Director, Recombinant Antibodies & Services in Wilton

Vector Laboratories is seeking a talented and highly motivated individual to join our growing team. As an organization known for its culture of service, reliable products and unmatched technical expertise, our employees are passionate about the impact and quality of their work. The opportunities we provide to work collaboratively and build trusting relationships in a team-oriented environment make Vector Laboratories an ideal place to learn, flourish and contribute to scientific advancement. We genuinely value diverse perspectives and ideas and strive to demonstrate how this approach results in success. With 50 years of history, Vector Laboratories boasts an unparalleled reputation in protein labeling, detection, and conjugation. Our recent mergers and acquisitions have significantly expanded our portfolio, serving the biopharma industry, academia, life science tools, and diagnostics, providing comprehensive solutions to the life science industry. Our recombinant antibody platform combines a catalogue of recombinant antibodies with custom antibody engineering, expression, and manufacturing services for research and preclinical customers worldwide. We are looking to take Vector Laboratories to new heights and hope you’ll consider joining our globally impactful team!

Job Summary

The Director, Recombinant Antibodies & Services is a dual-mandate senior scientific leader who owns two interconnected platform businesses at Vector Laboratories: the Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) capability build at the Wilton, UK site, and the recombinant antibody and custom protein engineering services platform. Internally, the role sets the technical direction for both platforms — owning the ADC conjugation chemistry, analytics, and cytotoxic payload facility build, and driving the forward capability roadmap that keeps the recombinant antibody platform competitive in a crowded custom services market. At the bench, it is the protein engineer who converts client molecule requirements into a complete production design package for the Operations team to deliver. Externally, the role is the commercial subject matter expert and Vector Laboratories’ senior scientific voice — the scientist customers and prospects speak to when a project is technically complex — converting deep protein engineering expertise into won business and successfully delivered projects. Bridging these, the role contributes to strategic direction, partnering with the CSO, Product Marketing, and Corporate Development to identify where capability gaps sit and whether they are best closed by building internally, partnering, licensing, or acquiring. This is a hands‑on, senior role for a scientist equally comfortable leading a platform build, on a technical sales call, at the design bench, in a troubleshooting session with manufacturing, and in front of a conference audience. The role leads a small R&D team (2–5 scientists).

This position reports to the Chief Scientific Officer.

Competencies Identified for Success

Deep, personally owned expertise in conjugation chemistry, linker design, and ADC CMC; able to build and scale a platform from the ground up including facility setup, SOP development, and QC release specifications.

Demonstrated expertise in antibody engineering, including formats, isotypes and species variants, Fc engineering, tagging strategies, and multi‑specific architectures; hands‑on mammalian (CHO/HEK) expression expertise; able to design complex biologics to a defined client requirement, advise customers, and troubleshoot across the full expression and manufacturing workflow.

Platform Build & Scientific Execution

Proven ability to build and scale technical platforms from the ground up; translates R&D priorities into capability investments, SOPs, and measurable performance improvement across expression yields, cost per project, turnaround time, and throughput.

Credible senior scientific voice with customers, KOLs, and partners; comfortable on a technical sales call and at a conference podium; converts deep scientific expertise into commercial outcomes and successfully delivered projects.

Strategic Influence & Cross‑Functional Leadership

Partners across CSO, Product Marketing, and Corporate Development to shape the platform roadmap and close capability gaps through build, partner, or acquire decisions; influences without direct authority across UK, EU, and US‑based colleagues.

Scientific Content & External Representation

Produces scientific content including case studies, application notes, posters, and conference presentations; represents the company externally and brings back competitive and market intelligence to inform strategy.

Leads, mentors, and develops a small R&D team of scientists, and raises the collective standard of molecule design and troubleshooting across the wider technical organization.

Responsibilities

ADC Platform Build & Technical Leadership

• Own the ADC capability build at the Wilton, UK site, including the linker portfolio, site‑specific conjugation chemistry, and supporting HIC, CEX, and LC‑MS analytics.
• Direct DAR (drug‑to‑antibody ratio) determination and peptide mapping workstreams in support of ADC characterization.
• Build and operate cytotoxic payload facilities, including authorship and ownership of SOPs and QC release specifications.
• Manage cellular pharmacology technical partnerships.
• Lead Phase 4 commercialization of the ADC platform across Vector’s four client tiers.
• Partner with the Chief Scientific Officer on the broader Technical Development strategy and roadmap.
• Serve as the senior scientific authority for the recombinant antibody and custom protein engineering services platform, setting technical direction and aligning R&D, manufacturing, product, and commercial teams behind it.
• Support prospective clients through technical and commercial calls across all territories — understanding their requirements and advising on molecule and antibody design, formats, tagging strategies, mutations, and optimal bioprocessing approaches to increase their probability of success, including achieving high yields and purities.
• Partner with global sales teams, with particular focus on the UK and Europe, to develop strategies that attract new business and expand the customer base, including target account planning and technical positioning against competitor offerings.
• Provide technical support to the manufacturing team when molecule expression or production processes fail; lead or assist troubleshooting through to root cause and resolution.
• Support the technical team in resolving customer enquiries relating to catalogue products.
• Provide scientific and technical input to the Product team on recombinant antibody products and services, including new product and service definition.
• Act as a credible senior scientific voice for the company with customers, key opinion leaders, and partners.

