Senior Protein Scientist — Expression & Antibody QC

ICON Strategic Solutions; Wilmington (DE); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave

Health insurance

Retirement plan

Employee assistance program

Life insurance

Flexible benefits

Job summary

ICON plc, a world-leading healthcare intelligence and clinical research organization, is seeking a Sr. Research Scientist in Wilmington, DE.

You will design and optimize recombinant proteins, perform expression in mammalian and insect systems, and drive purification workflows to support structural biology and drug discovery projects. You will lead multi-project studies, troubleshoot expression and purification challenges, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s with relevant experience in drug discovery or biotech.
• Hands-on protein chemistry, expression, purification, and biophysical tests.
• Purification of antibodies/antibody fragments with QC.
• Evaluate purity, homogeneity, stability and sample integrity.
• Proficient chromatography-based purification incl. affinity/ion-exchange/SEC.
• Experience with SEC-HPLC, DSF, BLI, SPR.
• Troubleshoot expression/purification challenges and optimize solutions.
• Support drug discovery through protein chemistry and collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Independently design and optimize recombinant protein constructs for expression and downstream applications.
• Perform transfection and expression in mammalian/insect systems; maximize yield and quality.
• Develop purification workflows using affinity, ion-exchange, HIC, and SEC.
• Purify antibodies/antibody fragments and perform QC assessments.
• Characterize proteins/antibodies by analytical SEC/HPLC, DSF, BLI, SPR.
• Establish QC criteria for samples used in structural studies and assays.
• Troubleshoot expression, purification, stability challenges to improve yields.
• Generate high-quality samples for X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and biophysical studies.
• Support antibody discovery with purified molecules for downstream analyses.
• Plan and execute small- and large-scale experiments; manage multiple projects.
• Maintain lab operations, improve workflows, and document results clearly.

Skills

Protein expression optimization

Antibody purification

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Communication skills

Troubleshooting

Entrepreneurial mindset

Education

PhD in Biochemistry/Biophysics/Protein Chemistry/Structural Biology or related field

Master’s degree with 5+ years in drug discovery/biotech/pharma or academic lab

Tools

Chromatography systems

SEC-HPLC

DSF / thermal stability assays

BLI

SPR

Job description

ICON plc, a world-leading healthcare intelligence and clinical research organization, is seeking a Sr. Research Scientist in Wilmington, DE.

You will design and optimize recombinant proteins, perform expression in mammalian and insect systems, and drive purification workflows to support structural biology and drug discovery projects. You will lead multi-project studies, troubleshoot expression and purification challenges, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality