Senior Scientist, Conjugation Chemistry

Opportunity awaits those up to the challenge of developing transformative therapies across a broad range of debilitating diseases.

Summary:

Roles and Responsibilities:

Key Responsibilities:

* Design, synthesize, and evaluate oligonucleotide and protein conjugates, including conjugates incorporating monoclonal antibodies, synthetic proteins, miniproteins, peptides, and deliveryenabling scaffolds.

* Develop and apply conjugation strategies to support CNS, ocular, and systemic indications, including conjugates relevant to targeted complement inhibition in multiple organs.

* Design conjugates that enable improved pharmacokinetics, stability, and tissue exposure to support alternative routes of administration and improved patient convenience.

* Deploy and optimize novel conjugation chemistries, including sitespecific, modular, and cleavable linker strategies to tune exposure, durability, and functional activity.

* Perform handson conjugation work, including reaction design, optimization, scaleappropriate preparation, and troubleshooting of complex conjugate systems.

* Purify oligonucleotide and protein conjugates using chromatographic techniques, including reversephase HPLC, ionexchange HPLC, and sizebased separations appropriate for the conjugate format.

* Characterize conjugates using HPLC and LCMS to confirm identity, purity, conjugation efficiency, and stability.

* Evaluate binding and functional properties of conjugates using biophysical and binding assays, including BLI, to assess interactions with targets, receptors, or delivery partners.

* Collaborate closely with biology, siRNA, protein engineering, PK/PD, and translational teams to support SAR development, interpret data, and guide iterative conjugate design.

* Coordinate with external CROs and partners to ensure highquality execution of conjugation, purification, and analytical workflows while maintaining strong internal scientific ownership.

* Maintain clear and accurate experimental documentation and communicate data, conclusions, and recommendations to multidisciplinary project teams.

Education:

* PhD or Master's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, or a related lifescience discipline.

Experience:

* 4+ years of industry experience in conjugation chemistry, chemical biology, oligonucleotide chemistry, protein chemistry, or related therapeutic discovery roles.

* Demonstrated handson experience with protein conjugation, including work with monoclonal antibodies, peptides, or engineered protein scaffolds.

* Experience with oligonucleotide conjugates (e.g., siRNA, ASOs) and deliveryenabling chemistries.

* Exposure to CNS delivery, systemic delivery, non-hepatic organtargeted strategies, or ROAenabling design is strongly preferred.

* Experience purifying and characterizing complex biomolecular conjugates.

* Experience working with external partners or CROs is a plus.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

* Strong understanding of conjugation chemistry principles applied to oligonucleotides and proteins across CNS and systemic indications.

* Practical expertise in HPLCbased purification, including reversephase and ionexchange methods for oligonucleotide and protein conjugates.

* Proficiency with LCMS for characterization of conjugates and assessment of product quality.

* Experience using BLI or related biophysical techniques to evaluate binding interactions and conjugate functionality.

* Ability to connect chemical design decisions to downstream PK, delivery, ROA, and patient experience considerations.

* Strong experimental troubleshooting skills and the ability to independently drive laboratory work.

Travel Requirements:

Education:

Pay Information:

Work Arrangement:

Benefits and Perks:

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a 401(k) plan with company match, inclusive family building benefits, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, disability and life insurance, and more! Visit https://apellis.com/careers/benefits/ to learn more.

Company Background:

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company leading the way in complement science to develop life-changing therapies for some of the most challenging diseases patients face. We ushered in the first new class of complement medicine in 15 years and now have two C3-targeting medicines approved to treat four serious diseases. Breakthroughs for patients include the first-ever therapy for geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness, and the first treatment for patients 12 and older with C3G or primary IC-MPGN, two severe, rare kidney diseases. We believe we have only begun to unlock the potential of targeting C3 across many serious diseases.

For more information, please visit http://apellis.comor follow us on LinkedIn andX.

EEO Statement:

Apellis is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practices laws. Apellis strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy), gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, marital status, AIDS/HIV status, smoker/nonsmoker, and occupational pneumoconiosis or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.
For San Francisco postings: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.