Senior Scientist – Immunology and biotherapeutics

WORK ARRANGEMENT: On-Site Working, #On-siteLOCATION: Cambridge, MARELOCATION SUPPORT: This role is based in Cambridge, United States. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible.We are seeking a highly motivated senior scientist with strong expertise in human immunology, immune profiling, and disease-relevant multicellular assay systems, combined with working knowledge of xRNA biotherapeutics and general immunogenicity principles. The successful candidate will lead immunology-focused studies to evaluate how novel biotherapeutic modalities, including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs) and related xRNA approaches, interact with immune cells and pathways. This role will generate mechanistic insights to inform therapeutic design, candidate selection, translational biomarker strategies, and early safety risk assessment, with a primary emphasis on immunological understanding and assay excellence.

The Immunogenicity and Mechanistic Immunology unit in the Biologics Research Center (BRC) focuses son immune profiling and immunogenicity assessment that inform the characterization and optimization of biotherapeutics, including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOC) expansion across disease areas.  The scientist will join our Cambridge immunology team and work in matrix multidisciplinary project teams to design and execute immune profiling studies tailored to specific target tissues and disease to support the selection of safe and effective AOC in various disease areas.   KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: Design, establish, and execute immunology-focused profiling strategies to evaluate immune cell activation, modulation, cytokine release, innate immune sensing, adaptive immune responses, and disease-relevant functional outcomes. Competent and independent in executing and analyzing complex assays involving primary cells (including primary immune and non-immune cells), multicolor FACS analysis and functional immunological assays  Generates hypotheses, designs and executes experiments, critically analyzes and interprets data, able to prioritize experiments and design follow-up experiments Generate mechanistic immunology data packages to support candidate optimization, translational biomarker hypotheses, safety risk assessment, and decision-making across discovery and early development programs. Collaborate closely with teams in immunology, disease biology, oligonucleotide biology, antibody engineering, bioanalytics, toxicology, and translational medicine to align assay strategy with program needs. Regularly communicate and present results, prepare reports, representing the Unit in project teams Open mindset, organization skills and ability and eagerness to develop novel assays or analysis tools based on project needs in different disease areas Maintain familiarity with scientific and technical literature pertinent to the projects Video Link   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJbkTX4VueQ  ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: Recent Ph.D. graduate (0-1 year) or MSc in Life Science, preferably immunology or cell biology plus 2–5-year research experience in human immunology or cell biology in industry or academic settings Deep expertise in human immunology and immune assay development, preferably using primary immune cells, multicellular assay systems, tissue-relevant models, or disease-relevant ex vivo platforms. Experience assessing immunogenicity, immune activation, cytokine release, anti-drug immune responses, or immune-related liabilities for biologics or emerging therapeutic modalities  Demonstrated ability to critically analyze data, learn and combine new techniques and concepts quickly, design and prioritize experiments  Proficiency with immunological and molecular readouts such as flow cytometry, immunoassays, qPCR, transcriptomics or imaging. Scientific curiosity, initiative, commitment, flexibility and good organization and presentation skills  Work independently and as a team member with open communication with groups and collaborators  DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS: Working knowledge of xRNA biotherapeutics, AOC or antibody-based delivery platforms is highly desirable Experience in orthogonal omics data analysis is a plus but not mandatory  Why Novartis?  Our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives and our vision is to become the most valued and trusted medicines company in the world. How can we achieve this? With our people. It is our associates that drive us each day to reach our ambitions. Be a part of this mission and join us.  Rewards:  The salary for this position is expected to range between $98,700 & $183,300 per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors. Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.  To learn more about the culture, rewards and benefits we offer our people click here.