Job Summary:
Ellison Medical Institute is a medical research and development center striving to enhance health and redefine cancer care. They are seeking a Senior AI Peptide and Protein Design Engineer to lead the design and delivery of next-generation therapeutics through AI-driven peptide and protein engineering, collaborating closely with interdisciplinary teams.
Responsibilities:
• Develop, deploy, and continuously improve computational pipelines for de novo peptide and protein design, including property prediction using data-driven and modeling approaches. Define robust benchmarking, performance metrics, and validation strategies
• Design and optimize novel peptide and protein therapeutics using sequence- and structure-based computational design methods, leveraging silico predictions to support lead identification and optimization
• Work directly with the peptide and protein production and characterization teams to experimentally test designs, interpret results, and incorporate feedback into iterative design cycles
• Collaborate with target biology and translational research teams to evaluate designs in biological context and support progression from concept to optimized lead candidates
• Mentoring junior scientists or contributing to hiring and team growth
• Maintain clear, reproducible documentation of methodologies, code, and results. Communicate findings effectively to scientific and leadership stakeholders
• Contribute to a high-performing scientific culture that values rigor, innovation, transparency, collaboration, accountability, and efficient execution
Qualifications:
Required:
• Ph.D. in Computational Peptide/Protein Design, Structural Biology, Protein Engineering, or a closely related field
• Postdoctoral or industry experience applying computational modeling to peptide or protein engineering, and a strong publication record or proven track record contributing to therapeutic development
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in peptide and protein design, modeling, and sequence/structure-function prediction, with proficiency in relevant macromolecular modeling software (i.e. AlphaFold, RoseTTAFold, RFdiffusion, RFpeptides, Boltz, ProteinMPNN)
• Demonstrated understanding of peptide and protein biology, including structure, folding, stability, and experimental constraints, gained through direct experimental work and/or close collaboration with wet-lab teams
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills applied to complex biological and computational challenges
• Excellent teamwork, time management, documentation, and communication skills
• Proven ability to work effectively in interdisciplinary, cross-functional research environments
Company:
Ellison Medical Institute is a medical research and development center. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in Los Angeles, USA, with a team of 51-200 employees. The company is currently Growth Stage.