Sr. Research Associate, Process Development at Moderna Therapeutics in Norwood, Massachusetts

Job Description:

The Role:

Moderna is working to develop first-in-class messenger RNA (mRNA) based medicines. Moderna is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Research Associate/Sr. Research Associate residing in Moderna's Technical Development organization in Norwood, MA. This role will support the process development of Moderna's first-in-class messenger RNA (mRNA) based medicines to enable our clinical and commercial supply. The applicant should have strong communication and collaboration skills, along with multiple examples of a strong technical background.

The successful candidate must be able to work in a fast paced and highly dynamic environment, will have relevant academic and or industrial experience in drug delivery or formulation development, and will be able to contribute to both process development and commercialization related activities. We seek applicants that are proactive, enthusiastic, and show a passion for their work. Applicants should have exceptional time management and communications skills with a strong attention to detail. Previous experience with chromatography, nanoparticle formulations, filtration technologies, mixing technologies, and/or tangential flow filtration is preferred. The position will support cross-functional teams across CMC, Research and Development, Pre-clinical and GMP Production, Quality, and Analytical Development.

Here's What You'll Do:

• Optimize current processes for ease of manufacturing, cost, and to facilitate improved characteristics to aid in the production of mRNA therapeutics.




• Develop new innovative processes to fit manufacturing needs




• Maintain good documentation practice thorough electronic lab notebooks




• Present results in cross-functional meetings




• Collect, archive, process, and organize samples for downstream analyses




• Deliver reproducible and impactful results under ambitious timelines




• Execute and troubleshoot standard protocols, develop and adapt new protocols into practice, and query literature to incorporate additional assays as needed




• Independently plan and execute experiments




• Document research and work product, analyze and interpret findings for reports, regulatory submissions and presentations.




• Clearly communicate research findings to a wide audience both internally and externally




• Maintain positive relationship with internal business partners to facilitate collaborative development across all functions (Research and Development, Pre-clinical and GMP Production, Quality, and Analytical Development)

Here's What You'll Bring to the Table:

• BS in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biochemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Biochemistry, Biology or closely related field, and 0-5 years relevant industry experience.




• Ability to plan and execute experiments independently




• Excellent communication, presentation, and writing skills




• Creative/innovative/problem solver




• Preferred: Experience with nanoparticle formulations




• Preferred: Familiarity with nucleic acid and protein chemistry, enzyme kinetics, and analytical characterization of biomolecules




• Preferred: Experience/education in pharmaceutical sciences and/or biotechnology process/product development.




• Preferred: Hands on experience with AKTA FPLC, Tangential flow filtration (TFF), and HPLC/UPLC instrumentation.

Here's What We'll Bring to the Table:

• On-site subsidized cafeteria or catered lunches


• Company-provided iPhone


• Free parking, monthly subway pass or a subsidized commuter rail pass


• Free annual corporate membership to Bluebikes


• Highly competitive healthcare coverage including: medical offered through BCBS (HMO/PPO), dental, and vision offered through VSP


• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical expenses and dependent care expenses


• 16 weeks of 100% paid parental leave for all new parents


• 16 weeks 100% paid family caregiver leave


• 20 weeks 100% paid medical leave


• Eligible for "Moderna Month" (one month paid sabbatical after five years of service and eligible for additional one month paid sabbatical every 3 years thereafter)


• Adoption assistance and discounts to local childcare centers, as well as access to care.com


• 401k (traditional and Roth offered) with 50% match on first 6% deferred. Match is vested immediately


• A suite of Moderna paid insurance coverage, including: life insurance, short-term and long-term disability


• Voluntary legal assistance plan


• 15 days' vacation and 7 sick days per year, in addition to a discretionary winter shut down and 11 company paid holidays (includes 2 floating holidays)

About Moderna:

In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science research-stage company advancing programs in the promising-but-still-unproven field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with its first medicine having treated millions of people, a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across six modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale and at unprecedented speed. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use of one of the earliest and most-effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases. Today, 24 development programs are underway across these therapeutic areas, with 13 programs having entered the clinic. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past six years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.

Moderna is a smoke-free, alcohol-free and drug-free work environment.

Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, gender, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.

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