Principal Scientist / Lab Head, Biotherapeutics Discovery, Protein Sciences and Reagent Provision (Ridgefield, CT, United States, Connecticut)

Description

Boehringer Ingelheim is seeking a highly skilled Principal Scientist / Lab Head to lead a Protein Sciences and Reagent Provision team within the Biotherapeutics Discovery organization in Ridgefield, CT. In this lab-head role, the selected candidate will be accountable for the design, generation, characterization, and timely supply of high-quality protein reagents that enable antibody generation and support therapeutic concept validation.

This role will lead an interdisciplinary team responsible for producing soluble and membrane-associated antigens, species orthologs, engineered variants, tagged constructs, control proteins, and other fit-for-purpose reagents required for immunization, in vitro antibody discovery, screening, hit characterization, and lead optimization. The Principal Scientist will set scientific strategy, ensure operational excellence, and partner closely with Antibody Generation, Protein Engineering, Biophysics, Bioinformatics, therapeutic area partners, and external CROs to deliver reagents aligned with portfolio priorities.

As part of Boehringer Ingelheim, the successful candidate will contribute to the discovery, development, and delivery of innovative biologics for patients and customers. The organization’s global presence provides opportunities for international collaboration, increasing visibility and enabling meaningful contributions to the company's success. Boehringer Ingelheim recognizes that its strength and competitive advantage lie in its people and supports employees through a healthy working environment, meaningful work, mobility, networking, and work-life balance. Competitive compensation and benefit programs reflect the company's high regard for its workforce

Duties & Responsibilities

•    Leads a scientific team responsible for the generation and supply of high-quality protein reagents to support antibody generation, including immunization campaigns, display selections, screening assays, binding characterization, functional profiling, and lead optimization.

•    Defines and executes reagent strategies for diverse target classes, including soluble proteins, extracellular domains, integral membrane proteins, multi-pass membrane targets, species orthologs, engineered variants, mutant proteins, tagged constructs, Fc-fusions, biotinylated proteins, and assay controls.

•    Oversees construct design, cloning, expression system selection, protein expression, purification, analytical characterization, formulation, storage, inventory management, and distribution of reagents to internal and external partners.

•    Partners closely with Antibody Generation to ensure reagent quality, format, stability, purity, activity, and turnaround timelines are fit for immunization, phage and yeast display, high-throughput screening, affinity maturation, and downstream characterization workflows.

•    Establishes and maintains robust quality expectations for protein reagents, including identity, purity, aggregation state, post-translational modification status, binding competence, functional activity, endotoxin level where appropriate, and documentation of lot-to-lot consistency.

•    Ensures rigorous protein characterization of delivered reagents, including confirmation of molecular identity, purity, aggregation state, oligomeric state, and post-translational modifications using methods such as mass spectrometry and size exclusion chromatography.

•    Builds scalable processes and governance for reagent prioritization, intake, feasibility assessment, delivery tracking, CRO oversight, and communication of risks, timelines, and tradeoffs to project teams and leadership.

•    Applies current knowledge of protein biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, cell biology, and biotherapeutic discovery to troubleshoot challenging targets and recommend innovative approaches to expand accessible target space.

•    Provides expert guidance on protein structures and uses AlphaFold or other structure-prediction tools to inform construct design, troubleshoot challenging targets, and guide reagent protein engineering strategies.

•    Identifies, evaluates, and implements new technologies to improve reagent success rates, speed, throughput, quality, and data capture, including automation, digital workflows, computational design, membrane protein production approaches, and external partner capabilities.

•    Serves as a scientific and strategic partner on project teams, contributing to target feasibility, reagent design decisions, antibody discovery strategy, data interpretation, and advancement of therapeutic concepts.

•    Develops, mentors, and manages scientific staff; fosters a culture of scientific rigor, collaboration, accountability, innovation, inclusion, and continuous improvement.

•    Maintains meticulous experimental records, reagent documentation, and data packages consistent with SOPs, safety expectations, and regulatory-quality scientific practice.

•    Prepares and delivers clear technical reports, project updates, scientific presentations, and recommendations to internal leadership, project teams, and external scientific audiences.

•    Contributes to departmental administration, resource planning, budget stewardship, vendor management, laboratory operations, and capital equipment planning within the area of responsibility.

Requirements

•    Ph.D. in biochemistry, protein chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, structural biology, biophysics, or a related discipline, with five (5) or more years of relevant industry experience, or equivalent experience.

•    One (1) to three (3) years´ experience leading employees and projects is required.

•    Demonstrated expertise in protein reagent generation, including construct design, recombinant expression, purification, analytical characterization, reagent QC, and delivery of fit-for-purpose proteins for antibody discovery or related biologics workflows.

•    Strong knowledge of mammalian, insect, bacterial, and/or cell-free expression systems, with experience selecting appropriate platforms based on target biology, reagent requirements, timelines, and downstream application.

•    Hands-on experience with protein purification and characterization methods such as affinity, ion exchange, size-exclusion, HIC, SEC-MALS, mass spectrometry, SDS-PAGE, analytical SEC, endotoxin testing, thermal stability, binding assays, and activity assays.

•    Experience generating challenging protein reagents, such as membrane proteins, multi-domain proteins, low-expressing targets, unstable proteins, species ortholog panels, engineered variants, or proteins requiring specific post-translational modifications, is strongly preferred

•    Demonstrated understanding of protein structure and proficiency in applying AlphaFold or comparable structure-prediction tools to support construct design.

•    Prior experience with computational protein design (e.g. using ProteinMPNN) is preferred.

•    Understanding of antibody generation workflows, including immunization, phage or yeast display, screening, hit confirmation, affinity measurement, functional characterization, and the impact of reagent quality on discovery outcomes.

•    Experience leading employees, managing scientific projects, coordinating external vendors or CROs, and prioritizing work across multiple portfolio needs is preferred.

•    Familiarity with digital systems for sequence design, inventory management, electronic notebooks, sample tracking, data analysis, and biologics discovery workflows is preferred.

•    Excellent written and oral communication skills, strong project management capability, and ability to influence in a matrixed, interdisciplinary research environment are required.

Eligibility Requirements:  

•    Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without restriction.

•    Must be willing to submit to a background investigation, including verification of your past employment, criminal history, and educational background.

•    Must be willing to take a drug test and post-offer physical (if required).

•    Must be 18 years of age or older.

Compensation Data

This position offers a base salary typically between $140,800.00 and $211,200.00 USD.  The position may be eligible for a role specific variable or performance based bonus and or other compensation elements.  For an overview of our benefits please click here .

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