Principal Scientist, Protein Biochemistry and Structural Biology

Terray Therapeutics; Monrovia (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 263,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock option plan

Retirement contribution

Health, dental, vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability coverage

Job summary

Terray Therapeutics is seeking a creative and experienced structural biologist/protein biochemist for a full-time onsite role. You will generate constructs, lead protein purification, and apply structural biology to support target validation and optimization of small-molecule hits from Terray’s EMMI platform.

The candidate will partner with biology, chemistry, platform, screening, data, and computational teams, ensuring robust protein design and integration across programs.

Qualifications

• PhD in Structural Biology/Biochemistry/Biophysics with 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Extensive protein purification experience across E. coli, insect, and mammalian systems.
• Experience using structural biology to guide drug targets and small molecule binding.
• Ability to work in multidisciplinary, matrixed environment with multiple projects.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Leverage structural biology to guide protein construct design and purification across programs and assess crystallography needs.
• Partner closely with biology, chemistry, platform, screening, data, and computational teams to implement constructs and purified proteins.
• Manage relationships and partnership protein needs across network of CROs.
• Guide protein quality control and stability investigations of purified protein material.
• Build effective protein management and protein organization workflow.
• Apply protein design toward assay development (biochemistry vs biophysical assays).

Skills

Protein purification

Construct design

X-ray crystallography

Cryo-EM

Protein expression (E. coli/Insect/Mam

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

PhD in Structural Biology / Biochemistry / Biophysics

10+ years of relevant experience

Job description

Company Overview:

Terray Therapeutics is a venture-backed biotechnology company where scientists and engineers build together to transform how small-molecule drugs are discovered and developed. By combining our nanotechnology, experimental science, machine learning, and automation, we leverage Terray’s ability to generate and learn from scale proprietary chemical data to discover novel medicines for patients in need.
At Terray, you will work alongside pioneers and experts in artificial intelligence, chemistry, drug discovery, automation, and nanotechnology in deeply interconnected workflows where computational and experimental teams continuously learn from one another. Our platform, EMMI (Experimentation Meets Machine Intelligence), powers iterative cycles of molecular design and wet-lab experimentation that rapidly improve our understanding of biochemical interactions and guide the next generation of discoveries.
Our teams support both an internal immunology pipeline and partnerships across a broad range of therapeutic areas. The work here is highly collaborative, fast-moving, and grounded in the belief that breakthroughs happen when strong science, thoughtful technology, and great people work closely together.

Position Summary:

Terray Therapeutics is seeking a creative and experienced structural biologist/protein biochemist. This role will be full-time onsite. As a resident expert, the candidate will be expected to work across multidisciplinary teams to generate constructs and lead protein purification efforts that will support assay design and screening needs. Furthermore, the candidate will be expected to utilize structural biology to support target validation and optimization of small molecule hits from Terray’s proprietary EMMI platform. Successful candidate will have strong protein biochemistry/structural biology experience and understanding of strategic application of structural biology in drug discovery programs with demonstrated experience in utilizing proteins design that matches program needs.

The Core Responsibilities Include

• Leverage structural biology expertise to guide protein construct design and purification strategy across programs as well as assess current and future crystallography needs to enable programs or validate targets
• Partner closely with scientists across the company in biology, chemistry, platform, screening, data, and computational teams to understand and provide correct implementation of the constructs and purified proteins.
• Manage relationships and partnership protein needs across network of CROs
• Guide protein quality control and stability investigation of purified protein material to ensure consistence across assays and platform data
• Build effective protein management and protein organization workflow
• Maintain and manage protein inventory, registration within Benchling
• Apply effective protein design toward assay development (biochemistry vs biophysical assays)

Experience and Qualifications:

Part of Terray's success is nurtured by a hands-on work environment where everyone is accountable, vested in a vision of excellence, and actively taking part in the success of the business. Terray supports a positive work environment where employees can feel engaged, recognized, and empowered to be creative.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in either Structural Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics or related field and at least 10 years of additional experience
• Extensive experience in protein purification. Ideal candidate will have experience in construct design, expression and protein purification in multiple systems (E. coli, Insect, Mammalian) and have investigated broad range of protein families
• Experience in leveraging structural biology and protein structure/function to evaluate novel drug targets and small molecule binding
• Ability to work in multidisciplinary, matrixed environment across multiple concurrent projects and programs
• Excellent organizational, communication and interpersonal skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Ideal candidate will have hands-on experience in Structural Biology. Preferably, they would have used X-ray crystallography and/or Cryo-EM and accompanying software to investigate, analyze and assess small molecule binding to target of interest

Compensation Details:

$180,000–$263,000 annually, depending on experience. Terray’s salary ranges are designed to be competitive and are benchmarked against market base salary plus bonus within our industry and market. We align pay to role scope, skill level, and impact.
We invest heavily in benefits because taking care of our people matters. Our programs are benchmarked at the top of the Southern California market and designed to provide meaningful support across every stage of life. Benefits include participation in the Company’s stock option plan, a 3% retirement safe harbor contribution, fully paid health, dental, vision insurance for our employees, spouse, partner and families as well as above-market life insurance, disability coverage, and much more to explore during the offer process.