Protein Engineer

Find out exactly what skills, experience, and qualifications you will need to succeed in this role before applying below.

Location: Edinburgh BioQuarter, Edinburgh 

Salary: £45,000 - £55,000 per annum, 1 year contract

Commitment: Full-Time 

In-Person Requirement: 3-4 days on-site

Reporting to: Rory Gordon, Founder

At Lypo, we are redefining how chemicals are made, developing programmable small molecule manufacture using waste-derived feedstocks. This technology leverages the nature and plasticity of microbial metabolism, combined with AI-engineered enzymes, to create sustainable, cost-effective ingredients for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. 

Lypo is looking to grow rapidly, we are building a multidiscipline team with a culture of cross-pollination and shared learning. We are hiring a Protein Engineer to work across protein and metabolic engineering, leading campaigns to develop biocatalysts for sustainable chemical manufacturing. You will be one of the founding employees, meaning you will play a critical role in shaping our culture and workflows. 

We are seeking a highly experienced Protein Engineer to design and execute engineering campaigns on enzymes and assist in engineering microbial metabolism. We value an interdisciplinary mindset; whatever your background, you must be eager to work across traditional boundaries to solve challenges.

1. Enzyme Engineering: Design and run extensive engineering campaigns to optimize enzyme activity and specificity. This will include molecular biology, protein expression, purification and enzyme characterisation. 

2. Integrate Computational Workflows: Apply and develop computational workflows and/or AI methods for mutant performance prediction. 

3. Chemical & Biochemical Analyses: Help develop and implement high-throughput analytical methods. (e.g., GC-MS, HPLC, Platereader). 

4. Teamworking: share developed methods and partner with fellow teammates to enhance experimental throughput, whilst maintaining data quality and reproducibility. 

5. Reporting & Communication: Communicate effectively with fortnightly research updates, and attend regular group meetings.

6. Mentorship: Support the development of others across disciplines, skillsets and levels, with regular participation in skills training and problem sessions. 

7. Workspace Management: Maintain a clean and organised environment, this includes the laboratory and online workspaces. Data should be organised, along with regular labbook entries.

Professional Experience: PhD in Synthetic Biology, Biochemistry, Protein Engineering or a related field with >2 years of industrial experience. Experience in enzyme engineering and high-throughput method development. Strong track record of iterative design and optimisation. 

Required Skillset: Deep expertise in molecular biology, enzymology, analytical biochemistry, and chemical analysis. Basic programming skills (Bash/Python). 

Nice-to-Have: Familiarity with structural and sequence-based bioinformatics, with a keen interest on developing your computational skillset. Any experience working outside of science is preferred. 

Salary: £45,000 - £55,000, 1 year contract

Flexibility: Full-time role with the option to work from home 1-2 days per week. xwzovoh

If you are motivated by solving hard problems and catalysing change, join us building the sustainable bio-economy!

Please share your CV and Cover Letter detailing your experience, and desire to join Lypo, to the following email -