About Voyager Therapeutics

Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VYGR) is a biotechnology company dedicated to leveraging the power of human genetics to modify the course of – and ultimately cure – neurological diseases. Our pipeline includes programs for Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, and multiple other diseases of the central nervous system. Many of our programs are derived from our TRACER™ AAV capsid discovery platform, which we have used to generate novel capsids and identify associated receptors to potentially enable high brain penetration with genetic medicines following intravenous dosing. Some of our programs are wholly owned, and some are advancing with partners including Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease; Novartis Pharma AG; Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.; and Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. For more information, visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com.

Voyager Therapeutics® is a registered trademark, and TRACER™ is a trademark, of Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. 

Job Summary

Voyager Therapeutics, a leader in AAV delivery technology, is expanding our strategic focus on non-viral delivery to further enhance our position as pioneers in neurogenetic medicine. We are seeking a talented Senior Director* to lead an antibody discovery and engineering team for the nonviral delivery program. Our department seeks to discover and engineer life-changing antibody-based drugs to deliver therapeutic cargos across the blood-brain barrier. The successful candidate will work with dynamic and highly motivated teams to drive the development of antibody-based genetic therapies for unmet medical needs. The candidate will collaborate across multidisciplinary teams at Voyager. 

Primary responsibilities will focus on two areas. 1) Build and serve as team lead to develop new and cutting-edge antibody technologies (e.g., high-throughput BBB transport) against novel transport targets to enable first-in-class and best-in class antibody-based CNS therapeutics 2) direct antibody/nanobody lead selection, optimization and engineering for antibody shuttle discovery programs

The individual will leverage skills in protein engineering, structural biology, biochemistry, or computational biology to design creative and innovative solutions to address challenges in various research areas. Exceptionally strong leadership and communications skills are essential for the position as the individual is expected to lead an independent research group and collaborate across the organization to discover and advance next generation therapeutics.

*We will consider outstanding candidates at the Director and Vice President level should experience align with a different level.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Lead efforts in antibody/nanobody development and engineering, including bispecific, single domain, and multi-domain antibodies for non-viral CNS-penetrant therapeutic programs at Voyager Therapeutics
• Utilize multiple strategies for antibody discovery such as hybridoma screening, B-cell screening, phage display to select and optimize top antibody candidates for affinity, transcytosis and other properties
• Design and execute protein engineering strategies to deliver developable biologics formats by applying molecular biology, structure-guided, computational, combinatorial/display approaches
• Lead and mentor an antibody engineering and molecular biology team of scientists responsible for designing, generating, and characterizing antibody-based therapeutics
• Lead technology development in antibody engineering and contribute to broadening Voyager’s intellectual property portfolio
• Hire, manage and develop a team of scientists/research associates fostering an environment of creativity, a strong work ethic and teamwork
• Develop and manage operating budget

Requirements:

• PhD in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical biology, or a related field with 10+ years of industry experience
• Demonstrated leadership and management experience with a track record of leading teams and projects to successful endpoints
• Deep expertise in antibody/nanobody generation utilizing a wide range of technologies such as hybridoma, phage display, single B-cell screening, etc.
• Demonstrated experience developing antibody bioconjugates, bispecific and multi-specific antibody formats for receptor-drive tissue targeting
• Familiarity with performing develop ability/manufacturability assessments for selection and optimization of antibodies and antibody formats
• Experience using bioinformatics tools for sequence and structure analysis
• Proven leadership skills with mentoring and leading teams in therapeutic antibody development
• Ability to work collaboratively in a high-paced project team environment, meet deadlines, and prioritize work across multiple projects
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience in CNS delivery strongly preferred