Director, Analytical Chemistry

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific and strategic leadership for discovery-stage analytical chemistry activities supporting mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) research.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team of analytical scientists across analytical chemistry, characterization, and platform functions.
• Set the analytical chemistry vision and strategy to support lipid design, payload evaluation, and formulation screening.
• Partner with medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, and formulation teams to accelerate molecular design and candidate progression.
• Oversee method development, qualification, and transfer across chromatography, mass spectrometry, and spectroscopy platforms.
• Guide structure elucidation, impurity profiling, and physicochemical characterization of novel lipids, polymers, and excipients.
• Provide technical oversight to external CRO and CDMO partners for specialty characterization and method transfer.
• Leverage high-throughput methodologies and digital workflows, including AI/ML, to enhance data analysis and decision-making.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely related discipline.
• 9+ years of relevant industry experience in biotech or pharmaceutical settings.
• Deep expertise in small molecules, polymers, and lipid analytical chemistry, including structure elucidation and impurity assessment.
• Extensive experience with analytical platforms such as UPLC, HPLC, LC-MS, NMR, and particle characterization methods.
• Working knowledge of large molecule and nucleic acid analytics, specifically mRNA or related RNA characterization.
• Proven managerial and technical leadership experience in both direct reporting and matrixed environments.
• Experience with technology transfer and managing relationships with external CRO/CDMO collaborators.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting mRNA-LNP, oligonucleotide, or gene editing modalities in discovery or early development.
• Experience contributing to IND-enabling programs or regulatory submissions.
• Familiarity with design-of-experiments (DoE), multivariate data analysis, and cheminformatics.
• Proficiency in leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to inform scientific decision-making.
• A record of scientific thought leadership through publications or patents.

Benefits

• Best-in-class healthcare coverage and voluntary benefit programs.
• Holistic well-being support, including fitness, mindfulness, and mental health resources.
• Comprehensive family planning benefits, including fertility and adoption support.
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sabbatical, and global recharge days.
• Savings and investment opportunities to support future planning.

About the Company

Moderna is pioneering the development of a new class of drugs made of messenger RNA (mRNA). We are building a leading mRNA technology platform to reimagine how medicines are created and delivere