Director/Senior Director, Antibody Discovery
BigHat Biosciences
Sales & Business Development
San Mateo, CA, USA
Posted on Mar 18, 2026
The Role: BigHat is seeking an exceptional and highly experienced individual for a position as Director/Senior Director of Antibody Discovery. This individual will lead the company’s antibody discovery and display function. They will be responsible for conceiving of and leading multi-year team and technology strategy as well as managing routine operational execution for identification and maturation of high-quality antibodies across antigen types for both BigHat and BigHat-partnered therapeutic research programs.
- Department
- Lab Science
- Employment Type
- Permanent
- Location
- San Mateo, CA
- Workplace type
- Hybrid
Key Responsibilities
- Lead BigHat’s antibody discovery and display functions, setting the scientific, technical, and strategic direction
- Oversee the routine execution of display-based selection campaigns to enhance and diversify affinity, developability, and function across diverse antibody formats and antigen types in support of BigHat and BigHat-partnered therapeutic programs
- Manage and mentor a team of scientists responsible for antibody library design, generation, screening, selection, and early optimization
- Shape and expand BigHat’s antibody discovery technologies and capabilities, including new display and selection methods, library design strategies, and technical approaches that leverage and enhance the company’s integrated experimental and computational platform
- Provide scientific leadership across discovery and early optimization efforts, ensuring antibodies emerging from selections possess strong functional and developability characteristics
- Work closely with leaders in Protein Sciences, Data Science/Machine Learning, Engineering, and Platform groups to ensure seamless progression from discovery through characterization and optimization
- Collaborate with biology and therapeutic research leads to ensure display outputs align with and advance program objectives
- Foster a collaborative and high-performance culture within the discovery organization
Skills Knowledge and Expertise
- Ph.D. in molecular biology, biochemistry, protein engineering, or related discipline with 12+ years of experience in antibody discovery and engineering within academia, biotechnology, or pharmaceutical industries
- 8+ years of managerial experience leading scientific teams
- Strong expertise with protein display systems such as yeast, phage, mammalian, or mRNA display
- Demonstrated experience with antibody library design, construction, screening, and selection analysis
- Deep understanding of antibody structure-function relationships and mechanisms of antigen recognition
- Experience integrating antibody discovery workflows with downstream characterization and developability assessment, including functional screening and biophysical evaluation of antibody candidates
- Familiarity with computational or ML-enabled approaches to protein design and optimization
- Experience advancing biologics from early discovery through lead optimization stages
- Knowledge of diverse antibody modalities including multispecific antibodies, antibody fragments, and other advanced formats
- Strong leadership skills with experience building and mentoring scientific teams
- Strategic thinker capable of aligning discovery activities with broader company goals
- Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Self-motivated and comfortable working in a fast-paced startup environment
- Must be willing to work onsite 5 days per week
Total Rewards
The salary estimated for this position is $230,000 - $270,000 + bonus + options + benefits. Compensation will vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Actual compensation will be confirmed in writing at the time of the offer.
What BigHat Offers:
What BigHat Offers:
- Range of health insurance plan options through Anthem and Kaiser (monthly credit if benefit waived)
- Dental, and vision coverage through Guardian
- Additional well-being benefits through Nayya, OneMedical, Wagmo, Rula, and more
- 401(k) with company match
- DTO, two weeks of company-wide shutdown, and 12 company holidays
- Paid parental leave
About BigHat Biosciences
BigHat Biosciences designs safer, more effective biologic therapies for patients using machine learning and synthetic biology.
BigHat integrates a wet lab for high-speed characterization with machine learning technologies to guide the search for better antibodies. We apply these design capabilities to develop new generations of safer and more effective treatments for patients suffering from today’s most challenging diseases.
BigHat integrates a wet lab for high-speed characterization with machine learning technologies to guide the search for better antibodies. We apply these design capabilities to develop new generations of safer and more effective treatments for patients suffering from today’s most challenging diseases.
BigHat is a Series B biotech outside San Francisco with a team-oriented, inclusive, and family-friendly culture. Our broad pipeline of wholly-owned and partnered therapeutic programs span many disparate indications with high unmet need, such as cancer, inflammation, and infectious disease. BigHat has raised >$100M from top investors, including Section 32, a16z, and 8VC.
Our Hiring Process
Stage 1:
Applied
Stage 2:
Initial Conversation | Head of Talent
Stage 3:
Initial Conversation | Hiring Manager
Stage 4:
1st Technical Screen
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