Senior Associate Scientist, Retinal Degeneration

Job Title

Senior Associate Scientist, Retinal Degeneration

Cambridge, MA

Are you ready to shape the future of medicine? The race is on to speed up drug discovery and development to find answers for patients and their families. Your skills could be critical in helping our teams accelerate progress. Sanofi is seeking a highly motivated scientist to conduct preclinical drug discovery research for retinal diseases, including age‑related macular degeneration and glaucoma.

As a Senior Associate Scientist in the Retinal Degeneration group within Ophthalmology Research, you will perform experiments to validate therapeutic strategies and discover promising drug candidates. The successful candidate will work collaboratively in matrixed, cross‑functional teams to generate high‑quality and comprehensive data packages to nominate and advance therapeutic candidates toward clinical development. This position offers the exciting opportunity to make significant contributions to the future of ophthalmology therapeutics and bring transformative vision‑preserving treatments to patients around the world.

• Design, execute, and document translational research studies to validate therapeutic targets and discover preclinical drug candidates

• Apply molecular, biochemical, and cellular assays to models of retinal disease and degeneration to assess disease processes, target activity, and biomarkers

• Perform experiments using genetic, biologic, and small molecule perturbations to validate targets, evaluate therapeutic strategies, and assess the pharmacology and efficacy of preclinical candidates

• Analyze and interpret experimental data to support target prioritization, preclinical candidate selection, and go/no‑go decisions

• Contribute to interdisciplinary research projects in a highly collaborative and matrixed manner

• Prepare high‑quality presentations and documentation to support project deliverables, publications, patent filings, and regulatory filings

• Effectively communicate findings through presentation at team and department meetings

• Earned Bachelor’s degree plus minimum 4 years of relevant experience in an academic or biopharmaceutical setting or Master’s Degree plus minimum 1 year relevant experience in an academic or biopharmaceutical setting

• Research experience in ocular cell biology (e.g., RPE, RGC) or disease‑relevant processes (e.g., cell death, metabolic and oxidative stress, lipid metabolism, tissue remodeling, barrier function, inflammatory signaling)

• Experience in translational research or preclinical drug development (in vitro experience hight preferred)

• Experience with molecular, cellular, and biochemical methods and assay development

• Cell culture experience, including work with primary cells, iPSC‑derived cells, tissue explants, or cell models relevant to ocular biology

• Experience with genetic or pharmacologic approaches to assess gene and protein function, signaling pathway activity, and/or cellular processes

• Experience preparing high‑quality documents including experimental protocols, SOPs, technical reports, and presentations

• Track record of contributions to research projects

• Experience analyzing data using computational and statistical tools (e.g., R, Python)

• Experience in translational or preclinical drug development for retinal diseases

• Experience evaluating target engagement and efficacy of preclinical candidates

• Experience developing and conducting high‑throughput assays

• Experience with cell‑based models of retinal disease and degeneration, including primary and iPSC‑derived cells

• Experience with live‑cell and high‑content imaging and analyses

• Ability to work independently as well as part of cross‑functional teams in a highly collaborative and matrixed environment

• Ability to multi‑task and adapt to rapidly changing priorities and deadlines

• Strong critical thinking, analytical, and problem‑solving skills

• Strong written and oral communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively in a multidisciplinary team

• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build excellent working…