Staff Engineer, Process Development and Manufacturing

Join our Mission to Protect Humankind! Vaxcyte is a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. Working to eradicate or treat bacterial infections such as invasive pneumococcal disease, Group A Strep, and Shigella is just the beginning. Our path to success is clear and well-defined, and Vaxcyte is set up to go the distance. WHAT we do is every bit as important as HOW we do it! Our work together is guided by four enduring core values: *RETHINK CONVENTION: We bring creative and intellectual diversity to every facet of the work we do in order to innovate and re-innovate the way vaccines are delivered. *AIM HIGH: We embody our collectively audacious goal to courageously make the most complex biologics ever attempted to protect humankind. *LEAD WITH HEART: Everyone leads at Vaxcyte with a kindness-first, inclusive approach to collaboration and vigorous debate that advances our business objectives. *MODEL EXCELLENCE: The magnitude of our challenge requires our shared commitment to demonstrating integrity, accountability, equality and clarity across communications and decision making. Summary: Vaxcyte is seeking a highly motivated Staff Engineer to join the Protein Process Development and Manufacturing group supporting downstream purification, process development, technology transfer, process validation, GMP manufacturing support, and process lifecycle management. This role is initially focused on technology transfer, manufacturing support, process validation, and commercialization activities for protein manufacturing processes. The successful candidate will partner closely with Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs) and internal stakeholders to ensure successful transfer, scale-up, validation, and commercial execution of downstream purification processes. The individual will serve as a recognized technical authority in downstream purification whose scientific expertise and engineering judgment influence program-level decisions across process development, technology transfer, validation, and commercial manufacturing. The successful candidate will provide leadership in solving complex technical challenges, developing innovative solutions, and guiding cross-functional teams through critical manufacturing and process development decisions. As commercial manufacturing processes mature and transition into routine operation, this position is expected to evolve toward a broader Process Development role with increasing involvement in process optimization, next-generation process development, scale-down model development, process characterization, pilot-scale studies, and lifecycle process improvement. This provides a unique opportunity to work across the full product lifecycle, from development through commercial manufacturing and continuous process improvement, while helping shape the future downstream purification strategy for the Protein organization. Essential Functions: • Lead downstream purification technology transfer and scale-up activities from Process Development to GMP manufacturing facilities for clinical and commercial programs. • Provide technical support for GMP manufacturing campaigns, process validation (PPQ), continued process verification (CPV), and lifecycle process management. • Serve as a subject matter expert and technical leader in downstream purification operations, including chromatography, filtration, UF/DF, scale-up, and process characterization. • Design, execute, and analyze small-scale and pilot-scale studies supporting process characterization, comparability assessments, validation strategies, troubleshooting investigations, a