Director, Protein Engineering

We are seeking an experienced Director of Protein Engineering to lead antibody engineering efforts supporting our therapeutic antibody programs. This senior scientific leadership role requires deep expertise across the full antibody drug development lifecycle, with particular strength in antibody engineering, optimization, and developability improvement.

The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of industrial experience in biologics drug discovery and development, with a proven track record of advancing therapeutic antibody programs through key development milestones, including IND or clinical-stage development.

• Lead protein and antibody engineering strategies for therapeutic antibody programs from discovery through clinical development.
• Drive antibody optimization, including affinity maturation, humanization, sequence optimization, stability and manufacturability improvement, immunogenicity risk reduction, and developability assessment.
• Provide scientific leadership across the antibody development workflow, including target validation, antibody discovery, lead selection, engineering, CMC interface, and IND-enabling studies.
• Build and optimize protein engineering platforms, workflows, and screening strategies to improve antibody quality, functionality, and developability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including antibody discovery, translational biology, pharmacology, CMC, DMPK, toxicology, clinical development, and regulatory affairs.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies in antibody engineering, protein design, display technologies, developability prediction, and high-throughput screening.
• Support external collaborations, CRO/CDMO management, and technology partnerships as needed.

• Ph.D. in Protein Engineering, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Structural Biology, Biophysics, or a related field.
• 10+ years of industrial experience in therapeutic antibody or biologics drug development.
• Deep expertise in antibody engineering, including humanization, affinity maturation, Fc engineering, bispecific or multispecific antibody engineering, developability optimization, and sequence-risk assessment.
• Strong understanding of the full therapeutic antibody development process, from early discovery through IND and clinical development.
• Proven experience contributing to or leading antibody programs that reached IND filing, clinical candidate nomination, or clinical-stage development.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills across discovery, CMC, preclinical, translational, clinical, and regulatory functions.

• Experience building or leading a protein engineering or antibody engineering platform in a biotech, pharmaceutical, or biologics-focused organization.
• Experience with computational protein design, AI-assisted antibody engineering, developability prediction, or structure-guided antibody optimization.
• Familiarity with global biologics development standards and regulatory expectations.