Computational Protein Design Scientist Research Seattle About the Department At Novo Nordisk Research Center Seattle, Inc. (NNRCSI) our scientists apply cutting-edge technologies to early R&D projects with the goal of bringing real change to People with Diabetes and Obesity. Your skills, dedication and ambition will help change lives for the better and you will work with extraordinary talent, continuously learn and develop, and drive changes to defeat serious chronic conditions. We recognize the importance of an enjoyable workplace, which stimulates a strong culture of ingenuity and innovation and our support of a healthy work-life balance adds to a best-in-class employee experience. As a new focus area, we aim to build up a dynamic computational team, which will leverage structure-based design, computational biology and machine learning expertise to the drug discovery process. Our aim is to strengthen target identification and drug design processes at NNRCSI and through global collaboration across our R&D sites. This team will implement state-of-the-art structural modelling and machine learning technologies to improve functional and biophysical properties of proteins, peptides and new molecular format for future therapies. They will build up bioinformatics expertise spanning areas from sequence analysis, computer vision and different omics and pathway analysis. This team will work in a flexible, cross-functional setting in close collaboration with experimentalists to drive pre-clinical projects with very ambitious scientific goals. They will have external collaborations with academic and biotech partners within computational drug discovery in North America. We are changing lives for a living. Are you ready to make a difference? The Position The computational protein design scientist will contribute to the Department of Computational Drug Discovery to invent and create the next generation pharmaceuticals through familiarity with state-of-the-art algorithms and experiments within protein and peptide engineering across the organization and incorporate these results to refine algorithms. The scientist will analyze the experimental results to suggest and design the next experiments in collaboration with scientists. This role will ensure that the department can execute cutting-edge algorithms within protein engineering and establish the department as world leading within this field by published articles, patents, or present research. Relationships The computational protein design scientist will report to the Director in Computational Drug Discovery. The role will interact with people in various projects as well as departments involved with computational and experimental research as well as IT infrastructure. External stakeholders include, commercial and academic collaborators. Essential Functions Apply state-of-the-art computational protein and peptide engineering within computational drug discovery and optimization by impacting and accelerating projects in the organization Demonstrate strong structural knowledge of proteins and peptides with the ability to combine this with experimental data Critically evaluate experimental data and incorporate this knowledge into design of experiments to improve predictability and learnings of algorithms Collaborate with leading external partners from academia and industry to ensure leadership within the field Prepare and present research in top-leading journals or conferences Prepare and present written and oral reports/dashboards to scientists/non-scientists Identify new applications or areas for computational protein and peptide engineering and implement these into design workflows Physical Requirements Approximately 0-10% overnight travel. Qualifications PhD required. Degree within computational biology/chemistry, structural biology, biophysics, or other relevant areas preferred 3+ years of relevant experience in computational protein/peptide engineering either from academia or industry required Within 3+ years of relevant experience includes the following: 2+ years of experience with computational protein design software e.g. Rosetta, etc. Publications of high-profile papers or patents within protein/peptide engineering Working knowledge of bioinformatics and databases is strongly preferred Experience integrating multiple scientific software toolkits to develop workflows usable by colleagues is preferred Experience with cloud or high-performance computing (e.g. AWS, GCP) preferred Experience with data science tools such as Git, Docker, Dash/Plotly etc. preferred Experience with scripting languages e.g. python, R etc. preferred Experience with experiments within protein engineering e.g. directed evolution, cryo-EM, or NGS preferred Ability to work independently and in teams, and to collaborate with external parties Excellent written and oral communication skills Novo Nordisk is an Equal Opportunity Employer - M/F/Veteran/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity. If you are interested in applying to Novo Nordisk and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply, please call us at 1-855-411-5290. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.
