Personalized TCR-T Team Lead

Position Summary

Responsible for establishing and driving a cutting‑edge research group and platform for personalized TCR‑based cell therapies targeting autologous tumors. The mission of this team is to build a rigorous, high‑throughput discovery and preclinical development engine that identifies high throughput and with high confidence tumor‑specific TCRs for downstream analysis, engineering, and translational development. The Lead integrates immunologic insight, genomic analysis, and clinical collaboration to advance personalized TCR gene therapy for patients.

• Design and implement an end-to-end personalized TCR discovery workflow including tumor‑reactive T cell identification, TCR cloning, specificity validation, and safety de‑risking leading to the selection of personalized TCRs for clinical application
• Develop platform of experimental massive parallel screening of T cells for recognition of autologous tumor cell lines or tumor antigen‑expressing APCs; purification and analysis of tumor‑reactive T cells.
• Develop workflow for human T cell isolation, scRNA/TCRseq and computational inference of tumor‑reactive T cells. Understand deeply relevant computational methods and work closely with computational experts.
• Establish platform for massive parallel TCR cloning and screening; deep TCR characterization including affinity, avidity and functionality in a cellular context.
• Directly analyze and interpret complex patient‑based campaigns for identification of TCRs. Integrate data across functional potency, specificity, and safety to support go/no‑go decisions on specific TCRs.
• Establish and optimize advanced de‑risking methods and workflows to assess alloreactivity, unintended HLA interactions, off‑target toxicity risk including X‑scan, peptide library screens and library‑on‑library HTS.
• Develop a platform of cell‑based systems and in‑vitro surrogates of normal tissues to assess TCR risk.
• Contribute to translational packages (reports, assay descriptions, validation summaries) supporting IND/CTA‑enabling preclinical data.
• Collaborate with cross functional teams to integrate learnings and advance gene therapy initiatives.

• Master’s Degree or Ph.D. in an appropriate field. Equivalent work experience will be considered.

A minimum of 10 years of post‑PhD experience in TCR discovery, ideally applied to cell therapy development.

Approximately 3 years or related experience in GLP/GMP or Pharmaceutical environments.

Experience in working closely with computational teams, interpreting high‑dimensional datasets, and integrating quantitative outputs into experimental design.

Passion for bridging rigorous basic science with translational impact; resilient, innovative, and comfortable in a fast‑paced, milestone‑oriented environment.

Proven track record leading small‑to‑medium teams on complex, multi‑stakeholder translational projects or platform builds, ideally in a translational or biotech‑like setting, with demonstrated ability to advance candidates from discovery to preclinical validation.

• Deep technical expertise in high‑throughput TCR screening, single cell technologies and TCR repertoire analysis, TCR cloning/expression, functional validation, and safety de‑risking.
• Ability to build scalable and reproduceable identification pipelines for personalized TCR therapy programs.
• Familiarity with institutional and federal regulatory documentation and compliance standards.
• Excellent communication skills in English, with the ability to interact effectively with clinicians, basic scientists, and operational stakeholders.
• Effective communication skills to translate complex discovery findings into actionable development decisions.

Ability to work flexible hours, evenings and weekends, when requested for special projects.

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