laboratory skills as this person will be responsible for collaboration on experimental design and execution of experiments at pilot scale for scale down modelling efforts and manufacturing program development. This position will require >80% time in the lab and this person will be able to collaborate on experimental procedures/results in written and presentation format. The successful candidate will write detailed technical reports, present experimental results internally, and potentially interface with external CMO partners.

Essential Functions:

• Operate and maintain equipment and instrumentation for polysaccharide fermentation such as fermenters, depth filtration, and metabolite analyzers.
  • Support media and buffer preparations for the experiments.
  • Perform analysis and interpret results for polysaccharide and impurity assays for both internal Process Development and Manufacturing samples.
  • Assist in design and execution of upstream process development studies, including protocols and reports.
  • Keep accurate and current records of development experiments and/or project related activities in laboratory notebooks or electronic laboratory notebooks.
  • Assist in compiling process development and manufacturing data for statistical analysis for scale down modeling and process characterization purposes.
  • Present data from experiments to the team and contribute to technical discussions.

Requirements:

• B.S. or M.S. in Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, or a related discipline.
  • 1-3+ years of experience.
  • Experience with the operation, preparation, and handling of fermentors (preferred) or bioreactors. Experience with centrifugation and TFF systems for primary recovery a plus.
  • Experience with method analysis of fermentation in-process and final results such as UV-spectrophotometry, metabolite analyzers, and plate-based assays.
  • Experience in writing experimental protocols and summary reports.
  • Familiarity with DoE (Design of Experiments) principles and practical experience with DoE software a plus.

Pay Scale:

The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.

$101,000 - $109,000

R&D Partners is a specialist employment agency and recruitment business providing job opportunities within major pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies.

R&D Partners is an equal opportunity employer.

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