Company Profile:
Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX) is a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. The Company is developing broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent, broad-spectrum, carrier-sparing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) being developed for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The Company is re-engineering the way highly complex immunizations are made through modern synthetic techniques, including advanced chemistry and our exclusively licensed XpressCFTM cell-free protein synthesis platform. Unlike conventional cell-based approaches, the Company’s system for producing difficult-to-make proteins and antigens is intended to accelerate its ability to efficiently create and deliver high-fidelity vaccines with enhanced immunological benefits. Vaxcyte’s pipeline also includes VAX-31, a 31-valent PCV candidate; VAX-A1, a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to prevent Group A Strep infections; VAX-PG, a therapeutic vaccine candidate designed to slow or stop the progression of periodontal disease; and VAX-GI, a vaccine program designed to prevent Shigella. The Company is driven to eradicate or treat invasive bacterial infections, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. For more information, visit
www.vaxcyte.com.
Vaxcyte, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, went public in June 2020 and currently has a team of approximately 180 employees and anticipates continued, significant growth. Following equity offerings in October 2022 and April 2023, which generated over $1.1 billion in net proceeds, the Company’s balance sheet is further strengthened to advance its pipeline of novel vaccines, including VAX-24. These financings followed positive data readouts from Vaxcyte’s Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study evaluating VAX-24 in adults aged 18-64 and Phase 2 study in adults 65 and older. The Company believes these results support a best-in-class potential for VAX-24, which was designed to replace the current standard-of-care in adults and children. VAX-24 is being investigated for the prevention of IPD, which can be most serious for infants, young children, older adults and those with immune deficiencies or certain chronic health conditions. Given the global impact of pneumococcal disease remains significant, the public health community continues to advocate for vaccines that can offer broader protection to prevent IPD. Vaxcyte’s PCV franchise, consisting of VAX-24 and VAX-31, is designed specifically to address this need and has the potential to deliver the broadest protection for this very serious disease. We believe that our PCVs could receive regulatory approval based on successful completion of clinical studies utilizing well-defined surrogate immune endpoints, consistent with how other PCVs have obtained regulatory approval in the past, rather than requiring clinical field efficacy studies.
Summary:
Vaxcyte is looking for an energetic and talented Associate Engineer II to contribute to the Polysaccharide Upstream Pilot Plant function within the CMC team. Vaxcyte is developing a multi-valent polysaccharide-based conjugate vaccine, based on a novel carrier protein produced using the Xpress CF platform. Polysaccharides are a critical component in conjugate vaccines.
The successful candidate will have practical laboratory fermentation experience in executing, supporting, or developing upstream processes related to biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, or vaccine industries. The candidate will be eager to utilize and learn new laboratory skills as this person will be responsible for collaboration on experimental design and execution of experiments at pilot scale for scale down modelling efforts and manufacturing program development. This position will require >80% time in the lab and this person will be able to collaborate on experimental procedures/results in written and presentation format. The successful candidate will write detailed technical reports, present experimental results internally, and potentially interface with external CMO partners.
Essential Funcitons:
- Operate and maintain equipment and instrumentation for polysaccharide fermentation such as fermenters, depth filtration, and metabolite analyzers.
- Support media and buffer preparations for the experiments.
- Perform analysis and interpret results for polysaccharide and impurity assays for both internal Process Development and Manufacturing samples.
- Assist in design and execution of upstream process development studies, including protocols and reports.
- Keep accurate and current records of development experiments and/or project related activities in laboratory notebooks or electronic laboratory notebooks.
- Assist in compiling process development and manufacturing data for statistical analysis for scale down modeling and process characterization purposes.
- Present data from experiments to the team and contribute to technical discussions.
- Work within a team environment and provides support as necessary to further the team’s initiatives.
Requirements:
- B.S. or M.S. in Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, or a related discipline.
- 1-3+ years of experience.
- Experience with the operation, preparation, and handling of fermentors (preferred) or bioreactors. Experience with centrifugation and TFF systems for primary recovery a plus.
- Experience with method analysis of fermentation in-process and final results such as UV-spectrophotometry, metabolite analyzers, and plate-based assays.
- Experience in writing experimental protocols and summary reports.
- Familiarity with DoE (Design of Experiments) principles and practical experience with DoE software a plus.
- Proficient with computer programs such as Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint.
- Working knowledge of the requirements of GxPs (GMP a plus).
- Demonstrated strong ability to work in a cross-functional team environment on multiple projects.
- Strong interpersonal skills, with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- All Vaxcyte employees require vaccination against COVID-19.
Reports to: Associate Director, Polysaccharide Pilot Plant and Manufacturing
Location: San Carlos, CA
Compensation:
The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.
Salary Range: $101,000 - $109,000
Send resumes to:
Vaxcyte, Inc.
825 Industrial Road, Suite 300
San Carlos, CA 94070
We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.
