Director of Antibody Development

Company Description

Ever since 1998, when our founder, Jonathan Milner, started selling antibodies from the back of his bike, Abcam has aimed to help scientific researchers make breakthroughs faster. It’s our goal to provide a world-standard in protein research tools, technical support and delivery.

When you join Abcam, you’ll join a global business with the passion and the vision to become the most influential company, and best-loved brand in life sciences. We now have offices and labs in the UK, the US, China and Japan, and as we continue to grow, we remain ambitious, driven by our customers’ success and their research needs.

Our culture is driven by our dedicated, agile and audacious community of professionals who are driven by a combined purpose and sense of belonging. We’re incredibly proud to be recognized as one of the top 5 best places to work in the UK for two years running, as per Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Award.

Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Director of Antibody Development to join our R&D team. Reporting to the VP of Global Antibody Development Platform, this is a key role in our global Antibody team. This role will build and lead a team of scientists in Branford, US to ensure we deliver exceptional products that help life scientists worldwide achieve their research missions, faster. The successful candidate will be adept at blending a deep technical and commercial skillset to drive excellence in product development. They must have extensive experience in antibody discovery and experience in technical leadership of strategic partnerships and/or client services.

• Serve as the key scientific point of contact responsible for technical leadership and execution of antibody discovery for strategic partnerships, and custom solutions, working cross-functionally to balance and drive requirements and delivery.
• Provide scientific and technical leadership to drive the development of the Antibody discovery team in Cambridge. Lead a scientific team responsible for managing discovery projects through our development process and working with key vendors and service providers to deliver high-quality products for our customers.
• Develop and maintain strong scientific and commercial relationships with partners and external customers.
• Working closely with RD leadership team in setting strategic and operational objectives. Monitoring KPI to drive down lead time and increase success rate. Develop and provide regular briefings to internal stakeholders and external partners on key performance indicators.
• Establish strong relationships across the global Antibody team and ADT team to continuously optimize sBCC and phage discovery process and drive excellence in antibody discovery.
• Maintain active management oversight of personnel involving regular communication, performance reviews, and personal development to build a high-performing and highly engaged group aligned with Abcam’s values (agile, dedicated, audacious).

Qualifications

Our ideal candidate will have:

• Outstanding leadership skills with +10 years of leading and managing teams.
• +5 years of experience managing CRO (Contract Research Organization) services.
• PhD or significant research experience in Life Sciences (10 years+). Direct experience in Antibody Development is essential. This may come from development of research-use only products or diagnostic and therapeutic discovery and development. Experiences in Phage and NSG will be a plus.
• Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills and a skillful communicator, confident at presenting and discussing at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Able to understand the needs of the business, navigating both technical and commercial considerations to deliver successfully on both sides of a partnership.
• An inclusive team player who enjoys collaboration.
• Scientifically rigorous with the ability to drive improvements across an organization.
• Somebody who wants to make a difference and advance the work of our customers, contributing to our ambitious mission.

Additional Information

We know that when it comes to benefits, no one size fits all. Flexibility and choice matter which is why we offer all kinds of ways to enable you and your loved ones to be well and live well. You can expect:

• A culture focused on well-being and opportunities for growth and development. We provide a wide range of training opportunities, for both professional and personal development.
• The freedom to work in a way that works for you, with a focus on maximizing productivity and innovation at work whilst reducing environmental impact.
• A performance-based share plan, inspiring and rewarding our people as we deliver Abcam’s strategy.
• Attractive and flexible benefits package including 18 weeks full paid maternity leave and 6 weeks full paid paternity leave, increased paid time off accrual over time and much more.

We offer a truly inclusive environment where you can bring your whole self to work. This is underpinned by our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and our partnerships with WORK180 (endorsed employer for women) and MyGwork (LGBT+ professional community). All our positions are open as a Job Share, where two talented professionals can share the responsibility of a full time position. You can declare your interest in a job share role within the application form.

Abcam is an Equal Opportunity Employer and makes all employment decisions without regard to age, national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you’re interested in this particular role then we’d love to read your application.

Effective January 1, 2022, all U.S.-based employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID as a condition of employment at Abcam. Employees with a sincerely held religious belief and/or disability impacting their ability to obtain the COVID vaccine can request a reasonable accommodation.