Senior Immunologist

PARIS, FRANCE          FULL TIME

Eligo Bioscience is an innovation-driven biotechnology company, spun out of MIT and Rockefeller University, and based in Paris, France.

Eligo Bioscience has raised more than 20 million euros from leading investors in Silicon Valley and in France to develop next-generation drugs that are based on the genetic engineering of bacteria and their viruses and aim to address unmet medical need in microbiome-associated diseases.

The Company has been elected as one of the 30 Most Innovative Companies by the World Economic Forum in 2017, has received multiple international awards for pioneering work in the field of synthetic biology, and has been featured in international media and scientific journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Science, The Economist, The BBC and The New York Times.

Eligo Bioscience has attracted highly diverse top talent from all over the world, currently numbering over 40 Eligonauts from more than 10 countries, who are driven, passionate, and motivated to impact the lives of patients by applying cutting-edge science to save lives and treat chronic diseases. 

We believe that by enabling targeted in-situ gene editing of the microbiome, our therapeutics will have the potential to drastically change the disease course in patients with autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases and cancer. Our proprietary platforms enable removing, editing, or adding functionality to the microbiome with unprecedented precision, allowing us to influence the host response in a radically new way. 

At Eligo, we furthermore benefit from ongoing collaborations with key opinion leaders in specific therapeutic areas, greatly speeding up our research and development efforts.

Eligo embraces diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion and is committed to building diverse teams. We strive to create an inclusive workplace that cultivates innovation through collaboration and empowers people to unleash their full potential. We care for one another, communicate and listen, jump in to help where needed, show flexibility, laugh a lot, and have fun together in the process of creating.

— POSITION SUMMARY —

Our growing pipeline is rapidly progressing and we are looking for a highly motivated and creative Senior Immunologist to drive the immunological understanding for one of our Lead programs.

For each program, we start our thinking in the patient and consider which problems their disease requires solving. Your leadership in immunology will be vital to ask the right immunological questions and lead the science that delivers the answers.
You will have the opportunity to progress and develop research into the immunological pathways underpinning our mechanism of action and improve the therapeutic approach for one of our Lead programs.

Your role would include working in partnership with a dynamic cross-functional project team that combines microbiology, synthetic biology, immunology, bioinformatics and automation. 

Join us as we build the future of precision microbiome medicines!

— RESPONSIBILITIES —

• As senior immunologist, you will develop the immunological strategy underpinning the program and design and perform experiments exploring T cell function in disease, using cellular and molecular immunological techniques suitable for drug target identification and validation.
• Drive the target triaging strategy forward for your program and seek input and collaborate with other experts across Eligo.
• Actively benefit from the outstanding external collaborators that support our company and lead the collaborations that are aligned with the program; and where needed, develop and lead additional collaborations. 
• Analyze, interpret and present your experimental results at various meetings to multi-disciplinary teams and to our collaborators and lead the development of the experimental path forward.
• Develop and optimize the scientific strategy underpinning the immunological questions for the program and support the immunologist reporting to you in this. 
• Proactively incorporate new technology or bring techniques into practice.
• Generate supporting slides and reports where needed and maintain a detailed record of experiments in electronic lab notebooks in accordance with Eligo’s working practices.
• Ensure good project communication and appropriate documentation throughout the project with respect to your own data and data generated by those reporting to you, with all key discussions and decisions clearly documented.
• Present and take part in scientific review meetings and provide input to the scientific part of regulatory documents where required.
• Contribute to the development and wellbeing of other team members and Eligonauts and take ownership in further developing the quality of our science.
• Keep up to date with new literature in the field and where appropriate present your data at scientific conferences.

— APPLICANT PROFILE —

Technical skills

• PhD in Immunology, Cell Biology or related fields with a track record of first-author publications.
• Postdoctoral training (3+ years) or previous drug discovery experience in a biopharmaceutical setting is required.
• Deep knowledge of and hands-on experience in the field of T cell biology and MHC-peptide interactions.
• Experience with epitope discovery and peptide design, along with a background in immunoinformatics desired.
• Expertise in immune cell isolation and cell-based assays used to explore T cell biology using primary rodent and human immune cells.
• Expert ability to design and run experiments, interpret data, troubleshoot, and suggest next steps and identify alternative approaches.
• Ability to deliver high-quality, consistent results in a timely fashion.

Other skills

• An independent Scientific Leader, who is self-motivated, energetic and creative; a critical and innovative thinker who drives the development of Eligo’s novel therapeutics.
• An experienced immunologist, who is proactive, and has a strong sense of accountability, with the ability to ask and pursue the “fail-fast” questions.
• A positive “can-do” and result-oriented attitude, with openness to new ideas and ability to work flexibly in a highly dynamic environment.
• Dedicated, trustworthy, with a strong ability to function under pressure, while maintaining attention to detail and high performance.
• Experience with scientific development and management of other immunologists.
• Excellent ability to build productive relationships with external collaborators.  
• Outstanding organization skills and time management; ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously, as well as ability to prioritise and balance competing demands.
• High level of learning agility and drive to continuously improve and develop.
• Works well with others in the team and has excellent interpersonal skills.