Engineer I, Upstream Development for Protein Development and Manufacturing
Vaxcyte
San Carlos, CA, USA
Posted on Friday, November 3, 2023
Company Profile:
Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX) is a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. The Company is developing broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent, broad-spectrum, carrier-sparing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) being developed for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The Company is re-engineering the way highly complex immunizations are made through modern synthetic techniques, including advanced chemistry and our exclusively licensed XpressCFTM cell-free protein synthesis platform. Unlike conventional cell-based approaches, the Company’s system for producing difficult-to-make proteins and antigens is intended to accelerate its ability to efficiently create and deliver high-fidelity vaccines with enhanced immunological benefits. Vaxcyte’s pipeline also includes VAX-31, a 31-valent PCV candidate; VAX-A1, a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to prevent Group A Strep infections; VAX-PG, a therapeutic vaccine candidate designed to slow or stop the progression of periodontal disease; and VAX-GI, a vaccine program designed to prevent Shigella. The Company is driven to eradicate or treat invasive bacterial infections, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. For more information, visit www.vaxcyte.com.
Vaxcyte, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, went public in June 2020 and currently has a team of approximately 180 employees and anticipates continued, significant growth. Following equity offerings in October 2022 and April 2023, which generated over $1.1 billion in net proceeds, the Company’s balance sheet is further strengthened to advance its pipeline of novel vaccines, including VAX-24. These financings followed positive data readouts from Vaxcyte’s Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study evaluating VAX-24 in adults aged 18-64 and Phase 2 study in adults 65 and older. The Company believes these results support a best-in-class potential for VAX-24, which was designed to replace the current standard-of-care in adults and children. VAX-24 is being investigated for the prevention of IPD, which can be most serious for infants, young children, older adults and those with immune deficiencies or certain chronic health conditions. Given the global impact of pneumococcal disease remains significant, the public health community continues to advocate for vaccines that can offer broader protection to prevent IPD. Vaxcyte’s PCV franchise, consisting of VAX-24 and VAX-31, is designed specifically to address this need and has the potential to deliver the broadest protection for this very serious disease. We believe that our PCVs could receive regulatory approval based on successful completion of clinical studies utilizing well-defined surrogate immune endpoints, consistent with how other PCVs have obtained regulatory approval in the past, rather than requiring clinical field efficacy studies.
Summary:
Vaxcyte is seeking a talented and experienced Engineer I, to join the Upstream Process Development group within the Protein Development and CMC team. This is an exciting opportunity to join an outstanding team with a mission to establish a new bacterial fermentation development lab and pilot plant at Vaxcyte.
The successful candidate will have the following skills and qualities:
· Hands-on experience operating and maintaining bioreactors, including Ambr® 250, at laboratory scale.
· Experience in pilot scale fermentation and recovery equipment startup and commissioning
· Skillful in analyzing and presenting data for process improvements, troubleshooting, and optimization
· An exceptional team player who works seamlessly with others, speaks up, and remains focused on achieving the best results to achieve company goals.
· Strong organizational and planning skills.
Essential Functions:
- Lead operational activities related to bioreactor set-up, monitoring, harvest, and maintenance.
- Develop, test, and implement recipe scripting for fed-batch fermentation feeding controls.
- Provide engineering support for selection, commissioning, and qualification of new equipment as well as scale-down models.
- Author SOPs (standard operating procedure), process flow diagrams and batch records.
- Analyze and present fermentation data at internal project meetings. Participate in upstream database management and documentation in electronic notebooks.
Requirements:
- BS in Chemical Engineering or a related discipline with 5+ years of relevant Pharma/Biotech industry experience, or MS with 3+ years of relevant Pharma/Biotech industry experience
- Hands-on experience with fermentation and/or primary recovery unit operations.
- Good understanding in fundamentals of bioreactor design, operation and controls.
- Strong knowledge of aseptic techniques
- Mechanical and technical knowledge of primary recovery unit operations such as homogenization, centrifugation, and depth filtration, is a plus.
- Familiarity with DoE (Design of Experiments) principles and software.
- Familiarity with regulatory requirements of biotherapeutics. Late-stage process characterization experience is a plus.
- All Vaxcyte employees require vaccination against COVID-19.
Reports to: Senior Scientist, Upstream Development and Manufacturing
Location: San Carlos, CA
Compensation:
The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.
Salary Range: $120,000 – $128,000
Send resumes to:
Vaxcyte, Inc.
825 Industrial Road, Suite 300
San Carlos, CA 94070
We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.