Retro
Principal Scientist Analytical Development & Quality Control, Small Molecule
Redwood City, CA · Principal
Sponsorship not specified$185k-$225kDetected 22 days ago
ExcelResearchMass SpectrometryCommunicationCollaborationAdaptability
About the role
- You stay current by engaging directly with guidelines, literature, and data, and pair scientific depth with practical judgment.
Responsibilities
- You will help ensure product quality, support manufacturing and regulatory activities, and strengthen the analytical foundation needed for continued clinical development.
- You will also perform targeted hands-on laboratory work to support development, characterization, troubleshooting, and comparability assessments.
- Drive analytical control strategy development for Retro's small molecule autophagy program, including drug substance and drug product methods, specifications, stability, impurity control, and regulatory support.
- Support formulation development by using analytical data to help evaluate solubility, dissolution, stability, manufacturability, and overall product performance.
- Identify analytical, formulation, vendor, or regulatory risks early and drive practical remediation plans in partnership with Q&AD, CMC, Quality, Regulatory, Research, and external partners.
- Support identity testing strategy for critical raw materials, including method selection, vendor coordination, data review, and targeted in-house analytical work where appropriate.
- Provide UPLC-based analytical support for research activities where appropriate, helping generate data that informs analogue characterization, compound selection, and progression decisions.
- Have experience working with CDMOs, CROs, or external laboratories to manage analytical development, validation, release testing, stability testing, investigations, and data review.
- You are comfortable in a lean environment, balancing hands-on work with oversight of external partners.
- You communicate clearly across internal and external partners, and are excited to thoughtfully incorporate new tools, including AI, into analytical and CMC workflows.
Requirements
- You are a rigorous, curious, small-molecule analytical development professional who seeks to understand the underlying science and regulatory framework, not just execute against it.
- You are confident yet humble in evolving areas and enjoy sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas openly.
- Have 7+ years of experience in small molecule analytical development, or related pharmaceutical development work in a regulated environment.
- Hold an advanced degree in analytical chemistry, chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, medicinal chemistry, or a related scientific discipline, or bring equivalent industry experience.
- Have experience with small molecules that present solubility, dissolution, bioavailability, manufacturability, or product performance challenges.
- Have experience with extractables and leachables assessments, container closure compatibility, administration-device compatibility, or material compatibility studies.
Compensation
- $185k-$225k
Benefits
- It's a Bonus If You
Company info
- We are seeking a new member of the Quality and Analytical team to support Retro's clinical-stage autophagy program through Analytical Development (AD) and Quality Control (QC) as it advances from Phase I toward Phase II development.
This listing is sourced directly from Retro's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.