Associate Scientist II / Senior Associate Scientist, Formulation Development

Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX) is a next-generation vaccine company seeking to improve global health by developing superior and novel vaccines designed to prevent some of the most common and deadly infectious diseases worldwide. Our exclusively licensed cell-free protein synthesis platform and our proprietary know how enable us to design and produce optimized protein carriers and antigens, the critical building blocks of vaccines, in ways that we believe conventional vaccine technologies cannot. Our pipeline includes pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, or PCV, candidates that we believe are the most broad- spectrum PCV candidates currently in development, targeting the $7 billion global pneumococcal vaccine market. Our lead vaccine candidate, VAX-24, is a preclinical, 24-valent broad-spectrum pneumococcal conjugate PCV with preclinical proof-of-concept demonstrating potential to replace the standard of care that we expect to advance into clinical trials in the second half of 2021. Our pipeline also includes VAX- XP, a PCV with an expanded breadth of coverage of at least 30 strains, including newly emerging strains responsible for invasive pneumococcal disease and antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to prevent Group A Strep infections; and VAX-PG, a therapeutic vaccine candidate designed to slow or stop the progression of periodontal disease by targeting the keystone pathogen responsible for this chronic, oral inflammatory disease. We completed our initial public offering in June 2020, raising $287.5 million in gross proceeds.

Summary:

Vaxcyte is looking for an energetic and talented individual to join our Formulation and Drug Product Development team. Candidate should be an experienced and flexible individual who would be comfortable working on multiple tasks at once, with excellent communication skills to navigate rapid changes in prioritization. This position is for a scientific role which will be primarily lab based. The candidate will have a good knowledge and practical experience in the field of vaccine formulation. The candidate will also have industry based experience in a range of standard protein biochemistry analytical techniques. Experience in biophysical characterization of formulations would be very beneficial. The primary responsibility for the incumbent will be to support development of projects from the research through the preclinical phase, into early clinical phases and also supporting later stage programs.

Essential Functions:

• Supporting formulation manufacture for thermal, freeze/thaw, and agitation stability studies on both Drug Substance (DS) and Drug Product (DP) materials
• Conducting analysis of these formulations using a broad range of standard protein biochemistry analytical techniques for formulation selection
• Supporting formulation comparability studies, container selection and scale up activities
• Preparing sterile formulation samples to be used for in vivo testing
• Evaluating effect of new formulation components on already established standard analytical assays
• Maintaining an accurate and up to date inventory of supplies of DS used by multiple groups

Requirements:

• BSc or MSc in Pharmaceutics, Chemistry, Biophysics or Biochemistry preferred, or Analytical Chemistry or Biology considered, with >2years of industrial experience
• The candidate will have had previous experience in developing formulation of proteins, polysaccharides and/or protein conjugates for adjuvant containing vaccines (other biological experience also considered)
• Experience supporting stability studies, including study set up and sample testing and analysis
• Experience in using standard protein plate based assays is needed. Some experience in spectrometric methodologies, particle light scattering, quantitative subvisible particle analysis, visible analysis and HPLC/UV is preferred
• Experience working under aseptic conditions is necessary
• Strong interpersonal skills; ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in written formats (must be able to work with managerial and lab team in remote setting when needed) are necessary to collaborate effectively with the rest of the Formulation and Drug Product Development team
• Critical thinking, the ability to analyse data and to report results to the team in a clear and concise manner during group meetings is needed
• Eagerness, ability to learn and great flexibility to rapidly switch gears between tasks
• Detail oriented, rigorous and excellent skills in record keeping/documentation
• Good proficiency in the use of Microsoft office suite (in particular Excel and PowerPoint)

Reports to: Senior Scientist in the Formulation and Drug Product Development team

Location: Foster City, CA

Compensation:

The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.