Principal Scientist, Antibody Discovery and Engineering

The Role

Moderna is seeking an accomplished and highly motivated Principal Scientist to join the Antibody Discovery team within Therapeutics Research. Therapeutics Research generates innovative therapeutic concepts and advances them from early scientific idea through First-in-Human studies. The Antibody Discovery team plays a central role in discovering, engineering, and optimizing antibody-based therapeutic molecules that enable new treatment strategies across Moderna's therapeutic pipeline.

This Principal Scientist will lead integrated antibody discovery and engineering campaigns across oncology and autoimmune disease programs. The role spans concept development through lead identification, including biological and therapeutic-area research, target and antigen strategy, immunization and B cell discovery campaign design, antibody screening, sequence analysis, engineering, characterization, and optimization.

The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in therapeutic antibody discovery, antibody engineering, immune repertoire mining, display technologies, and molecular-format optimization. This individual will operate with a high degree of independence, scientific judgment, and cross-functional influence while partnering with antigen design, structural and computational biology, Immuno-oncology and Autoimmune Therapeutics research leadership, project teams, and external CRO partners.

This is a hands-on scientific leadership role for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, innovative, and highly collaborative environment. The Principal Scientist will help shape differentiated antibody-based therapeutics from early idea to therapeutic lead nomination, strengthen discovery strategy, and contribute to Moderna's next-generation antibody capabilities.

Here’s What You’ll Do

Lead integrated antibody discovery and engineering campaigns from early concept through lead identification, optimization, and nomination.

Develop discovery strategies that incorporate target and antigen evaluation, immunization design, B cell screening, display-based engineering, sequence analysis, and data-driven lead selection.

Design, execute, and oversee antibody generation and optimization workflows, including immunizations, B cell discovery, yeast or other display campaigns, affinity maturation, humanization, format conversion, expression, purification, and characterization.

Engineer and evaluate antibodies across multiple therapeutic formats, including IgG, Fab, scFv, bispecific or multispecific antibodies, T cell engagers, TCR engagers, CAR-T-related formats, and other novel modalities.

Characterize antibody candidates using biochemical, biophysical, and functional assays to assess binding, affinity, specificity, epitope diversity, developability, potency, and mechanism of action.

Partner with antigen design, structural biology, computational biology, and project teams to move programs efficiently from scientific concept to actionable lead molecules.

Analyze complex datasets, identify scientific and technical risks, and develop practical mitigation strategies that guide program decisions.

Monitor emerging antibody discovery and engineering technologies and translate relevant advances into ideas that strengthen Moderna's therapeutic discovery capabilities.

Prepare clear technical reports, project plans, and presentations for internal teams, collaborators, governance forums, and leadership.

Lead cross-functional scientific discussions, manage external partners, and mentor scientists or research associates as appropriate.

Here’s What You’ll Need (Basic Qualifications)

PhD in immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry, protein engineering, cancer biology, or a related discipline, with 5+ years of relevant post-PhD industry experience in antibody discovery, antibody engineering, or biologics discovery.

Demonstrated track record independently leading therapeutic antibody discovery campaigns from concept through lead identification, optimization, or nomination.

Deep technical expertise in antibody biology, antibody structure and function, discovery platforms, and therapeutic antibody optimization.

Hands-on experience with immunization-based antibody discovery, including antigen design, immunization strategy, B cell screening, single-cell sorting, B cell culturing, antibody sequence recovery, and NGS-informed repertoire analysis.

Strong expertise in display technologies for antibody engineering, affinity maturation, specificity optimization, developability improvement, and molecular-format optimization.

Strong molecular biology and antibody engineering skills, including cloning, library construction, sequence analysis, expression construct design, antibody expression, purification, and analytical characterization.

Expertise in antibody characterization assays and platforms, including affinity determination, epitope binning, competition assays, specificity profiling, developability assessment, Biacore, Carterra, Octet, ELISA, MSD, multi-parameter flow cytometry, or related technologies.

Experience developing, executing, and troubleshooting functional cell-based assays relevant to therapeutic antibody discovery.

Proven ability to design, manage, and critically evaluate outsourced antibody discovery, engineering, and characterization workflows at CROs.

Strong project leadership skills, including the ability to manage multiple programs, timelines, stakeholders, datasets, and external partnerships simultaneously.

Excellent analytical, organizational, written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific issues into clear recommendations.

Collaborative, proactive, resourceful approach to working in a fast-paced, cross-functional, matrixed research environment.

Here’s What You’ll Bring to the Table (Preferred Qualifications)

PhD in relevant discipline and 7+ years of hands on antibody discovery and engineering including prior experience with yeast or mammalian display technologies for antibody discovery and optimization.

Experience with advanced antibody-based therapeutic formats, such as T cell engagers, TCR engagers, bispecific or multispecific antibodies, ADCs, CAR-T or CAR-NK-related approaches.

Familiarity with immune-cell biology, primary-cell assays, functional immunology assays, or immune-cell redirecting therapeutic mechanisms.

Experience applying antibody discovery or engineering approaches across oncology, autoimmune, infectious disease, or other therapeutically relevant areas.

Familiarity with antibody sequence analysis, bioinformatics, structural modeling, AI/ML-enabled discovery tools, or developability prediction platforms.

Track record of scientific impact through publications, patents, presentations, therapeutic discovery programs, or implementation of new discovery technologies.

Experience mentoring junior scientists, leading project teams, or influencing cross-functional scientific strategy.

A desire to make an impact as part of a high-growth, transformational company that is Bold, Relentless, Curious, and Collaborative.

Pay & Benefits

At Moderna, we believe that when you feel your best, you can do your best work. That’s why our benefits and well-being resources are designed to support you—at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

• •Competitive healthcare, plus voluntary benefit programs to support your unique needs
• •A holistic approach to well-being, with access to fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support
• •Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support
• •Generous paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year-end shutdown
• •Savings and investments to help you plan for the future
• •Location-specific perks and extras

The salary range for this role is $142,500.00 - $256,500.00. This is the lowest to highest sa