Head of Global Antigen Design – Vaccine at Sanofi – Cambridge

Job title: Head of Global Antigen Design, Vaccine

About the Job

We are an innovative global healthcare company that helps the world stay ahead of infectious diseases by delivering more than 500 million vaccine doses a year. Across different countries, our talented teams are exploring new technologies to protect people and promote healthy communities. We chase the miracles of science every single day, pursuing progress to make a real impact on millions of patients around the world.

The Global Head of Antigen (Ag) Design will push the vanguard of Ag identification and design to enable an entirely novel class of cyberphysical vaccines. This position will provide comprehensive, high-impact scientific Ag identification, Ag design, Ag presentation and prototype solutions/validation to key project initiatives across R&D.  S/he will combine big and inspiring science, including bioinformatics, structural biology, pathogen biology, and cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning (ML) and epitope forensics, with practical laboratory know-how to develop advanced antigen (Ag) designs.  The Global Head of Ag Design leads, manages and is responsible for selecting, designing, validating and characterizing engineered antigens for projects in the R&D portfolio and for working closely and in partnership with the Global Head of Immunology, the Head of Translational Medicine, the Head of the mRNA Center of Excellence, and the Head of Research Portfolio Strategy. He/she will also be responsible for the leadership, coordination and management of scientists & engineers within the Ag Design Function, and will serve cross-functionally in a leadership capacity by interacting directly with other leaders of key Functions to ensure that key product attributes are consistently accounted for as they pertain to Ag design.

The Position requires strategy, innovation, and execution along six axes:

• Performance Antigens à Part of our differentiation strategy

• Circular Innovation -à Acceleration of Research

• AND Philosophy à Diversity of disciplines leads to optimal solutions

• Transversal Research Structure à Upside to create unimaginable Ags

• Medici Science Culture à Create an inspiring culture and be people-oriented

• Uncertainty Management à take smart risks to enable smart successes and smart failures

All with the reduction to practice of this six-pronged strategy through operational excellence. 

The Global Head of Ag Design will bring conventional and unconventional ideas for Ag design from idea to translational Proof-of-Concept (PoC).  S/he will seek out and drive collaborations globally, within the Sanofi group and with the external ecosystems, in close collaboration with the CSO.  S/he will generate value by realizing efficiencies in Ag design across projects via bridging studies and transfer learning; data gained in one vaccine project can be used to increase the probability of success in another project by building transferable protein models as part of the acceleration strategy. The position is accountable for ensuring a timely and consistent approach to the development of candidate vaccines within a specific Franchise and across Franchises by ensuring disciplined and robust Ag design strategy.

S/he will lead and manage a global team of scientific experts and is expected to blend lateral influence with direct action. This includes coordinating teams to execute Research activities, along with fiscal and operational responsibilities. It is expected that the entrepreneurially minded Global Head will accomplish these by creating agility in working across scientific teams and business stakeholders to synergize the science and business of Ag identification, Ag design, Ag validation, prototype Ag candidates, Ag characterization and reagents.

Main Responsibilities:

Lead and Manage the Vaccine R&D Global Head of Ag Design to Develop Performance Antigens:

• The Global Head of Ag Design is accountable for advancing an integrated Ag selection and design strategy and development plan for R&D projects, and for its effective execution. 

• S/he provides leadership in finding creative solutions to vexing scientific, strategic, and operational problems in Ag design, production, characterization, and formulation. 

• The Ag Design Group will move from idea/invention to true value creation, starting with the end in mind and working backward to see what needs to be accomplished to design performance antigens. 

• The position will be required to accelerate the discovery and development of traditional products and enable a completely novel class of cyberphysical vaccines based on Machine Learning algorithms. 

• The position is accountable for establishing and developing a best-in-class Ag Design Function for vaccine R&D. 

• S/he is responsible in driving innovation in Ag design.

Acceleration and efficiency of the Function via Circular Innovation

• Is accountable to enable circular innovation: via rapid Ag Design à Build à Characterize à Learn cycles. Including techniques such as machine learning (ML), structure-based design and analysis, and feedback of large-scale screening and immunogenicity assessments into the next cycle.

• Circular Innovation will use the latest science and technology to Ag design, such as analog to digital (virus to sequence) and laboratory digital to analog (sequence to protein or mRNA) conversion technologies to enable rapid design optimization.  

• Circular innovation cycles will be an integral part to designing sequence à structure à function models that will be the Ag design blueprint. 

• S/he will be accountable that the models developed are not in isolation but can be leveraged for other targets as much as possible. 

• The Global Head of Ag Design and the Global Head of Immunology will be responsible for accelerating and improving the productivity of Research operations and facilitating cross-team interactions across R&D. 

Create “AND” philosophy to scientific approach       

• S/he will integrate strategy, science, engineering, Machine Learning (ML), pathogen biology, math, structural biology, biochemistry with planning, execution, AND risk mitigation of Ag Design activities in R&D, defining timelines, setting milestones, actions, and deliverables to meet project deadlines.  

