Research Scientist, Life Sciences (Large Molecules, Process Development)

About the role

Anthropic's Life Sciences team is building a research group focused on biological discoveries by combining AI with hands-on biological research. We're seeking a research scientist with deep expertise in antibody process development and manufacturing to join the team. Our goal is to speed up progress in the life sciences by an order of magnitude, and this role puts that mission into practice. You'll be an expert in making antibodies, with hands-on experience expressing, purifying, characterizing, and formulating them, from small screening batches to material for IND-enabling studies. Above all, you'll close the loop between AI-generated hypotheses and experimental data to share with the community. Working alongside AI researchers and engineers, you'll build and run the workflows that turn AI-designed sequences into well-characterized protein, and pressure-test AI predictions of expression, stability, and manufacturability against real data.

This role is fully on-site in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and run expression and purification processes for antibodies and other recombinant proteins end to end, including transient and stable expression in mammalian cells (HEK293, CHO), affinity capture (Protein A, IMAC), polishing chromatography, buffer exchange, and formulation
• Characterize what we make with the right analytical panel, for example SEC, CE-SDS, icIEF, LC-MS (intact mass, peptide mapping, glycans), DLS, thermal stability, endotoxin, and binding kinetics (SPR, BLI)
• Build the laboratory for this work, including selecting, installing, and qualifying equipment and setting up workflows that scale from plate-based production of hundreds of designs to gram quantities of a lead
• Evaluate AI-designed antibodies for manufacturability (titer, aggregation, stability under stress, viscosity, chemical liabilities), drive them to experimental readout, and feed results back to research teams
• Plan the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) path toward IND-enabling studies, from cell line development and scale-up to analytical methods and stability, and coordinate technology transfer and manufacturing with external contract manufacturers
• Ensure experimental data across programs is high quality and well documented, including batch records, methods, raw data, and failure modes
• Communicate findings clearly to biology, AI research, and life sciences audiences

Minimum qualifications

• PhD in biochemical engineering, chemical engineering, biochemistry, or a related field (or Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience)
• Demonstrated experience in process development and manufacturing of antibodies or other recombinant proteins, including material supplied for IND-enabling or clinical studies, with recent, sustained hands-on laboratory work
• Comfort navigating ambiguity and defining problems in a rapidly evolving research environment
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across cross-functional teams, with strong written and verbal communication skills

Preferred qualifications

• 5+ years of biologics process development experience beyond the PhD
• Depth in both upstream (cell line development, bioreactors) and downstream (chromatography, filtration) development, with working knowledge of analytical and formulation development
• Experience setting up a protein production or process development laboratory, including laboratory automation and high-throughput, plate-based expression and purification
• Experience directing technology transfer and GMP manufacturing at contract development and manufacturing organizations, with contributions to the CMC sections of an IND
• Statistics or coding skills, for example design of experiments or Python for data analysis and automation
• Experience using AI or ML tools in the life sciences
• Publications and/or patents demonstrating scientific impact