Senior Scientist / Scientist - Enzyme Engineering & HMO Chemistry

Are you ready for a new beginning?

We need your talent, knowledge and dedication to better our world with biology.

Our purpose points the way

In Novonesis, we know that solutions rooted in biology can help solve humanity's biggest challenges. Since we began more than a century ago, this has been our guide. It's how we've gotten so far. And it's how we'll impact the future. Now, more than ever, the world needs change. And with biosolutions, the possibilities for transformation are endless.

We're here to better our world with biology.

Join us as our new Senior Scientist / Scientist

We are seeking a Senior Scientist / Scientist to join our Bioanalytical Chemistry & Automation Department within our R&D site located in Davis, California. The site of 60+ employees in Davis works together to unlock the potential of bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi as biological solutions to address the needs in our world. We foster a collaborative environment with a shared vision for pursuing science that has an impact, by working smart and enjoying the scientific journey.

This position will lead experimental work on a newly funded 3-year project sponsored by the US National Science Foundation. This project will significantly improve and expand the enzymatic toolbox available for producing complex human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and thereby provide economically viable routes to produce these important molecules.

In this role you'll make an impact by:

• Working in cross-functional teams at Novonesis and with academic collaborators using AI-inspired protein design to create, test, and develop improved enzymes and microbes to support an NSF-funded project.

• Developing and executing screening assays to evaluate libraries of natural and engineered enzyme diversity and identify promising glycan-active enzymes.

• Applying your knowledge of enzymology, biochemistry, carbohydrate chemistry and engineering in the lab to characterize activity, stability, substrate specificity and expression levels of candidate enzymes

• Uncovering connections between genotypes and key phenotypes in iterative design, build, test, learn cycles

• Developing processes to produce desired HMOs at lab scale

• Being an active participant in research planning, testing, discussions, and deciding what's next for the project in conjunction with the collaborative project team.

• Sharing and presenting research results and written reports with the project team and sponsoring agency.

Minimum Job requirements:

• PhD in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology or a related field with a strong research emphasis on engineering and characterizing enzymes. BS or MS with equivalent and relevant work experience may also be considered.

• Prior hands-on experience applying colorimetric, fluorometric, chromatography or mass spectrometry techniques to create and implement new assays to evaluate enzyme diversity hundreds or thousands at a time and strong drive to apply high-throughput techniques and statistical designs to enzyme screens.

• Prior examples of applying statistics and developing data tools to efficiently analyze high-throughput screening data to analyze protein engineering campaigns

• Strong understanding of carbohydrate chemistry and carbohydrate-active enzymes

• Prior use of PyMol, Chimera, or similar software to visualize and compare protein structures

• Familiarity with protein expression or strain engineering methods in at least one of the following organism types, E. coli, Bacillus sp., K. phaffii (Pichia), yeast and/or filamentous fungi

• A strong desire to work as a member of an empowered, cross-disciplinary problem-solving team

• A mindset that embraces challenging science, recognizes change as an opportunity and finds satisfaction in team success

• Strong written and oral communication skills for sharing research results with collaborators and funding agency

• Commitment to a lab-based position with an expectation of substantial work on-site in Davis, CA.

Prior experience with one or more of the following is especially beneficial in this position:

• Enzymatic glycosylation chemistries, including glycosyltransferases, and familiarity with HMOs

• Application of mass spectrometry for enzymatic screening including ion mobility techniques

• Basic use of one or more current protein structure prediction and design tools (e.g. Alphafold, RFDiffusion, Boltz, Protein MPNN and others)

• Experience utilizing cell free systems to express enzymes (e.g. in vitro transcription translation / IVTT)

• Familiarity with Benchling or other similar electronic laboratory notebook system

• Hands-on use operating and programming lab automation / liquid handling robots (Biomek, Echo, Hamilton, or Opentrons)

• Familiarity with statistical software including JMP

• Python coding experience for scientific data analysis

Application deadline: August 18, 2025

Expected salary range: Senior Scientist: $125,000-$145,000, Scientist: $95,000-$115,000

(Position will be hired at a level commensurate with relevant experience)

This position will support an externally funded grant, and employment is contingent on continued funding. The initial term of hire will be for two years with ability to renew contingent on continued funding from the funding agency.

Employment for this term limited position will be at will. You or Novonesis may terminate this employment relationship at any time with or without reason.

Benefits you will enjoy:

• 401(k) with up to a 9% company contribution!

• Minimum of 3 weeks' vacation plus 12 holidays and 2 weeks of Wellness Time

• Health, Dental, Vision & Life insurance

• Healthcare savings account option with generous employer contribution

• Employee assistance program

• Parental leave

• Tuition reimbursement

• All benefits begin on your first day!

Could our purpose be yours? Then apply today!

At Novonesis we commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants. We recommend you not to attach a cover letter to your application. Instead, please include a few sentences in your resume/CV about why you are applying. To ensure a fair recruitment process, please refrain from adding a photo in your resume/CV.

Novonesis is dedicated to fostering a unique community by embracing and respecting differences. We make all employment decisions based on business needs, ensuring that every individual can thrive, regardless of identity or background such as ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.

Want to learn more?

Learn more about Novonesis, our purpose, and your career opportunities at novonesis.com

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