As a Senior Scientist II / Principal Scientist, Biochemistry at NextRNA Therapeutics, you will join an interdisciplinary team of highly creative and talented individuals whose vision is to improve patients’ lives by expanding the space of RNA-targeted Therapies. You will be a key team member responsible for integrating biochemical technologies with our drug discovery pipeline.

About you:

• You are experienced in applying leading-edge biochemical technologies to solve challenging questions with creative solutions as a thought leader and have demonstrated this with a strong publication record
• You are a strategic leader and apply your toolbox of technologies and experience to tackle new challenges, such as developing assays and techniques to probe novel modalities and targets
• You are driven, tenacious, passionate, and motivated to make a difference
• You are a team player, communicate complex issues effectively, and collaboration is one of your strengths
• You are conscientious, organized, and detail-oriented
• You drive strategic programs through intellectual contributions, productive experimental execution, and high standards
• You are curious, love learning, and are eager to take on hard problems
• You effectively mentor junior scientists to foster excellence and trust within teams
• You thrive in a fast-paced environment and enjoy pushing the edge of what is possible

What you'll do:

• You will apply your expertise in Biochemistry to establish functional and binding assays for RNA-binding proteins and/or RNAs with small molecules.
• You will be the Biochemistry lead on projects and play a key role in drug discovery
• You will explore and evaluate new biochemical methods to support drug discovery
• You will take a leadership role in the design and scoping of project initiatives
• You will drive the development of experimental designs for understanding protein and RNA interactions
• You will establish, troubleshoot, and improve biochemical screening assays
• You will manage and actively engage in collaborations with CROs. You will work closely with a multidisciplinary team to screen and validate small molecule hits.
• You will work in a highly cross-disciplinary team and oversee the activities of junior scientists while conducting your own independent experiments

Key Qualifications:

• You have a PhD with 3 years of post-doctoral training in Biochemistry or equivalent
• You have at least 5 years of industry experience and have worked in an interdisciplinary environment where you have closely worked with medicinal chemists
• You have a strong publication record from PhD and Post-doc that demonstrates your expertise in Biochemistry
• Expertise in establishing functional assays with techniques such as TR-FRET, Alpha-LISA, and Fluorescent Polarization
• Experience with RNA biochemistry, synthesis, purification, characterization, and structural evaluation with techniques including crystallography, SHAPE-MaP, or NMR is strongly preferred
• Experience in protein/protein, protein/RNA, RNA/small molecule or protein/small molecule interactions by DSF, ITC, and/or MST and have applied these to small molecule drug discovery preferred
• You have an understanding of protein expression and purification
• You can thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment
• You have excellent communication and interpersonal skills

This position will be 5 days onsite in our Boston, MA location.

Come to NextRNA as your true self. We value every aspect that makes you unique and want everyone to feel comfortable being who they are while working with us. This is why NextRNA does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical abilities, neurodiversity, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. We welcome any qualified individual to bring their unique selves to become part of our team.