Group Leader Protein Optimization Team Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Edison Scientific builds and deploys AI scientist agents to accelerate science and the development of new medicines. We are an ambitious team run by scientists and engineers from leading institutions across biology, physics, chemistry, and AI.

Role

We're looking for a Protein Engineer to join our Forward Deployed team, working onsite with pharma and biotech partners alongside our engineers and computational biologists. In this role, you’ll ensure our AI agents generate biologics design recommendations that are scientifically rigorous, developable, and grounded in real protein engineering principles.

You’ll define benchmarks, stress test agent outputs, and collaborate with our partners' biologics teams to identify where AI can accelerate their engineering and optimization workflows. This is embedded, partner facing work. You’ll build relationships with Protein Scientists, Protein Engineers, and Engineering Leadership to learn how they evaluate and prioritize protein variants, and bring those insights back to our AI team so our platform gets smarter about what makes a good candidate.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate and improve AI agent performance on protein engineering tasks including sequence optimization, variant library design, stability and developability prediction, and functional screening strategy

• Build benchmarks and success criteria for biologics focused agent workflows

• Work directly with protein engineers and biologics discovery teams at partner organizations to deploy AI agents into their engineering pipelines

• Act as the large molecule authority on AI generated outputs, assessing biological plausibility, manufacturability, and experimental feasibility

• Collaborate daily with Forward Deployed Engineers and Computational Biologists on each account

• Support engagement scoping, success metrics, and technical evaluation with go-to-market team.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Protein Engineering, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Bioengineering, or a related field and 5+ years of industry experience in biologics discovery or protein engineering, ideally within a pharma or biotech sponsor organization

• Track record in protein optimization campaigns spanning antibody engineering, enzyme engineering, or other therapeutic protein modalities

• Strong proficiency with protein design and analysis tools such as Rosetta, AlphaFold, FoldX, or molecular dynamics platforms

• Strong foundation in protein structure, function, stability, and the relationship between sequence and properties

• Experience integrating developability, immunogenicity, and expression data into design decisions

• Comfortable working alongside computational biology and structural modeling functions

• Ability to travel domestically 20-40% of the time

Nice to Have

• Experience working across multiple modalities

• Python proficiency

• High comfort with ambiguity and fast iteration

• Prior experience in an industry or client-facing research context, outside of academia

We're a fast-moving, mission-driven culture where smart people do their best work and actually enjoy doing it. We also offer full-time employees the following:

• Competitive salary and equity

• Full healthcare coverage; we pay 100% of premiums for you and your dependents

• Support for growing families, including a yearly new parent stipend and fertility coverage through Carrot

• Mental health support through Rula, our in-network therapist and psychiatrist network with fast availability

• 12 weeks of paid parental leave for maternity, paternity, and adoption

• Pet care support with a yearly employer-funded stipend for your animal companions

• Commuter benefits so you can pay for transit and parking with pre-tax dollars

• 401(k) company matching

• $300 health and wellness benefit quarterly

• Lunch is on us every day you're in the office, and dinner is on us when you're working late

• Regular team off-sites and company events

Edison Scientific is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.