# Scientist, Mammalian Cell Engineering

Live page: https://affinitytalent.bio/jobs/scientist-mammalian-cell-engineering-allogeneic

## Role summary

- Series B allogeneic cell therapy company
- South San Francisco, CA, US
- On-site · Mid-level
- Compensation: $145k - $178k + equity + bonus

Design edited donor-derived immune cells for an off-the-shelf cell therapy program aimed at solid tumors.

## About the role

The company is developing an allogeneic immune-cell therapy platform built around edited donor-derived T/NK-cell chassis with improved persistence, tumor activity, and reduced alloreactivity. This role sits between cell engineering, analytical development, and process development. You will design edits in primary immune-cell systems, evaluate whether engineered cells keep the right phenotype and function, and help decide which chassis is ready for process transfer.

## Responsibilities

- Edit strategy design: Design knockout, knock-in, promoter, or landing-pad strategies for lead cell designs and run the experiments needed to compare them.
- Cell characterization: Measure edit efficiency, target expression, phenotype, viability, post-thaw recovery, and functional activity using flow, qPCR/ddPCR, sequencing, and cell-based assays.
- Process transfer collaboration: Work with process development so cell construction methods, culture conditions, and analytical readouts can transfer into closed-system or scale-up workflows.
- Platform troubleshooting: Troubleshoot donor variability, delivery efficiency, cell stress, expansion limits, and assay artifacts before they slow the program down.

## Requirements

- PhD with 2+ years, or MS with 4+ years, in mammalian cell engineering, immune-cell engineering, cell therapy R&D, immunology, bioengineering, or a related field.
- Hands-on experience using CRISPR-Cas, base editing, transposon systems, or related editing tools in mammalian cell lines, primary T cells, NK cells, iPSCs, or similar systems.
- Working knowledge of viral and non-viral delivery, population or clone screening, edited-cell expansion, and stability assessment.
- Experience with multi-parameter flow cytometry, qPCR/ddPCR, targeted amplicon sequencing, killing assays, cytokine assays, or other cell-based functional readouts.
- Good experimental judgment around controls, donor-to-donor variability, viability issues, and the limits of small-scale assays before process transfer.

## Technical stack

CRISPR/Cas editing, electroporation/nucleofection, viral vector delivery, primary T-cell/NK-cell culture, edited-cell expansion, multi-color flow cytometry, ddPCR/qPCR, targeted amplicon sequencing, cell-based functional assays, Benchling, GraphPad Prism.