Director, Assay Development

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Job description

Company Summary:
Founded in 2017 within Flagship Labs, Cellarity's new approach to drug discovery is based on computational modeling of cell behavior, leading to a more complete understanding of system and network biology to uncover cell-behavior-targeted medicines for a wide variety of diseases. Cellarity recently raised $123 million in Series B financing. The round included contributions from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, The Baupost Group, Banque Pictet on behalf of their clients and eight other investors alongside Flagship Pioneering.

Cellarity is generating unprecedented biological insights by combining its unique expertise in network biology, high-resolution data, and machine learning. The result is a new understanding of the cell's trajectory from health to disease, and how cells relate to one another in tissues. Because the cell and its network of transcripts and proteins offer a more complete view of the complexity of human biology than any individual molecular target, Cellarity's approach allows for more efficient drug discovery and is designed to drive higher rates of clinical success. Already, the company has seven drug discovery programs underway in diverse therapeutic areas that range from metabolic disease to immuno-oncology.

Position Summary:
Cellarity is seeking a talented and highly motivated Associate Director/Director of Assay Development to play a vital role in the company's efforts to develop and validate assays across our diverse discovery portfolio. The candidate will be working under the supervision of the Head of Exploratory Biology and in close collaboration across Tech and Program Teams to refine and validate assays for screening as well as expand our platform capabilities. The successful candidate will have had first-hand experience miniaturizing and validating in vitro assays for diverse endpoints as well as managing/coaching a team of scientists pursuing scientific excellence. The ideal candidate must be independent, results oriented, willing to work in a highly dynamic and fast-paced entrepreneurial environment and possess excellent communication skills with a teaching-mindset.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a team of junior scientists pursuing a prioritized set of research experiments
• Strategically design and execute validation plans for in vitro screening assays and work with Program Teams to ensure seamless transfer
• Work as a part of Platform development teams to design and execute on Platform expansion efforts
• As a leader within the wet lab; develop and manage laboratory on-boarding to ensure consistent use of best practices
• Closely interact with external CROs, stakeholders within and outside Cellarity for questions beyond the candidate's area of expertise

Basic Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in pharmaceutical science, biochemistry, or related scientific discipline with +6 years or MS/BS with 10+years of relevant experience in the biopharmaceutical industry or CROs supporting in vitro screening assay development, preferably with a focus on small molecules
• Demonstrated success in developing novel in vitro assays in multiple disease areas
• Hands-on experience with small molecule drug discovery in different therapeutic areas using mono-culture, co-culture and 3D culture approaches
• Excellent communication skills and hands-on experience training bench scientists to excel
• Strengths in the following areas: creativity, problem-solving, and managing relationships within a matrix project team environment (internal/external partners)

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, "FSP") do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering's internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.