About the role
Sana Biotechnology is growing, and we are hiring new team members who believe in the potential of engineered cells as medicines, who are passionate about delivering the possible to patients, and who lead with the desire to work on novel ideas. As an MSAT Associate Director, you will report to the Executive Director of MSAT to support manufacturing of Sana’s stem cell-derived pancreatic islet cell program for persons with type 1 diabetes (SC451). You will lead an MSAT team responsible for the pancreatic cell maturation and aggregation process to generate DP at an external manufacturing partner. You will define and execute the technology transfer strategy in alignment with program timelines. Your team will provide technical coverage at the external manufacturing partner throughout the phase I manufacturing campaign including people-in-plant, executed batch record review, investigations, and batch summaries. You will collaborate with internal partners across Quality, External Manufacturing, and Supply Chain to complete batch disposition. You will draft applicable CMC sections of regulatory documents (IND module 3). You will provide your team members with technical guidance and mentorship.
What you’ll do
- Lead a team of 1-2 individuals supporting phase I manufacturing of a PSC-derived pancreatic islet cell therapy product
- Partner with CDMO technical team to achieve phase I manufacturing readiness and address manufacturing challenges
- Oversee people-in-plant, manufacturing operator training, technical documentation, and process execution
- Draft CMC sections for regulatory filings (IND module 3) and other technical documents
- Collaborate with Quality to close deviations, analyze manufacturing trends, and recommend process improvements
- Lead investigations and troubleshoot process execution challenges by applying root cause analysis
- Perform comparability studies in collaboration with Research and PD teams to assess technology transfer success
- Engage in crucial conversations by providing and receiving feedback supporting the growth and development of team members
- Demonstrate ability to engage and effectively influence team members across multidisciplinary teams while prioritizing multiple projects and meeting deadlines
- Drive curiosity, scientific rigor and excellent problem-solving skills across a fast-paced performance driven environment
- Innate ability to assess talent that will help grow the organization and add to Sana’s culture
What we’re looking for
- BSc. in Chemical, Biological, or Biomedical Engineering plus 8 yrs or equivalent combination of education and work experience
- >3 year experience supporting early phase cell therapy manufacturing including technology transfers
- Well versed with cGMP requirements and experience working in a regulated environment, including as person-in-plan and/or GMP operator/supervisor
- Experience operating perfusion bioreactors and with fill/finish unit operations
- Knowledge of PSC culture and differentiation biology to pancreatic islets
- Experience managing a team of >2 direct reports
- Detail-oriented with good problem-solving, technical writing and verbal communication skills
- Ability to effectively work in multidisciplinary teams, meet deadlines, and prioritize multiple projects
- Aptitude for working in a self-driven, performance/results-oriented, fast-paced matrix environment
What will separate you from the crowd
- Experience with key cell therapy equipment and unit operations to support phase 1 clinical trials including PBS bioreactor
- Familiarity with cell therapy drug product development, including stability studies
- Working knowledge of statistical design of experiments (DoE) and RCA
- Experience working in grade B / ISO 7 cleanroom
- Knowledge of single-use technologies applicable to cell therapies
- Experience with process closure and automation
- Understanding of analytical methods such as flow cytometry
- Familiar with data analysis tools such as R, Python, JMP and FlowJo software
What you should know
- Travel to the manufacturing site ~25% of the time (Texas)
- Some weekend work required
- Lift up to 25 lbs
- Work within a cleanroom environment
- The base pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $170,000 and $210,000/year; however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience
How we work together for patients
- Lead from every seat – we seek to understand, act with honesty, and engage in the crucial conversations
- Thrive as a team – we hire amazing people, are intensely curious, and cultivate inclusion and personal connectivity
- Make it happen – we value vigorous debate, alignment around our decisions, and resilient execution
Get to know us
At Sana, we believe that a workforce with varied backgrounds strengthens us as a company and helps us to achieve our mission to meaningfully change the outcome of many human diseases. This belief is a pillar of our business and is critical to our success. Our goal is that Sana is the place for talented people to bring their authentic selves to work, to have a great career and to deeply, positively impact patients.
Core to our values, we believe there is nothing more important than the health and wellness of you and your family. For benefit eligible employees, we cover a generous portion of the cost for employee health coverage, making high-quality care more accessible and affordable. We offer ample time-off (various paid time off benefits, such as holidays, vacation, sick time, and parental leave), short- and long-term disability, employer paid basic life insurance, additional voluntary life insurance protection, financial wellness programs including financial planning resources, a 401(k) Plan with an immediately vested employer match, Tuition Reimbursement and Student Loan Repayment, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, commuter subsidy and a variety of wellness offerings to support each person individually. For more details on our benefits, visit Sana’s Benefits Portal.
We are committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental or sensory disability (including the use of a trained guide dog or service animal by a person with a disability), genetic information, actual or perceived HIV or Hepatitis C infection, medical condition (cancer or a record or history of cancer and genetic characteristics), marital status, sexual orientation, sexual preference, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), disability, veteran status, political ideology, social class (including caste/caste identity), taking or requesting statutorily protected leave, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
To perform this job successfully, you must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily. The job description listed above is representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required for this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions described above.
What We Do
Sana Biotechnology is focused on utilizing engineered cells as medicines for patients. The ability to modify genes and use cells as medicines will be one of the most important advances in healthcare over the next several decades. Sana is building differentiated capabilities across the spectrum of cell and gene therapy. Three aspirations drive Sana as we look to discover treatments for patients with poor outcomes or currently untreatable diseases. The first is the ability to repair and control the genes in any cell in the body. We are advancing novel delivery technologies with the goal of being able to deliver any payload to any cell in a specific, predictable, and repeatable manner, paving the way for next-generation in vivo gene therapy. Next is the ability to differentiate pluripotent stem cells ex vivo into immune-cloaked functional cells with the aspiration of being able to replace any missing or damaged cells in the body. Last is a belief we can enable broader access to our therapies through focusing on scalable manufacturing solutions, the cost of manufacturing, and aligning with key stakeholders. Sana launched in early 2019 and has over 350 employees in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco. Sana was founded with the long view – bringing together great people and the best technologies to deliver on the challenging promise of using engineered cells to meaningfully change the outcome of many human diseases.
