Principal Scientist (m/f/d) Protein Engineering (Vienna, Austria, Vienna)
About this opportunity
The position
We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Principal Scientist in Protein Engineering to join our Biotherapeutics Discovery Research organization in Vienna. In this role, you will lead the design, engineering, and optimization of next-generation therapeutic proteins, with a particular focus on T-cell engagers, including multispecific antibodies and other innovative biologic modalities. You will drive projects from early-stage research through candidate selection.
Working closely with cross-functional Oncology teams, you will leverage your expertise in antibody engineering, structure-function relationships, biophysical characterization, and developability assessment to translate novel biological concepts into differentiated protein-based therapeutics.
Tasks & responsibilities
Lead and mentor a team of scientists, ensuring high standards of laboratory safety, data quality, and professional development.
Drive the design, engineering, and optimization of multispecific antibodies and other therapeutic proteins, applying innovative protein engineering strategies.
Provide scientific and project leadership across portfolio projects, managing multidisciplinary teams from exploratory research through candidate selection.
Collaborate with Oncology scientists, internal experts, and external partners to translate emerging biological insights into differentiated protein-based therapeutic concepts.
Apply protein engineering expertise, leveraging computational, structural, and data-driven approaches to optimize activity, selectivity, stability, expression, and developability.
Requirements
PhD in Protein Engineering, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, or a related field, combined with substantial postdoctoral and/or industry experience in therapeutic protein or antibody engineering (3-5 years of industry experience).
Proven track record in the design and optimization of therapeutic proteins, ideally including multispecific antibodies or other complex biologics, with a strong understanding of antibody architecture and protein structure-function relationships.
Experience integrating sequence, biophysical, biochemical, and functional data to drive protein optimization; familiarity with computational protein design, structural modeling, and AI/ML-based approaches is highly desirable.
Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary discovery projects from exploratory research through candidate selection, supported by strong scientific judgment, communication skills, cross-functional collaboration, and effective decision-making in matrix organizations.
Hands-on, solution-oriented leader with a strong sense of ownership, a positive and proactive mindset, and a proven ability to deliver innovative therapeutic concepts through collaboration, agility, and operational excellence.
Your Benefits
Flexible working time models: home office and flexible working hours, depending on department and position – many things are possible with us.
Additional days off (“bridge-days”): more free time through additional days off to bridge single working days between bank holidays and the weekend – without having to use vacation days.
Canteen & Cafeteria: whether it's coffee and croissant for breakfast, various lunch menus or snacks in between – our subsidized staff restaurant & cafeteria has something for every taste including vegetarian and vegan options.
Learning & development: diverse training and development opportunities for your personal and professional growth. Because: you never stop learning.
Health promotion: health is important to us – that's why we offer different programs to promote physical and mental health.
Public transport ticket: we encourage our employees to use public transport on their daily way to work. Costs for public transport? We cover them!
The remuneration for this position starts at EUR 90.900 gross annual target salary per year (full time). The actual salary package depends on professional experience and qualifications. We will be happy to discuss further details in person.
We are looking forward to receiving your application online!
By uploading your application documents via our application portal, we can treat your data confidentially and in compliance with the GDPR.
Do you have any additional questions about the position? Your HR Recruiting Manager for this position is Magdalena Dzieweczyńska.
On our career site you will find further information about Boehringer Ingelheim as an employer as well as information about the application process and our different departments.
Would you like to know what makes our employees special? What they tell about their motivation and their everyday work? Watch this video and hear for yourself what our colleagues have to share.
Job details
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 425 comparable Principal Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 58 biopharma companies.
Salary context
196 of 425 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 425 comparable roles
+ 16 more countries
Seniority mix
425 of 425 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
52 of 425 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
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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.
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.