Principal Chemist

About LGC Biosearch Technologies

With manufacturing sites across the US, UK, Germany, and Denmark, LGC Biosearch Technologies delivers mission‑critical genomics to customers in molecular diagnostics, pharma/biotech, and agrigenomics. Our integrated portfolio of products, services, and expertise supports our purpose of Science for a Safer World.

The Principal Oligonucleotide Chemist is a senior scientific leader responsible for driving oligonucleotide product development, synthesis, process development, and innovation across the Innovation Hub, operations, and customer‑facing programs. The role blends hands‑on laboratory execution with strategic experimental design, data‑driven development, project leadership, and mentorship of scientists to deliver new products.

• Lead the Petaluma Innovation Hub Oligo Chemistry Function by delivering customer co‑creation and NPD products/projects from concept through delivery.
• Partner with peers and global team to deliver to customers and achieve Innovation Hub development and financial objectives.
• Serve as a technical lead for a multi‑site, multi‑function development team for oligonucleotide synthesis, modification, deprotection, purification, and analytical characterization.
• Participate in evaluation of new technologies and oligonucleotide market strategy.
• Oversee and execute oligo synthesis projects, including experimental design, planning, prioritization, and resource coordination.
• Deliver and control new methods, workflows, and manufacturing protocols for oligonucleotide synthesis, purification, and analysis; support operations technically.
• Optimize and define manufacturing instructions for low‑yielding or impure processes.
• Lead projects and staff hands‑on in the lab by performing and training synthesis and purification of oligonucleotides using automated and manual techniques.
• Conduct analytical characterization (LC‑MS, HPLC, CE, UV‑Vis) to confirm identity, purity, and impurity profiles.
• Troubleshoot synthetic routes, instrument performance, and purification workflows and analytics to ensure consistent, high‑quality output.
• Develop and refine synthetic routes, synthesis method refinement, coupling conditions, deprotection strategies, and purification methods.
• Design rigorous, data‑driven experiments to optimize yield, purity, scalability (up and down), and process robustness.
• Use mechanistic understanding and statistical analysis to adjust development plans and guide next‑step decision‑making.
• Lead troubleshooting efforts by designing investigation maps and structured experimental plans.
• Document experimental results, conclusions, and recommendations by industry standard technical summary reports and within quality certification requirements.
• Successfully lead and deliver oligonucleotide customer co‑creation and NPD projects.
• Participate in technical customer calls related to custom oligo manufacturing, product investigations, and development updates.
• Present technical content to commercial teams and customers, including data reviews, capability overviews, and project progress.
• Provide technical support to Operations for process optimization, scale‑up, and continual improvement.
• Lead the successful transfer of custom product methods and procedures into MSAT and Operations teams.
• Develop effective tech transfer plans and verify training for newly developed processes.
• Deliver method validation in alignment with Quality department requirements.
• Support troubleshooting and root‑cause investigations for manufacturing challenges.
• Mentor and develop scientists in oligonucleotide chemistry; provide guidance in technical skills, experimental design, and professional development.
• Promote rigorous laboratory order and management, controlled documentation, and best practices in experimental execution.
• Foster a collaborative, trust‑building, and growth‑oriented environment that supports scientific excellence.

• Proven expertise in oligonucleotide chemistry.
• Demonstrated knowledge of solid‑phase oligonucleotide synthesis and modification.
• Skilled in analytical characterization of oligonucleotides, including impurity profiling.
• Demonstrated…