Senior Scientist - Vector Development

Weill Cornell Medicine; New York (NY); On-site; USD 96,000 - 113,000; Full time

Job summary

Weill Cornell Medicine on the Upper East Side seeks a Senior Scientist to lead vector development, focusing on lentiviral and non-viral delivery strategies for functional genomics and therapeutic development.

The role requires translating biological objectives into high-performance genetic constructs, with a strong engineering mindset and collaboration across teams to drive translational research in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 5 years of postdoctoral or industry experience in gene delivery systems or advanced molecular cloning.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing complex genetic constructs.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize plasmid constructs for lentiviral vector systems, including transfer, packaging, and envelope components.
• Engineer self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral backbones, optimizing LTRs, ψ packaging signal, RRE, cPPT/CTS, and WPRE.
• Design and implement optimized transposon-based systems including donor vector architecture (ITRs/TIRs) and cargo optimization.
• Architect expression systems with constitutive, inducible, cell-type specific, or multiplexed designs.
• Evaluate payload size, recombination risk, silencing, and integration profiles across delivery platforms.
• Develop and refine mRNA delivery constructs, including UTRs, codon usage, modified nucleotides, cap structures, and poly(A) tail configurations.
• Collaborate with vector production, cell engineering, and functional validation teams to iterate construct design.
• Analyze construct performance using sequencing, expression data, and functional assays; troubleshoot packaging, delivery or expression issues.

Skills

Lentiviral vector design

Plasmid architecture

mRNA delivery systems

Education

PhD in Molecular Biology, Virology, Genetic Engineering, Synthetic Biology, or related field

Tools

SnapGene

Benchling

Geneious

Job description

Senior Scientist – Vector Development

Title: Senior Scientist - Vector Development

Location: Upper East Side

Org Unit: MCC Laboratories

Work Days

Weekly Hours: 35.00

Exemption Status: Exempt

Salary Range: $95,500.00 - $112,900.00

• As required under NYC Human Rights Law Int 1208-2018 - Salary range for this role when Hired for NYC Offices

Position Summary

We are seeking a motivated Senior Scientist with deep expertise in viral and non-viral vector and genetic construct design to drive next-generation gene delivery strategies in a fast-paced, collaborative, and delivery-focused clinical translation research environment. This role will lead the design of lentiviral vectors, transposon-based architectures, and mRNA-based delivery systems, for applications spanning functional genomics, cell engineering, and therapeutic development.

The ideal candidate combines rigorous academic training with a practical engineering mindset, capable of translating biological objectives into high-performance genetic constructs.

Job Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize plasmid constructs for lentiviral vector systems, including transfer, packaging, and envelope components.
• Engineer self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral backbones, optimizing key elements such as LTRs, ψ (psi) packaging signal, RRE, cPPT/CTS, and WPRE.
• Design and implement optimized transposon-based systems including donor vector architecture (ITRs/TIRs), cargo optimization, and transposase delivery strategies.
• Architect expression systems with precise control over gene expression (constitutive, inducible, cell-type specific, or multiplexed designs).
• Evaluate constraints such as payload size, recombination risk, silencing, and integration profiles across delivery platforms.
• Develop and refine mRNA delivery constructs, including optimization of UTRs, codon usage, modified nucleotides, cap structures, and poly(A) tail configurations for enhanced stability and translation.
• Collaborate closely with teams focused on vector production, cell engineering, and functional validation to iterate on construct design.
• Analyze construct performance using sequencing, expression data, and functional assays; troubleshoot inefficiencies in packaging, delivery or expression.
• Maintain comprehensive design documentation, sequence maps, and construct libraries.
• Contribute to strategic direction by evaluating emerging delivery modalities and synthetic biology approaches.

Education

• PhD in Molecular Biology, Virology, Genetic Engineering, Synthetic Biology, or related field.

Experience

• 5 years of relevant postdoctoral or industry experience in gene delivery systems or advanced molecular cloning.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing complex genetic constructs.

Required Technical Expertise

• Deep knowledge of lentiviral vector biology and design, including multi-plasmid systems and safety features.
• Expertise in plasmid architecture, including promoters (e.g., EF1α, CMV, CAG), enhancers, insulators, and post-transcriptional regulatory elements.
• Experience designing mRNA constructs for transient expression and delivery optimization.
• Strong understanding of transposon systems and stable integration strategies.
• Proficiency with DNA design software and sequence analysis tools (e.g., SnapGene, Benchling, Geneious).
• Familiarity with gene expression tuning, including codon optimization, RNA stability, and translational efficiency.
• Ability to interpret NGS and Sanger sequencing data for construct validation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with CRISPR/Cas systems, including multiplexed guide RNA architectures and delivery strategies.
• Background in cell therapy, gene therapy, or genome engineering applications.
• Familiarity with non-viral delivery systems (e.g., LNPs for mRNA).
• Exposure to scale-up considerations and translational/regulatory frameworks.
• Experience working in highly collaborative, interdisciplinary environments.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Engineering-driven approach to biological problem solving
• High attention to detail in sequence-level design
• Ability to balance innovation with practical constraints
• Strong communication skills across scientific disciplines
• Self-directed with a bias toward execution in a fast-moving environment

Working Conditions/Physical Demands

• Operates at the interface of academia and biotech: hypothesis-driven research combined with milestone-oriented execution
• Access to cutting-edge genomic technologies and collaborative expertise
• Emphasis on rapid iteration, data-driven decision making, and translational impact

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