Head of Protein Engineering for Biologics Discovery

Bristol Myers Squibb; Virginia; On-site; USD 247,000 - 299,000; Full time

Job summary

Bristol Myers Squibb seeks a Director of Protein Engineering to lead design and optimization of therapeutic proteins across oncology, immunology, cardiovascular, and neuroscience portfolios. You will set engineering strategy, drive lead optimization, and mentor a team of scientists to deliver development candidates.

You will partner with computational and biology leaders to advance high-throughput, data-rich design cycles, ensuring formats are developable and scalable for clinical development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree 15+ years of academic / industry experience OR Master’s Degree 12+ years of academic / industry experience OR PhD 8+ years of academic / industry experience.
• 6+ years of leadership experience.
• Degree in protein engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, bioengineering, immunology, or a related scientific discipline.
• Deep, demonstrated expertise in therapeutic protein engineering: structure–function reasoning, affinity and specificity optimization, epitope-directed design, humanization, and rational library design or directed evolution, applied to antibody and antibody-derived formats.
• Experience with multispecific design — geometry, valency, chain pairing, and the developability consequences of format choices.
• Demonstrated program impact: molecules engineered or campaigns led through lead optimization to development candidate nomination.
• Proven project leadership: leading discovery project teams or serving as the biologics lead on them, with strategic judgment.
• Demonstrated people leadership: hiring, developing, and retaining scientists.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; influence senior stakeholders and drive alignment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the protein engineering team; set scientific direction, hire and develop scientists, and deploy capability against portfolio priorities.
• Own engineering strategy on discovery programs — format selection, affinity and specificity targets, epitope strategy, valency and geometry, humanization, liability remediation.
• Co-develop the computational–experimental design strategy with ML and computational leaders; decide where generative design is deployed.
• Align protein engineering strategy with therapeutic area priorities and convert decisions into engineering plans and program delivery.
• Serve as the protein engineering interface to the Protein Sciences and Development organization; ensure developable formats across expression and manufacturing.
• Collaborate with Discovery Biology, Structural Biology, DMPK, Toxicology, Translational Sciences, and Bioconjugation to remain viable downstream.
• Champion linked sequence–structure–assay data with metadata and quality standards; participate in governance and external collaborations.

Skills

Leadership experience

Protein engineering

Multispecific design

Antibody-derived formats

Program leadership

Communication

Machine learning collaboration

Structure-based modeling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in protein engineering/related field

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

Rosetta

FoldX

MOE

Schrödinger

PyMOL

AlphaFold 3

Job description

Bristol Myers Squibb seeks a Director of Protein Engineering to lead design and optimization of therapeutic proteins across oncology, immunology, cardiovascular, and neuroscience portfolios. You will set engineering strategy, drive lead optimization, and mentor a team of scientists to deliver development candidates.

You will partner with computational and biology leaders to advance high-throughput, data-rich design cycles, ensuring formats are developable and scalable for clinical development.