Senior Scientist - Mass Spectrometry (MS), 12 month Fixed-Term Contract

CSL Limited; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

CSL Limited in Melbourne seeks a Senior Scientist – Mass Spectrometry (MS) for a 12-month fixed-term contract. You will lead development, implementation and maintenance of MS-based analytical methods supporting product development in TechOps.

You will characterise biomolecules, identify variants and impurities, and work with cross-disciplinary teams to deliver robust workflows and data-driven insights while ensuring data integrity and regulatory alignment.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate degree with extensive experience in mass spectrometry-based protein characterisation.
• Extensive industry experience in MS-based protein characterisation and analytical chemistry.
• Experience in cross-functional collaboration across IPTs and TechOps.
• Strong data integrity and scientific reporting skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and refine MS-based workflows for recombinant and plasma-derived biotherapeutics.
• Identify, characterise and correlate PTMs and heterogeneities affecting product quality and safety.
• Maintain state-of-the-art MS instruments and core lab operations.
• Plan, perform and report experiments with scientific integrity.
• Present results to internal and external stakeholders and explain complex data clearly.
• Collaborate across TechOps, R&D and other stakeholders to enable project success.
• Provide leadership and MS expertise to team members.
• Ensure data standards compliance (ELN, Veeva, structured data capture).

Skills

Project leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Scientific communication

Data analysis (R/Python)

Education

Postgraduate degree (PhD/ MSc or equivalent)

Tools

Mass spectrometry instrumentation (ESI-MS/MS, MALDI-MS/MS, qTOF, QqQ, Orbitrap)

Job description

Senior Scientist - Mass Spectrometry (MS), 12 month Fixed-Term Contract

CSL is looking for a Senior Scientist – Mass Spectrometry (MS) 12 month FTC to join the Molecular Characterisation and Method development cross- IPT at CSL’s global headquarters in the heart of Melbourne’s biomedical precinct.

Reporting to the Associate Director – Molecular Characterisation, you will provide leadership and contribute the development, implementation and maintenance of key mass spectrometry-based robust and scalable analytical methods in support of product development activities within the TechOps function. You will plan and conduct mass spectrometry-based studies supporting characterisation of biomolecules including identification and quantification of product and process-related variants, impurities, and/or cell culture media profiling.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and refine industry-standard product characterisation workflows to support recombinant and plasma derived biotherapeutic characterisation, integrating MS data analytics pipelines with regulatory guidelines to support product development activities


• Employ a combination of MS-based and non-MS based protein analytical techniques to identify, characterise and correlate post-translational modifications and their associated heterogeneities in recombinant proteins with particular emphasis on those affecting product efficacy and safety including product comparability assessment


• Perform housekeeping and maintenance of state-of-art instruments available in the mass spectrometry core lab as required, supporting general and functional characterisation of recombinant proteins


• Contribute to the planning, performance, evaluation and reporting of scientific experiments at the highest levels of scientific integrity


• Present results from both independent and collaborative laboratory work to internal and external stakeholders as needed. This includes explaining highly complex or technical information to facilitate the smooth progress of CSL projects


• Develop and maintain effective working relationships across other IPTs within the TechOps, global research, and other stakeholders


• Provide leadership, training and technical MS expertise to team members


• Ensure the highest level of data integrity by complying with relevant scientific and data standards (e.g. ELN, Veeva, structured data capture, etc.).

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Postgraduate degree (preferably PhD, M.Sc. or equivalent degree) and/or experience in a relevant discipline


• 8+ years relevant industry or equivalent experience with B.Sc. 6+ years relevant industry or equivalent experience with M.Sc. or 2+ years with a PhD in the field of mass spectrometry-based protein characterisation


• Demonstrated experience in analytical chemistry with a strong background in protein characterisation using various separation techniques with hyphenated mass spectrometry-based techniques and classical approaches such as SDS- PAGE, western blotting, and electrophoresis


• Extensive experience in operating and maintaining mass spectrometry instrumentation, particularly as applied to protein, peptide, and glycan analysis (e.g. ESI-MS/MS, MALDI-MS/MS, good knowledge of qTOF’s, QqQ, and Orbitrap instruments). Prior experience of cell culture media and metabolite profiling would be a plus


• Proficient in mass spectrometry data analysis tools, specifically in-depth protein characterisation, cell culture nutrient and metabolite profiling, product attribute validation and monitoring. Ability to perform additional data analytics and visualisation using R or Python would be advantageous


• Ability to establish and adhere to project timelines


• Effective time management skills and ability to work/lead in a cross-functional, multi-disciplinary team environment


• Attention to detail with excellent written (technical/scientific) and oral communication skills, including the ability to convey new concepts to other staff members

Close date for Applications: 10th November 2026