Principal Scientist, Engineered Cell Therapy Discovery

Scorpion Therapeutics; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 152,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Wellbeing support

401(k) and insurance

Job summary

Scorpion Therapeutics in Seattle is seeking a Principal Scientist to lead discovery and development of engineered CAR T and eTCR T cell therapeutics for cancer and chronic diseases.

You will drive strategy, oversee in vitro screening and in vivo xenograft studies, and coordinate cross-functional collaborations while mentoring junior scientists and contributing to IND-enabling work.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher with 8+ years (or Master’s with 6+ years; PhD with 4+ years) academic/industry experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership and set strategic direction for engineered CAR T/eTCR T research programs.
• Lead in vitro functional screening of T cell cytotoxicity/effector function (cytokine production, proliferation, killing assays).
• Design/optimize genetic constructs (logic-gated, multi-input) and gene delivery approaches to improve potency, persistence, and safety.
• Mentor and manage junior scientists; provide scientific guidance across project teams.
• Translate in vitro data to in vivo xenograft studies to evaluate efficacy and inform go/no-go decisions.
• Coordinate collaborations across wet lab, computational, and clinical teams across sites.
• Drive go/no-go decisions; present strategy/data to leadership and stakeholders.
• Contribute to IND-enabling reports, patents, and publications; maintain electronic notebooks.

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Life Sciences

Master’s degree

PhD (Immunology/Molecular Biology/Bioengineering or related)

Tools

In vitro T cell assays

In vivo xenograft models

Job description

Position Summary

Principal Scientist to lead discovery and development of novel engineered CAR T and eTCR T cell therapeutics for cancer and other chronic diseases.

Position Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership and set strategic direction for engineered CAR T/eTCR T research programs.
• Lead in vitro functional screening of T cell cytotoxicity/effector function (cytokine production, proliferation, killing assays), including logic-gated CAR T/eTCR T circuits.
• Design/optimize genetic constructs (logic-gated, multi-input) and gene delivery approaches (lentiviral, retroviral, AAV) to improve potency, persistence, and safety.
• Mentor and manage junior scientists; provide scientific guidance across project teams.
• Translate in vitro functional data to in vivo xenograft studies to evaluate efficacy and inform go/no-go decisions.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary collaborations across wet lab, computational, and clinical functions (including across multiple sites).
• Drive go/no-go decision-making; represent strategy/data to senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Contribute to IND-enabling study reports, patent applications, and peer-reviewed publications; maintain timely electronic notebook documentation.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s + 8+ years; or Master’s + 6+ years; or PhD (Life Sciences equivalent) + 4+ years academic/industry experience.

Preferred Qualifications (selected)

• PhD (Immunology/Molecular Biology/Cell Biology/Bioengineering or related) with 4+ years postdoc/industry leadership.
• Extensive in vitro functional T cell assay experience (required).
• Deep gene delivery and genetic construct design/optimization including logic-gated or multi-input circuit design (required).
• Experience with in vivo xenograft models (plus).

Benefits

• Health coverage; wellbeing support; 401(k) and insurance/disability benefits.
• Paid time off (flexible time off/unlimited with manager approval for US exempt; 160 hours annual paid vacation for certain roles).

Compensation

• Seattle, WA: $152,360 - $184,628 (range shown in posting).