Senior Scientist ​/ Engineer: Immunology, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, Synthetic Biology, & Cell E

Senior Scientist / Engineer:
Immunology, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, Synthetic Biology, & Cell Engineering

Intertwine LLC Mt Pleasant, South Carolina, United States

At Intertwine Associates, we live by a simple promise:
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Intertwine Associates is seeking a Senior Scientist / Engineer to support advanced research and development initiatives within the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA‑H). This role supports an ARPA‑H Program Manager leading high‑risk, high‑reward programs focused on accelerating transformative health outcomes through cutting‑edge biotechnology, therapeutic innovation, and bioengineered solutions to complex health challenges.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with the Program Manager and broader government, technical, and performer teams to support the development, funding, execution, and management of new and existing R&D programs. The position focuses on novel therapeutic modalities and bioengineered approaches, including nucleic acid‑based prophylactics and therapeutics, synthetic biology, cell engineering, immunology, host biology, polymers, minerals, and related areas. This role may cover in‑vivo cell engineering, protein editing, tunable therapies that sense and respond to cellular stimuli, trans‑omic sequencing platform development, and detection and removal of toxic substances from the body.

This role is well suited for scientists and engineers who thrive in dynamic environments and enjoy translating deep technical insight into program‑level impact.

• Serve as a senior scientific and technical advisor to the Program Manager, supporting the development and execution of new and existing ARPA‑H R&D programs.
• Conduct rigorous evaluations of the current scientific and technical landscape to identify research gaps, portfolio opportunities, and critical needs aligned with the ARPA‑H mission.
• Support programs and projects related to immunology, nucleic acid therapeutics, synthetic biology, cell engineering, gene regulation, biomaterials, microbiome science, toxicology, and related biotechnology areas.
• Monitor and assess performer progress against defined technical milestones, deliverables, and quantitative performance metrics.
• Critically review complex scientific, technical, and programmatic data using strong logical and analytical reasoning.
• Read, synthesize, and distill large volumes of complex information into concise, executive‑ready briefings for technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Support program execution through documentation, internal reporting, briefing development, data collection, and coordination across multidisciplinary teams.
• Assist with technical reviews, landscape assessments, performer evaluations, and programmatic analysis in health‑related research areas.
• Integrate into an existing ARPA‑H support team while also operating independently in support of complex technical R&D efforts.
• Support coordination across cooperative agreements, Other Transaction awards, milestone‑based contracts, FFRDCs, interagency efforts, and commercialization activities.
• Travel within CONUS as needed, approximately 10–20%, to support program reviews, meetings, and stakeholder engagements.

• Ph.D. in immunology, nucleic acid therapeutics, synthetic biology, analytical chemistry, materials science, applied biotechnology, or a closely related field.
• Experience in one or more of the following areas: immunology, nucleic acid‑based prophylactics and therapeutics, nucleic acid delivery, synthetic biology, cell engineering, gene regulation, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, polymer chemistry, materials science, toxicology, cell biology, structural biology, biomaterials, nanotechnology, microbiome science, or microbial communities.
• Strong technical writing skills, with the ability to communicate complex scientific ideas clearly to broad audiences.
• Demonstrated…