Senior Scientist, Viral Vector Design

What ifyou could join an organization that creates, resources, and builds life sciences companies that invent breakthrough technologies in order to transform health care and sustainability?

Flagship Labs 101 (FL101) is an early-stage biotechnology company with an ambitious and exciting mission: to leverage an innovative discovery platform to design and develop novel therapeutic modalities that target cell-cell Contact Biology. FL101 is developing a revolutionary approach to this challenge and is recruiting a team of top-tier scientists to build a powerful, first-in-category platform. This is a unique opportunity to be one of the first employees of a biotech startup that combines an innovative, and disruptive mindset with the resources and know-how of Flagship Pioneering.

Position Summary: We are seeking a motivated and highly collaborative Senior Scientist to join our Platform team. The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in molecular biology and engineering cellular systems for biological readouts, with a strong track record of innovation in viral vector design and functional genomics. Experience with high-throughput screening methods and next-generation sequencing (NGS) is strongly preferred. The candidate will work closely with a growing team of experimental and computational scientists to build a first-in-class discovery and therapeutic platform. The ideal candidate will be highly adaptable, have strong organizational and communication skills, and will thrive in a highly collaborative, and multidisciplinary environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Platform innovation, aligned with FL101's core strategic goals. We're looking for someone who can think critically and creatively about construct design and scalable cell-based assay development.
• Invent, design, and optimize multi-component viral vector systems, with attention to performance and reliability in complex cellular contexts.
• Optimize existing workflows and establish best experimental and documentation practices to enable platform excellence.
• Ensure rapid and accurate turnaround of data to drive achievement of key project goals.
• Translate experimental data into meaningful insights and present results at team meetings.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in molecular biology, cell biology, virology, genetics, or a similar field with 5+ years of industry or postdoctoral experience.
• Experience with viral vector design and gene therapy.
• Experience with library-scale or massively multiplexed screening approaches.
• Motivated team-player and independent force-of-nature with strong organizational and written/verbal communication skills.
• Hands-on experience with cell culture and high-throughput molecular techniques.

What we can offer you:

• Opportunity to lay the scientific foundation of a transformative platform company as an early employee.
• A custom-tailored role to maximize impactful contributions, professional growth, and scientific interests.
• Weekly lunches, monthly social events, and community lunchroom with free snacks, and a vibrant community of scientists and entrepreneurs.

Values and Behaviors:

Flagship is an experiment in institutional, entrepreneurial, and innovation practiced in the context of a small company with an insurgent mindset. We are seeking individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit, strong communication skills, and comfort in working in and contributing to a dynamic and cross-functional team environment. The level of the role will be commensurate with the education and years of experience of the identified candidates.

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies arecommitted to equal employment opportunityregardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.