Principal Scientist, Structural Biology / Protein Biophysics

The role

This Principal Scientist will build an amyloid research platform by producing assay-grade proteins and developing aggregation and structural assays. The role involves characterizing amyloid aggregates and evaluating inhibitors to advance therapies for amyloidogenic diseases.

What you will do

• Contribute to scientific and technical direction to shape company strategy.
• Establish in-house production and quality control of assay-grade recombinant amyloid proteins.
• Design and analyze amyloid aggregation experiments.
• Characterize amyloid aggregates via mass spectrometry, NMR, AFM, or related methods.
• Support the build of cell-based assays for evaluating amyloid toxicity, seeding, and clearance.
• Evaluate inhibitors of amyloid aggregation and translate findings into cellular models.
• Scope, contract, and manage CROs and academic collaborations.
• Drive key project goals and translate experimental results into insights.

Required qualifications

• PhD in structural biology, chemical biology, biochemistry, biophysics, physical chemistry, or a related field.
• 8+ years of relevant industry or postdoctoral experience.
• Hands-on recombinant protein expression, purification, and QC.
• Deep expertise with kinetic assays of protein aggregation.
• Familiarity with global kinetic-fitting of resulting data.
• Familiarity with amyloid aggregation mechanisms and strain/seeding biology.
• Familiarity with cofactor/inducer systems.
• Strong organizational and written/verbal communication skills.

Nice to have

• Experience with structural characterization of proteins and aggregates using mass spectrometry-based approaches (e.g., LiP-MS, HDX-MS).
• Familiarity with cryo-EM, atomic force microscopy (AFM) or NMR is a plus.
• Experience with statistical design of experiments (DoE) and the analysis of large, time-resolved kinetic datasets.
• Experience managing contract research organizations (CROs).
• Familiarity with cell-based assays (toxicity, seeding, clearance) and laboratory automation/liquid handling.

Benefits

• Opportunity to lay the scientific foundation of a transformative company as an early employee.
• Custom-tailored role to maximize impactful contributions, professional growth, and scientific interests.
• Monthly social events.
• Community lunchroom with free snacks and coffee.
• Healthcare coverage.
• Annual incentive program.
• Retirement benefits.

About the company

Flagship Labs 132 (FL132) is an early-stage biotechnology company founded to address unmet need for patients with amyloidogenic diseases. It is backed by Flagship Pioneering, a company that invents and builds platform companies.