The Opportunity
Fortis is a global leader in life sciences and diagnostics reagents and solutions. We partner with our customers to design, validate and manufacture solutions to solve their complex development problems. Our Teams work together across various sites, functions & scientific disciplines to help our customers bring their innovations to market with confidence.
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. We are an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We are an E-Verify Employer in the United States.
