About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Scientific & QA.

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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What You’ll Do

This role supports a confidential client’s protein production pipeline, delivering high-quality recombinant proteins for structure-based drug discovery, antibody discovery, and protein engineering projects. You will express and purify proteins across bacterial, insect, and mammalian systems, run analytical and biophysical assays to assess sample quality, optimize workflows to improve yield and stability, communicate results to project teams and clients, and document experiments in technical reports.

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Main Responsibilities

• Express and purify recombinant proteins using bacterial, insect, and mammalian expression systems.
• Develop, optimize, and scale purification workflows to meet project timelines and quality targets.
• Characterize samples using analytical and biophysical methods (e.g., SDS-PAGE, SEC, Western blot, TSA, DLS, mass spectrometry).
• Troubleshoot expression and stability issues and propose engineering/construct changes when needed.
• Prepare clear technical reports and present project updates to internal teams and clients.
• Collaborate across multi-project pipelines to prioritize and deliver on client timelines.

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Additional Responsibilities

• Provide technical input and mentorship to other members of the Protein Sciences group as appropriate to your level.
• Maintain detailed experimental records and ensure reproducibility of protein reagents.
• Contribute to process improvements to accelerate throughput and reproducibility.
• Interact with external vendors and service providers when required for specialized assays or services.

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Minimum Qualifications

The role is open to candidates from entry-level to experienced scientist levels. Minimum qualifying paths include:

• Ph.D. in biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, protein engineering, or a related field; OR
• Master’s degree plus 2–5 years of relevant industrial experience; OR
• Bachelor’s degree plus 5–10 years of relevant industrial experience.

Required skills and experience:

• Demonstrated competency with recombinant protein expression and purification across bacterial, insect, and mammalian cell systems (hands-on experience across all three strongly preferred).
• Experience generating milligram to gram quantities of well-characterized protein reagents.
• Practical experience with analytical and biophysical techniques such as SDS-PAGE, SEC, Western blot, TSA, DLS, and mass spectrometry.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to document results clearly.

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Preferred Qualifications

• Experience engineering protein constructs and optimizing expression for structural/functional studies.
• Prior exposure to structural biology workflows (X-ray crystallography or Cryo-EM) and familiarity with tools such as Phenix, CCP4, Coot, or PyMOL.
• Experience with protein engineering/design or computational analysis of ligand–protein complexes.
• Hands-on Cryo-EM sample preparation experience (grid vitrification and screening) is a plus.
• Strong organizational skills and a collaborative mindset.

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Location & Work Authorization

• This position is located in West Indianapolis, IN and does NOT offer a hybrid or remote option.
• Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship. The confidential client does not provide visa sponsorship for this role.
• Interaction with external vendors and occasional flexible hours for time-sensitive experiments may be required.

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Physical Requirements & Lab Safety

• Ability to lift up to 30 lb objects (approx. 30 in x 18 in).
• Ability to use microscopes and visualize microscopic samples.
• Must follow lab safety practices and use appropriate personal protective equipment (safety goggles, masks, gloves, lab coat/protective gowning, closed-toe shoes).
• Willingness to perform experiments that occasionally require flexible/extended hours.

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Compensation & Benefits

• Eligible for a relocation package.
• Competitive salary plus annual bonus (salary shown on aggregator pages may be an estimate; final compensation depends on experience and level of hire).
• Retirement plan with employer match (401k).
• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Company-provided Apple computer (or equivalent).
• Opportunities for professional development and to work on discovery-stage projects from inception through early development.

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Keywords & Searchable Skills (highlights)

• Recombinant protein expression
• Protein purification (bacterial, insect, mammalian)
• SEC, SDS-PAGE, DLS, TSA, Mass Spectrometry
• Structural biology support (X-ray, Cryo-EM) — preferred
• Protein engineering and construct design
• West Indianapolis, IN scientist jobs

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.