The Opportunity

The Senior Manager of VHH Discovery will be a technical expert and platform owner for all VHH Discovery programs within Fortis. Reporting to the Director, R&D and Platform Services, this individual will own all day-to-day operations for VHH Discovery and create meaningful contributions towards strategic growth of portfolio for both products and services. The Sr. Manager will directly oversee all client service projects (40+ in parallel). This individual will be meticulously detail-oriented and organized, comfortable leading meetings and presenting data to client teams in a variety of media, and a technical expert in phage display and protein engineering techniques.

What You Will Do:

• Design, execute, and oversee end-to-end VHH discovery campaigns - from immunization and library construction through phage display panning, hit identification, and characterization.
• Primary scientific expert point of contact for all VHH Discovery data, spanning both external service projects in pharma, biotech, and academic spaces and internal research and new product development projects.
• Coordinates project schedules between animal facing teams (Production, Animal Operations, and QC) and laboratory teams, creating longitudinal project planning toward the success of campaigns in the VHH Discovery platform.
• Manage a team of RAs and junior scientific staff directly, incorporating growth plans for development into strategic initiatives.
• Function as resource and mentor for both direct team and for cross-functional teams involved in adjacent work phases.
• Foster a culture of scientific rigor, direct and kind communication, collaboration, and scientific curiosity and innovation within the team and across the business unit and Fortis.

Additional Functions:

• On-site lab activities specifically to support gaps in library construction, panning, screening, and sequencing workflows.
• Design work such as project proposals which may use advanced techniques.
• Function in an R&D scientist role to de-risk new technologies or demonstrate proof-of-concept.
• Administrative duties such as scheduling of projects, maintenance of project tracking databases or spreadsheets, and other aspects of project management toward immunization campaigns.
• Contribute or oversee scientific publications, posters, white papers, and other technical content.
• Represent the brand and the greater business unit at professional conferences and meetings, and client visits.
• May contribute to and oversee compliance-related work such as quality documentation and regulatory activities.
• Additional duties supporting the needs of the business as assigned

Who You Are & What You Bring:

Education & Experience:

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Protein Engineering, Immunology, or a related discipline required
• 5+ years of expertise in phage libraries and in phage display of proteins, peptides, antibodies and antibody fragments.
• Proficiency in each of 1) screening techniques such as ELISA, flow cytometry, reporter assays, Luminex, etc., 2) kinetic analysis of protein-protein interactions such as SPR, BLI, FP, TR-FRET, MST, etc., and 3) functional validation and characterization such as IHC, western blot, IP, etc.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Experience in a fast-paced environment such as CRO or CDMO companies
• In-vivo antibody discovery experience is preferred.
• Knowledge in creating novel molecular biology systems
• Experience in multitudes of protein engineering strategies is preferred: structure-based design, epPCR, PACE/PRANCE, random recombination, scanning mutagenesis, etc.
• Deep familiarity in alternative display systems in addition to phage display

What We Offer

We have an incredibly talented group of intelligent, down-to-earth individuals who are committed to developing and manufacturing only the highest quality products. Our mission: "Pursuing a Healthier World by Creating Tomorrow's Science Today" is complemented by our core values:

Customer First - We prioritize the experience and outcomes of our customers above all.

Integrity - We are honest and accountable, holding ourselves to a high standard of ethical conduct.

Trust - We believe an engaged, empowered team begins with a foundation of trust. We trust our team members to make the right decisions and to be driven by and evaluated on results.

Entrepreneurship - We encourage smart risk taking. We value novel mistakes in the pursuit of innovation.

Excellence - We believe in solving for root cause. No shortcuts, no "band-aids".

Fortis provides a competitive salary, success-sharing bonus plan, medical, dental, disability and life insurance, and a 401(k) plan.