Scientist II, Upstream Development for Protein Development and Manufacturing

Summary:

Vaxcyte is seeking a talented and experienced Scientist II, to join the Upstream Process Development group within the Protein Development and CMC team. This is an exciting opportunity to join an outstanding team pursuing bacterial fermentation development at Vaxcyte.

The successful candidate will have the following skills and qualities:

• A skilled upstream scientist with expertise in developing and characterizing bacterial fermentation processes for protein production.
• Hands-on experience operating and maintaining bioreactors, including Ambr® 250, at laboratory scale.
• Experience with pilot scale fermentation and recovery equipment is a plus.
• Skillful in analyzing and presenting data for process improvements, troubleshooting, and optimization.
• An exceptional team player who works seamlessly with others, speaks up, and remains focused on achieving the best results to achieve company goals.
• An experienced scientist who works with growing independence, collaborates across functional teams, and mentors junior colleagues.
• Strong organizational and planning skills.

Essential Functions:

• Contribute significantly to the development and characterization of upstream fermentation processes.
• Serve as a primary technical contributor to operational activities related to bioreactor set-up, monitoring, harvest, and maintenance.
• Develop, test, and implement recipe scripting for fed-batch fermentation feeding controls.
• Provide engineering support for design, implementation, and qualification of scale-down models.
• Author SOPs (standard operating procedure), process flow diagrams and batch records.
• Analyze and present fermentation data at internal project meetings. Participate in upstream database management and documentation in electronic notebooks.
• Collaborate with Downstream Process Development, Pilot Plant, MSAT, or Analytical Development as needed.
• Provide guidance or mentorship to junior team members.

Requirements: 

• PhD with 2-5 years, MS with 7 years, or BA/BS with a minimum of 10 years of relevant Pharma/Biotech industry experience. Other combinations of education and/or experience may be considered.
• Strong scientific background and hands-on experience with fermentation and/or primary recovery unit operations.
• Good understanding in fundamentals of bioreactor design, operation and controls.
• Strong knowledge of aseptic techniques
• Mechanical and technical knowledge of primary recovery unit operations such as homogenization, centrifugation, and depth filtration, is a plus
• Understanding of fermentation scale up and development of scale down models
• Familiarity with DoE (Design of Experiments) principles and software.
• Familiarity with regulatory requirements of biotherapeutics. Late-stage process characterization experience is a plus.