Client Molecule Design & Delivery

• Design protein molecules — including multi‑specific antibodies, T‑cell engagers, antibody‑drug conjugates, and other complex biologics — for existing clients and for new clients engaged in custom development projects.
• Create production builders for manufacturing projects within custom services, including gene design and gene ordering through outsourced gene synthesis, and deliver completed packages to the Operations team for project initiation.
• Conduct in silico antibody humanization studies and prepare comprehensive humanization reports, including production and characterization data.
• Build manufacturability into design decisions from the outset — expression behavior, yield, purification, stability, and scale — so that what leaves design can be produced at quality.
• Design bioconjugation strategies to meet customer requirements, drawing on the ADC and bioconjugation expertise within this role.

R&D, Platform Improvement & Scientific Content

• Work with Product Marketing to understand the competitor landscape, market trends, and emerging technologies; translate findings into platform and portfolio recommendations for both the ADC and recombinant antibody platforms.
• Develop strategies to improve the existing recombinant protein production platform and enhance competitiveness in the market — including initiatives to increase expression yields in CHO and HEK, reduce manufacturing costs and turnaround times, and increase throughput through process automation across both upstream and downstream processing.
• Design initiatives that expand company capabilities and generate new business opportunities in areas such as antibody discovery, affinity maturation, conjugation and post‑translational modification expansion, and adjacent protein engineering services.
• Design, propose, and implement case studies that generate new scientific content and marketing material for the company website, LinkedIn, and other promotional channels, including posters and talks for conferences. Current projects include case studies on multi‑specific T‑cell engagers and TCR engineering.
• Assist in building the business case for platform investment and present recommendations to senior leadership.

External Representation & Strategic Contribution

• Represent Vector Laboratories at scientific conferences, trade shows, and industry events — presenting both platforms, meeting customers and partners, and bringing back competitive and market intelligence.
• Contribute to the strategic direction of both platforms and to Vector Laboratories’ wider strategy and annual operating plan, bringing the scientific and technology perspective to portfolio and investment decisions.
• Partner with Product Marketing and Corporate Development to identify capability gaps against customer demand and the competitive landscape, and to determine how each is best closed (build, partner, or acquire).
• Work across Vector Laboratories’ product lines to identify shared capability, technology, and cross‑sell opportunities.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a small team of R&D scientists, and mentor scientists across the wider technical organization to raise the collective standard of molecule design, conjugation chemistry, and troubleshooting.
• Provide the antibody engineering foundation for Vector’s bioconjugation and ADC manufacturing capability, including molecule designs suited to site‑specific conjugation.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Job Qualifications

Required

• PhD in chemistry, biochemistry, protein engineering, molecular biology, immunology, or a related discipline, with substantial post‑PhD industry experience or equivalent depth of experience gained in industry.
• 8–10+ years of relevant post‑PhD experience, including several years in a senior technical leadership capacity; current level of Director or equivalent in a relevant function.
• Demonstrated ownership of a conjugation or bioconjugation platform build, ideally within a services, CRO, or CDMO‑adjacent business.
• Demonstrated expertise in recombinant antibody and protein engineering, including antibody formats, isotypes and species variants, Fc engineering and mutations, tagging strategies, and multi‑specific architectures.
• Demonstrated design of complex biologics to meet a defined client or application requirement, rather than only executing designs specified by others.
• Hands‑on expertise in mammalian expression, including CHO and HEK systems, and a working understanding of upstream and downstream processing sufficient to design for yield and purity.
• Practical experience of gene and construct design, including specifying and ordering outsourced gene synthesis.
• Experience troubleshooting failed expression or production runs alongside a manufacturing team, through to root cause and resolution.
• Experience with cytotoxic payload facility operations, including SOP authorship and QC release specification ownership.
• Proven ability to hold technical conversations directly with customers and to influence commercial outcomes; comfortable as the scientific expert on a sales call.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including experience producing scientific content such as application notes, case studies, posters, or conference presentations.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross‑functionally with commercial, product marketing, and corporate development colleagues and to influence without direct authority.
• Experience mentoring or line‑managing scientists.
• Right to work in the United Kingdom, and willingness to be based at or regularly present at the Wilton, UK site; willingness to travel internationally for customer meetings and scientific conferences (approx. 20–30%).
• Ability to work effectively across time zones with UK, European, and US‑based colleagues and customers.

Preferred

• Experience in a CRO, CDMO, or custom services environment where scientific expertise is directly tied to revenue.
• Experience with complex biologics such as multi‑specific antibodies, T‑cell engagers, ADCs, and TCR‑based molecules.
• Experience with in silico antibody humanization, affinity maturation, or antibody discovery platforms.
• Familiarity with process automation in upstream and/or downstream bioprocessing.
• Experience supporting marketing and product teams with scientific content and positioning.
• Experience providing technical input to partnership, licensing, or acquisition evaluations, including scientific diligence of external technologies.
• Familiarity with computational or AI‑assisted antibody design.
• Experience managing cross‑functional or cross‑disciplinary teams, including functions outside one’s own technical background.

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