Research Officer

Priority may be given to the following designated employment equity groups: women, Indigenous peoples* (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), persons with disabilities and racialized persons*.
- The _Employment Equity Act_, which is under review, uses the terminology Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities.

**City**: Montréal

**Organizational Unit**: Medical Devices

**Classification**: RO

**Tenure**: Term

**Duration**:2 years

**Language Requirements**: Englsih or French

**Work Arrangements**:

- Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position is eligible for a hybrid work arrangement (combination of working onsite and telework). Employees in this position who telework will be required to travel to the identified work site at least three times per week or a minimum of 60% of their regular work schedule at their own expense.

**The Role**:
We are looking for a diagnostic R&D scientist to be part of the Cell Models and Antibody Technology team within our Medical Devices Research Centre (MD). The research officer would be someone who shares our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Respect and Creativity.

The diagnostic scientist will develop, optimize, and validate tools that detect diseases, conditions, or biomarkers. This important role spans biology, engineering, and applied research, with a strong focus on translating science into practical healthcare solutions. You will bring expertise in diagnostic assay development (e.g., lateral flow assays) and synthetic biology. Key responsibilities include designing and validating novel detection and biosensing platforms, driving innovation in diagnostic assay development, and leading projects spanning internal R&D, industry partnerships, and academic collaborations. The role also involves scientific leadership, data-driven execution, and knowledge dissemination through publications, conferences, grants, and outreach, which will help position Canada at the forefront of diagnostic technologies.

If you are a scientist who shares our core NRC values of integrity, excellence, respect, creativity, collaboration and a strong passion for developing technology to support the Canada biotechnology ecosystem, we want to get to know you.

Duties include:

- Providing scientific expertise and guidance in diagnostic platform development, validation and qualification, and synthetic biology to support the DHMT directorate and the Cell Models and Antibody Technology Team Leader.
- Deploying and promoting diagnostic platform development capacities through collaboration (academia, industry, and other government departments), scientific publication, intellectual property generation and technology transfer.
- Innovation and research with continued technology scouting, staying up to date with scientific literature and emerging technologies. Good knowledge of competitive landscape and IP strategy is a strong asset.
- Lead scientific discussions and present findings at internal meetings, international scientific conferences and to external stakeholders and collaborators.
- Project leadership: plan, manage and coordinate projects, project costing/pricing plans, timelines and deliverables acting as an expert lead in a multidisciplinary team.

**Screening Criteria**:
**Education**:
Ph.D degree, with post-doctoral experience in a Biochemistry, Molecular Biotechnology, Biomedical engineering or related field with a focus on diagnostic assay development.

For information on certificates and diplomas issued abroad, please see Degree equivalency

**Experience**:

- Experience in lateral flow assay and other diagnostic test development and validation with a demonstrated history of product development.
- Experience with developing assays across multiple platforms (protein, nucleic acid, cell-based).
- Experience in synthetic biology, molecular biology, genetic and cell engineering.
- Experience managing research projects and documenting product development.
- Industrial environment experience in the field of biotechnology, and biotechnology transfer to a contract research organization (CRO) is an asset.
- Experience in supervision of resources, and budget management.

**Condition of Employment**:
Reliability Status

For a Reliability Status, verification of background information over a period of 5 years is required.

**Language Requirements**:
English or French

Information on language requirements and self-assessment tests

**Assessment Criteria**:
**Technical Competencies**:

- Core knowledge of antibody discovery, characterization, strategy for antibody lead selection, antigen design, immunoassays, antibody/antigen formulation and stability, conjugation chemistry, for diagnostic assays development.
- Skilled in assay design for sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility and scalability.
- Validation expertise: experienced in analytical/clinical validation (LoD, LoQ, precision, linearity, etc).
- Solid understanding of cell culture and engineering (bacterial, yeast,