Expert Scientist, RNA Biology

The goal of this Expert Scientist position will be focused on devising and executing experiments in the areas of RNA vaccine discovery and research with a focus on understanding and modifying secondary and tertiary structure of mRNA vaccine platforms. The successful candidate will study the nucleic acid architecture of the GSK mRNA vaccine platform integrating state-of-the art genomics instrumentation and bioinformatics analysis towards elucidating the impact of RNA structure on biological activity in the context of vaccine immunization.

To be successful in the role, this person must:

• Demonstrate willingness to spend ~70% of one's time in the research laboratory
• Have the ability to understand, interpret, and communicate complex scientific data to determine next steps
• Be comfortable conversing with opinion leaders regarding highly technical information
• Be a self-starter able to handle multiple projects concurrently
• Possess a good balance of creativity and analytical thinking faculties
• Display an ability to be productive and successful in an intense work environment as a Team Player

Basic qualifications:

We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• Ph.D. degree plus at least 3 years of experience or Masters with at least 5 years of experience in RNA biochemistry, RNA computational biology, RNA based vaccines, or related scientific discipline
• Extensive research expertise with RNA biochemistry and RNA virology
• Hands-on experience with RNA footprinting and NGS methods to monitor gene expression, mRNA translation, RNA structure, and RNA modifications.
• Familiar with bioinformatics analysis of RNA secondary structure.
• Strong track-record of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, including at least 3 first author research manuscripts
• Fluency in English, spoken and written

Preferred qualifications:

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:

• Experience with high-throughput RNA structure mapping approaches (SHAPE-seq, DMS-seq)
• Experience with ribosome footprint profiling
• Familiarity with the impact of nucleic acid secondary structure in RNA-protein interaction, especially in the context of innate immunity.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Record demonstrating the ability of driving independently innovative scientific projects and collaborate in multiple project workstreams

Our values and expectations are at the heart of everything we do and form an important part of our culture.

These include Patient focus, Transparency, Respect, Integrity along with Courage, Accountability, Development, and Teamwork. As GSK focuses on our values and expectations and a culture of innovation, performance, and trust, the successful candidate will demonstrate the following capabilities:

• Agile and distributed decision-making - using evidence and applying judgement to balance pace, rigour and risk, governance and control, managing ambiguity and paradox.
• Managing individual performance.
• Creating a performance culture and driving results, prioritisation, execution, delivering performance.
• Setting strategic direction and leading on-going organisational transformation.
• Building a resilient organisation.
• Building strong relationships and collaboration in service of common goals, engaging the organisation and building trusted external networks for mutual benefit.
• Managing P&L and capital allocation.