Senior Scientist - Immunology/Nucleic Acid Therapeutics

Role Description

Are you a passionate scientist with expertise in immunology, nucleic acid-based prophylactics and therapeutics, and synthetic biology and cell engineering, with experience supporting programs and projects pertaining to bioengineered solutions for complex health issues at the intersection of host biology and polymers/minerals? Are you ready to support the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in their mission to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone by supporting complex and leading-edge research and development (R&D) projects designed to arrive at high-impact solutions to society's most challenging health problems?

In this role, you will collaborate with the ARPA-H Program Manager and team to effectuate bold ARPA-H research initiatives, support the development, funding, and management of new and existing R&D programs to meet ARPA-H’s mission to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. This role will support the management of programs and projects in topics pertaining to novel therapeutic modalities, including but not limited to:

• Nucleic acids
• Viruses
• Commensal microorganisms
• Cell therapies

Current and planned efforts include:

• In vivo cell engineering
• Protein editing
• Tunable therapies that sense and respond to cell stimuli
• Trans-omic sequencing platform development to enable total molecular analysis of individual cells for research, diagnostics, and therapeutic design
• Detection of and removal of toxic substances from the body

This is a remote, temporary position.

These SETA duties include but are not limited to:

• Assist, support, and provide advice to the Program Manager to further the development and progress of new and existing programs.
• Conduct thorough technical scientific evaluation of the current R&D landscape to identify gaps in research portfolios and address critical needs that are aligned with the ARPA-H mission.
• Monitor and track performers progress toward established metrics.
• Read and digest complex information and develop team and executive level briefings for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Use your strong logical and critical thinking skills to critically review scientific and technical data.
• Integrate into an existing team to support current ARPA-H efforts and operate independently and in a group environment in support of technical R&D efforts.
• Perform basic administrative tasks such as collecting, sorting, analyzing, and writing Internal programmatic reports/briefings on relevant topics in a health-related field.
• Some CONUS travel is expected (~10-20%) as needed to fully support the Program Manager and Program.

Qualifications

• PhD in one of the following or related fields: immunology, nucleic acid therapeutics, synthetic biology, analytical chemistry, materials science, and applied biotechnology.
• Experience in immunology, nucleic acid-based prophylactics and therapeutics, nucleic acid delivery, synthetic biology and cell engineering, gene regulation, biochemistry, analytical and polymer chemistry, materials science, mass spectrometry, in vivo imaging techniques, toxicology, cell and structural biology, biomaterials, nanotechnology, and microbiome and microbial communities.
• Experience coordinating independent verification and validation, and previous experience managing programs with cooperative agreements, Other Transaction (OT) awards, milestone-based contracts, FFRDCs, interagency efforts, and commercialization efforts.
• Strong PowerPoint and Excel skills, including proficiency with keyboard shortcuts and ability to create PPT slides and Excel files on the fly during a meeting in a high-pressure environment.
• Professional curiosity, continuous drive for learning, and the ability to focus on assigned tasks.
• Strong technical writing skills, ability to communicate complex scientific ideas to broad audiences, digest basic and applied research across areas of biotechnology and apply to health capability gaps.
• Expertise anticipating and mitigating ethical, legal, and societal implications of high-profile research efforts.
• Must be able to obtain a federal government Public Trust clearance.

Desired Skills

• Experience with animal/clinical studies, diagnostic development, therapeutic development, regulatory requirements, and test and evaluation.
• Previous experience with basic and applied research.
• Prior support to executives managing large budget programs in an R&D environment.