• The AND philosophy is one of scientific and staff inclusion to remove hypothesis bias, AND to find optimal solutions using the diversity prediction theorem. S/he will be accountable to bring the AND philosophy into Ag Design and will lead a multifunctional team to foster excellence in Ag design to best serve the R&D portifolio.  

• The Head of Ag Design AND the Head of Immunology will accomplish the AND philosophy. 

• S/he is a high-level strategist with operational authority to manage the reduction of Ag Design strategy to valuable practice for the R&D portfolio by removing hypothesis bias by allowing multiple hypotheses to run parallel for a period of time. 

• Requires simultaneously working multiple unknowns while delivering results to guide decision-making at the same time. 

• S/he knows how to learn from failure to progress the scientific agenda of R&D.

Create a Translational Ag Design Research Structure

• Explore future directions in vaccinology; keeps abreast of the latest developments specifically in Ag identification, Ag design, Ag presentation and pathogen biology. 

• An audacious goal would be to create unimaginable Ag designs. 

• As mRNA could ultimately express any protein and perhaps treat almost any disease, it is critically important to design these Ags as part of the company’s differentiation strategy. 

• The position is accountable to generate intricate Ag designs and understand properties at essentially every amino acid on the protein.

• The aim is to be able to mimic integrated hierarchical structures found in nature and perhaps do better than nature via cyberphysical vaccine design.  S/he will create, develop, recognize and stimulate internal and external ideas with high potential impact; apply unique skills and interests to develop new opportunity domains. 

• The position will also create a ‘fail fast’ cultural spirit and considers the outlier result the most exciting result.

Medici Science Culture

• With the Global Head of Immunology, the position will be responsible to create a Research culture that is inspiring. 

• S/he will lead by influence to mentor diverse staff in the interpretation and generation of novel vaccine Ag designs. 

• Create a culture where we are honest, bring out the best in everyone, trust each other’s knowledge and judgment, laugh, argue, take smart risks, and sometimes make mistakes, but we work together as a team. 

• The position will be responsible to bring together fresh thinking, new perspectives via Scrum teaming, ML, Bioinformatics, and Structural and Pathogen Biology working together, and a place for the staff to be creative and think beyond individual projects but about synergies between projects.

• S/he will be accountable for thinking of the end in mind, the culture aim will be to have a group that will have friendship and scientific fellowship with some of the best and the brightest that make a tangible value to the company

The position will be to create a Medici Culture and be accountable for the performance of the staff to achieve high levels of commitment, productivity and retention; ensure that department and individual objectives are established and calibrated with company objectives; promotes career progression and development of the staff; communicates relevant departmental, functional and organizational messages to the function; gives honest feedback to individual staff members; ensures good business and scientific safety and ethics in the work product; appoint and empower leaders; simplify the function; apply the play to win strategy in the early development projects to:

• Stretch to go beyond the level we have operated at up until now

• Take action instead of waiting to be told what to do

• Act in the interest of our patients and customers

• Put the interests of the organization ahead of my own or those of our team

About you

• Preferably, an advanced degree, Ph.D. (in a science field), MD, and/or Pharm D., with over fifteen years of experience in vaccine development experience or equivalent experience in other discipline

• Previous experience working in the industry and leading cross-functional teams project leadership experience desirable

• Strategic thinking in combination with understanding science and technologies. Demonstrated strategic and tactical leadership skills

• Strong entrepreneurial leadership skills to manage cross-cultural, cross-functional teams of highly skilled professionals, with the ability to speak on behalf of the team

• Strong interpersonal, communication, presentation, and negotiation skills across all levels of the organization. Outstanding communicator. Excellent problem-solving, conflict-resolution, and decision-making skills.

• Resourcefulness: ability to find strategic and tactical solutions to challenges. Strongly results-oriented and data-driven. Fluent English communication skills, verbal and written. French is a plus.

• Ability to work in an international context. Ability to challenge the status quo and proactively propose changes. Ability to manage uncertainty/unknowns

• Ability to pivot/persevere with the execution/strategy and management team during times of flux/change. Performance-oriented with the ability to work along with agreed timelines and a focus on strategy and execution.

Why Choose Us?

• Bring the miracles of science to life alongside a supportive, future-focused team.

• Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether it’s through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally.

• Enjoy a thoughtful, well-crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact.

• Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high-quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs and at least 14 weeks’ gender-neutral parental leave.

Sanofi Inc. and its U.S. affiliates are Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employers committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; nationality; marital, domestic partnership or civil union status; sex, gender, gender identity or expression; affectional or sexual orientation; disability; veteran or military status or liability for military status; domestic violence victim status; atypical cellular or blood trait; genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing) or any other characteristic protected by law.

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Pursue progress, discover extraordinary

Better is out there. Better medications, better outcomes, better science. But progress doesn’t happen without people – people from different backgrounds, in different locations, doing different roles, all united by one thing: a desire to make miracles happen. So, let’s be those people.

At Sanofi, we provide equal opportunities to all regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, ability or gender identity.

Watch our ALL IN video and check out our Diversity Equity and Inclusion actions at sanofi.com!