Sr. Associate Scientist, Polysaccharide Process Development

---

Job description

Join our Mission to Protect Humankind!

Vaxcyte is a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. Working to eradicate or treat bacterial infections such as invasive pneumococcal disease, Group A Strep, periodontitis and Shigella is just the beginning. Our path to success is clear and well-defined, and Vaxcyte is set up to go the distance.

WHAT we do is every bit as important as HOW we do it! Our work together is guided by four enduring core values:

RETHINK CONVENTION: We bring creative and intellectual diversity to every facet of the work we do in order to innovate and re-innovate the way vaccines are delivered.

AIM HIGH: We embody our collectively audacious goal to courageously make the most complex biologics ever attempted to protect humankind.

LEAD WITH HEART: Everyone leads at Vaxcyte with a kindness-first, inclusive approach to collaboration and vigorous debate that advances our business objectives.

MODEL EXCELLENCE: The magnitude of our challenge requires our shared commitment to demonstrating integrity, accountability, equality and clarity across communications and decision making.

Summary:

Vaxcyte is looking for a talented Scientist who will contribute to the research and development of a novel bacterial polysaccharide conjugate vaccine. The ideal candidate will have excellent practical laboratory experience in developing scalable polysaccharide purification processes utilizing column chromatography, tangential flow filtration, and related chemistry techniques. The successful candidate will be expected to optimize and troubleshoot the downstream polysaccharide purification procedures independently with minimal guidance. The candidate will also contribute when needed to a range of related areas such as culturing BSL-2 bacterial strains, scale-up, and analytical development. Responsibilities will additionally include record management, data presentation at group meetings, and contributing to the authorship of laboratory protocols, development reports, and peer-reviewed publications.
Essential Functions:

• Purify polysaccharides using a variety of methods including FPLC chromatography, depth filter, and tangential flow filtration (TFF).
• Analyze polysaccharides with analytical methods including but not limited to colorimetric assays, HPLC assays, and SEC-MALS.
• Determine and elucidate the process required to ensure consistent, robust, large-scale polysaccharide purification processes suitable for manufacturing production.
• Operate and maintain lab scale equipment and instrumentation for BSL-2 level bacterial culture and primary recovery.
• Maintain highly organized records to enable optimization and assessment of reproducibility.
• Attend team meetings ready to provide updates on development progress.
• Support Vaxcyte's pipeline development and paper publications as required.
• Be an outstanding teammate and collaborate across groups both internal and external to Vaxcyte.
• Cultivate a cohesive, innovative, and productive team environment and mentor junior scientists.

Requirements:

• B.S. in chemistry, biochemistry, or related field with 8+ years of relevant industry experience; MS with 5+ years of relevant industry experience, or Ph.D. with two years of relevant industry experience.
• Highly experienced in purification methods such as diafiltration and laboratory-scale FPLC chromatography. Experience with depth filters and tangential flow filtration (TFF) is required.
• Proven track record of developing scalable processes suitable for the pharma/Biotech industry. Experience with vaccines, carbohydrates, or protein is a plus.
• Experience in analytical methods, including colorimetric assays, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), HPAEC-PAD, HPLC, SEC-MALS, SDS-PAGE, silver stain, and Western blotting for the characterization of reaction products.
• Skilled in the principles of DoE (Design of Experiments); practical experience
• with DoE software; proficient in the design and interpretation of statistically modeled experiments.
• Prior experience with bioreactor fermentations, including shake flasks and Sartorius Ambr 250 bioreactor system.
• Attention to detail and excellent organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills: ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in written formats.
• Self-starter: ability to work in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment and collaborate effectively with other team members.
• Enthusiasm for learning the new skills and techniques necessary to tackle problems outside of one's current area of expertise.

Reports to: Group Leader, Research and Development

Location: San Carlos, CA

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

Salary Range: $99,000 - $115,000

Vaxcyte, Inc.
825 Industrial Road, Suite 300
San Carlos, CA 94070

We are an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

<!– job description page –>