Principal Oligonucleotide Chemist

Company: LGC Biosearch Technologies
Location: 2100 South McDowell, Petaluma, CA 94952
Type: Full‑time

Company Overview

LGC Biosearch Technologies operates across manufacturing sites in the US, UK, Germany, and Denmark, providing mission‑critical genomics solutions to customers in molecular diagnostics, pharma/biotech, and agrigenomics. Our integrated portfolio of products, services, and expertise supports our mission of Science for a Safer World. We partner closely with customers to enable research and development of life‑altering treatments for diseases worldwide. Join our high‑growth, purpose‑driven organization.

Position Summary

The Principal Oligonucleotide Chemist is a senior scientific leader responsible for driving oligonucleotide product development, synthesis, process development, and innovation across the Innovation Hub, operations, and customer‑facing programs. This role blends hands‑on laboratory execution with strategic experimental design, data‑driven development, project leadership, and mentorship of scientists to deliver new products.

You will serve as the technical lead for Oligonucleotide New Product Development (NPD), and Customer co‑creation product projects, designing new manufacturing methods, troubleshooting complex issues, supporting tech transfer, and presenting technical content to commercial teams and customers. This position plays a critical role in advancing LGC’s oligonucleotide chemistry capabilities and new product offerings.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership in Oligonucleotide Chemistry, Project Execution and Delivery

• Lead Petaluma Innovation Hub Oligo Chemistry Function by delivering customer co‑creation and NPD products/projects from concept through delivery. 
• Partner with peers and global team to deliver to customers and achieve Innovation Hub development and financial objectives.
• Serve as a technical lead for multi-site, multi-function development team for oligonucleotide synthesis, modification, deprotection, purification, and analytical characterization.
• Participate in evaluation of new technologies and oligonucleotide market strategy
• Oversee and Execute oligo synthesis projects, including experimental design/planning, prioritization, and resource coordination.
• Deliver and control new methods, workflows, and manufacturing protocols for oligonucleotide synthesis, purification and analysis.  Support operations technically.
• Optimize, and define manufacturing instructions for low‑yielding or impure processes.

Laboratory Execution & Product Manufacturing

• Lead projects and staff hands-on in the lab by performing and training synthesis and purification of oligonucleotides using automated and manual techniques.
• Conduct analytical characterization (LC‑MS, HPLC, CE, UV‑Vis) to confirm identity, purity, and impurity profiles.
• Troubleshoot synthetic routes, instrument performance, and purification workflows and analytics to ensure consistent, high‑quality output.
• Develop and refine synthetic routes, synthesis method refinement, coupling conditions, deprotection strategies and purification methods.

Experimental Design, Data Analysis & Development Strategy

• Design rigorous, data‑driven experiments to optimize yield, purity, scalability (up and down), and process robustness.
• Use mechanistic understanding and statistical analysis to adjust development plans and guide next‑step decision‑making.
• Lead troubleshooting efforts by designing investigation maps and structured experimental plans.
• Document experimental results, conclusions, and recommendations by industry standard technical summary reports and within quality certification requirements.

Customer Co‑Creation & Technical Communication

• Successfully lead and deliver oligonucleotide customer co‑creation and NPD projects.
• Participate in technical customer calls related to custom oligo manufacturing, product investigations, and development updates.
• Present technical content to commercial teams and customers, including data reviews, capability overviews, and project progress.

Operations Support, Tech Transfer & Continuous Improvement

• Provide technical support to Operations for process optimization, scale‑up, and continual improvement.
• Lead the successful transfer of custom product methods and procedures into MSAT and Operations teams.
  • Develop effective tech transfer plans and verify training for newly developed processes.
  • Deliver method validation in alignment with Quality department requirements.
• Support troubleshooting and root‑cause investigations for manufacturing challenges.

Mentorship & Team Development

• Mentor and develop scientists in oligonucleotide chemistry; providing guidance in technical skills, experimental design, and professional development.
• Promote rigorous laboratory order and management, controlled documentation, and best practices in experimental execution.
• Foster a collaborative, trust building and growth‑oriented environment that supports scientific excellence.

Technical Skills

• Proven expertise in oligonucleotide chemistry.
• Demonstrated knowledge of solid‑phase oligonucleotide synthesis and modification.
• Skilled in analytical characterization of oligonucleotides, including impurity profiling.
• Demonstrated project management skills with experience leading matrixed teams through complex development projects.

Seasoned ability to design, optimize, and troubleshoot oligonucleotide manufacturing development processes