Raven StealthCo- Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry

Company Background

We are a well-funded, stealth-mode biotechnology company developing next-generation oligonucleotide-based therapeutics for a high-value disease area with significant unmet medical need. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was incubated and funded by a leading life sciences venture group. We are led by an experienced founder-CEO with a strong track record of building and scaling biotechnology companies. The company has completed a robust incubation process and is backed by a substantial seed investment.

Our disease focus represents a large, multi-billion-dollar market with significant room for improvement over existing therapies. We are building a first-of-its-kind integrated platform leveraging tailored oligonucleotide chemistry, targeted delivery, and state-of-the-art analytics to develop first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics.

The company is currently operating in stealth mode as we commit to building and scaling quickly to create transformational medicines with significant market potential. Our platform is designed to address multiple disease indications at scale, including both primary and adjacent therapeutic areas.

Opportunity

The company is in the discovery stage and will invest heavily in its emerging platform for oligonucleotide delivery. Our disease focus offers strong translatability from animal models to humans, which provides a potentially rapid and efficient path to the clinic. Given the company’s recent funding and commitment to building a first-in-class platform with clear therapeutic targets and indications, we are recruiting a Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry. This individual will be responsible for technical planning and production of our antibody/peptide-oligonucleotide conjugates for our targeted delivery platform.

The Position

The Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry will report directly to the Director of Oligonucleotide and Conjugation Chemistry and will interface frequently with members of the delivery group and cross-functional teams to advance oligonucleotide therapeutic programs. This individual will help define and execute the chemical strategy to produce oligonucleotide conjugates in an efficient and timely manner. As a lab-based role, this person will assist in the implementation and use of scientific and analytical equipment to yield high-quality conjugate materials.

Specific responsibilities for the Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry include:

• Define and implement reproducible technical protocols to develop oligonucleotide conjugates for biological evaluation in our targeted delivery platform
• Develop conjugation strategies (cysteine, lysine, glycan, site-specific, etc.) to yield stable and well-characterized oligonucleotide conjugates
• Design and incorporate linker chemistries for oligonucleotide conjugates to optimize PKPD properties
• Assist in internal lab build, procuring and utilizing equipment to enable conjugation and purification of antibody/peptide-oligonucleotide conjugates
• Assist analytical scientists in developing methods (HPLC, MS, etc.) to characterize oligonucleotide conjugates
• Work hand-in-hand with protein engineers and biologists to ensure timely and adequate preparation of oligonucleotide conjugates for biological evaluation as well as contribute to the design of in vitro and in vivo studies
• Contribute to intellectual property around oligonucleotide-conjugates for the company

The Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry should be a doer with the ability to generate high-quality conjugate materials efficiently and effectively, while contributing to the interpretation of complex scientific data. This person should have direct experience working on antibody, protein, or peptide-based conjugation platforms with a significant background in chemistry and/or protein engineering. This person must demonstrate strong technical skills, taking novel ideas from paper and executing to turn them into rigorous and demonstrable results.

Key qualifications for the Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry include:

• A degree (BS/MS/PhD) in chemistry, protein engineering, or a related discipline with 3+ years of experience working with antibody, protein, or peptide conjugates in the biopharmaceutical industry; title will be commensurate with level of qualifications and experience
• Experience working with oligonucleotide-based therapeutic modalities such as siRNAs and ASOs is a plus
• Adept in state-of-the-art conjugation (cysteine-maleimide, click chemistry, site-specific, etc.), purification (HPLC, SEC, IEX, etc.), and analytical (HPLC, LCMS, etc.) methods to prepare oligonucleotide conjugates
• While demonstrating creativity to contribute to the development of novel delivery systems, this individual must also be process- and detail-oriented to ensure production of high-quality oligonucleotide conjugates
• Imperative that this individual be an effective communicator and proven team-player, with the ability to operate independently in a laboratory setting

At a personal level, we are seeking an individual who is highly collaborative, intellectually curious, driven, trustworthy, humble, and who brings an adaptable and flexible working style. The Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry must be highly organized, thoughtful, and bring sound judgement and technical decision-making abilities. The company is creating a culture of highly engaged colleagues who put the team and the science above the self and operate with a sense of urgency. As such, the Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry should be highly nuanced in terms of their interpersonal style and able to lead and work effectively within a highly collaborative, entrepreneurial, and fast-paced start-up environment.

From an educational perspective, we are seeking an individual with a Ph.D. and/or BS/MS in a relevant discipline such as chemistry or protein engineering. It is understood that education, while an important index of achievement, orientation, and intellectual capacity, will not constitute the primary variable in this decision process. Personal characteristics, leadership abilities, technical fluency, creativity, work ethic, behavioral flexibility, and demonstrated accomplishments will serve as key components in the evaluation of candidates. This person will be based on-site at the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA.