Roche Posted September 11, 2026

Group Leader, Antibody Engineering

Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland FULL_TIME
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About this opportunity

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections,  where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

JOB DESCRIPTION

GROUP LEADER OF ANTIBODY ENGINEERING at China Innovation Center of Roche (CICoR)

POSITION

At Roche, over 100,000 colleagues worldwide are working together and doing what patients need next. Our ambition is to deliver novel therapeutics, diagnostic solutions and insights to patients with game changing clinical benefits. China Innovation Center of Roche (CICoR) is seeking a Group Leader and (Senior) Principal Scientist of Antibody Engineering in Biologics Discovery and Development Department with a keen interest and deep knowledge in drug discovery and development, who will lead the antibody generation, engineering and optimization efforts to deliver novel therapeutic antibody clinical candidates in Oncology, Immunology and CVRM. This leader will contribute to evolving the Antibody Discovery strategy. This leader will collaborate with colleagues in Biologics Discovery and Development, Lead Discovery, Pharmaceutical Sciences and disease areas to advance the biologics discovery programs into early development.

This is a high impact leadership position in a multi-national company R&D setting. We are looking for someone who welcomes and thrives in challenges, shapes strategy and vision with the team and continuously supports and develops every member of the team. The position calls for urgency to constantly innovate our technologies and translate relevant disease biology into impactful therapeutic candidates, and to seamlessly interface with other modalities, disease areas and global functions and to be a part of a strong global research network.

RESPONSIBILITIES

● Contribute a strong growth mindset and provide leadership in an agile and fast developing R&D environment. You leverage your experience and expertise while making it your mission to coach, mentor, empower and develop your team members.

● Collaborate with Lead Discovery and Pharmaceutical Sciences to expand antibody discovery capabilities to drive in-house antibody discovery projects

● Evolve the antibody discovery strategy in the new AI era to meet the needs of CICoR discovery area strategies

● Lead your team to contribute to delivery of novel therapeutic antibody candidates

● Balance development of internal technologies/capabilities/capacities with external innovations/collaborations.

● Establish and maintain strong relationships with CROs and biotech companies in the Chinese ecosystem.

● Possess a strong ownership of LM discovery portfolio and contribute to project strategies in the context of the portfolio.

● Collaborate with all scientific functions and enable cross-functional project teams.

● Participate in due diligence to evaluate relevant external opportunities in order to license assets or technologies.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Qualification and experience

The candidate qualifications include a PhD or joint MD/PhD in antibody/protein engineering, biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, or molecular biology along with significant and current expertise in antibody engineering and discovery. The candidate ideally is an experienced people leader and has at least eight years of experience in a pharmaceutical biotechnology industry research setting. Exceptional candidates from innovative academic centers will also be considered. Candidates must have a proven track record in drug discovery and evidence of scientific accomplishments.

Competencies

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated competence in the following areas:

● Scientific expertise: This candidate should be well recognized in the field with consistent publications in top-tier journals, and presentations at key scientific conferences. He/she has a strong track record in antibody engineering, antibody discovery and development and ideally also in experience in moving projects from target validation to clinical candidate selection. He/she has excellent knowledge in antibody engineering, diversity generation, functional characterization, developability/immunogenicity optimization, bi/multi-specific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates and AI in drug discovery. He/she also has a sound understanding of disease-relevant biology in immunology, oncology and/or cardiovascular-renal-metabolism.

● Leadership: An effective leader of direct lines as well as matrix teams, who cares about the development of his reports and is an excellent motivator and coach.

● Collaboration: The candidate is highly collaborative, internally and in partnerships with external organizations. He/she can motivate others to get things done while adopting the Roche values of integrity, courage, and passion, and embracing humility, responsibility and curiosity. He/she proactively seeks input in decision-making and shows others how their objectives align. He/she actively contributes to the broader organization, and invests in building relationships within Roche, and in the innovation ecosystem in China and worldwide. The role requires an exceptional leader with a desire to work with peers and partners in order to improve performance and meet goals.

● Communication: Exceptional communication skills for navigating and seeking opportunities within our internal and external networks.

● Agile and innovative mindset: Always ready to step out of the box for creating and exploring new ideas, yet is results and high performance driven. The candidate we seek is energized by challenges, and is not afraid of taking risks. The candidate always takes full ownership and responsibilities.

 

 

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 887 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 85 biopharma companies.

887Comparable roles tracked
848Currently active
85Companies hiring similar roles
31Countries represented

Salary context

361 of 887 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Vice President, Therapeutics Immunology · ModernaTX, Inc. $272,200/yr – $490,100/yr
Peer group range $0 – $381,150 (median $159,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 887 comparable roles

United States608
China42
Germany37
Switzerland34
United Kingdom30
France27

+ 25 more countries

Seniority mix

650 of 887 peers have a known seniority level

Senior210
Principal152
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc73
Director62
Associate59
Associate Director28
Senior Director28
Manager25
Executive/VP13

Therapeutic area mix

120 of 887 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology47
Oncology41
Neuroscience17
Cardiovascular / CVRM9
Respiratory2
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Rare Disease1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

40%similar
Roche Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland Principal
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Roche Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland Principal
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40%similar
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Notify me about similar jobs

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How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.