Scientist II – Oligonucleotide Process Development, Manufacturing Development and Scale-Up

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 115,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Working at Abbott
At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and your family, be your true self, and live a full life. You’ll also have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of.

• Employees can qualify for free medical coverage in our Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO medical plan in the next calendar year.

• An excellent retirement savings plan with a high employer contribution.

• Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program, and FreeU education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree.

• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries worldwide and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.

• A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as the best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists.

The Opportunity
The Scientist II role works out of our Carlsbad, CA location in the Infectious Disease Division ’re empowering smarter medical and economic decision-making to help transform the way people manage their health at all stages of life. Every day, more than 10 million tests are run on Abbott’s diagnostics instruments, providing lab results for millions of people.

What You’ll Work On

We are seeking an Oligonucleotide Scientist with responsibilities spanning Process Development, Manufacturing Development, and Scale-Up of solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis. In this role, you will execute, research, develop and optimize oligonucleotide processes across the full development lifecycle — from early feasibility runs through process characterization, tech transfer and scale-up. You will work hands-on with automated synthesizers, develop and refine synthesis cycles, troubleshoot complex chemistries, and drive scale-up from nano-gram process development to micro/milli-gram scale-up.

This is a high-impact role for a scientist who enjoys solving problems at the intersection of organic chemistry, analytical science, and process engineering. The scientist will also Independently develop data presentations for use within organization.

• Design and execute solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis on automated synthesizers (e.g., ÄKTA Oligosynt, ÄKTA Pilot 100, GE/Cytiva flow-through platforms) using phosphoramidite chemistry.

• Develop, optimize, and document synthesis cycles, including coupling, capping, oxidation/sulfurization, and detritylation steps, and tune cycle parameters (reagent equivalents, contact times, flow rates) for each scale and chemistry.

• Support scale-up from process development (PD) to engineering and GMP production batches, including selection of solid supports (CPG, polystyrene, Uny Linker), columns (e.g., SYC, FineLINE), and reagent footprints.

• Synthesize complex modified oligonucleotides, including phosphorothioate (PS) backbones, 2′-OMe, 2′-MOE, LNA, and other relevant modifications.

• Characterize crude and purified product by analytical UPLC, IEX-HPLC, RP-HPLC, and LC/MS; interpret mass spectra to identify and quantify related impurities (n−1, n+1, depurination, longmers, shortmers, branched species, oxidation/sulfurization products).

• Troubleshoot synthesis failures and impurity profiles, drive root-cause investigations, and implement process improvements.

• Author and review technical documents — protocols, batch records, development reports, deviation investigations, and tech-transfer packages.

• Partner cross-functionally with Analytical Development, Downstream Processing/Purification, Quality, Manufacturing, and Regulatory teams.

• Maintain a safe, clean, and compliant lab environment in accordance with company SOPs and applicable cGMP/ICH guidelines.

Required Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with solid-phase…