PopVax is an Indian full-stack biotech building first-in-class and best-in-class vaccines and cancer immunotherapies using machine learning-driven protein design and relentless empiricism. We design, develop, and manufacture our own RNA medicines end-to-end because we believe great pharmaceutical science can only flourish in tight feedback loops that iterate rapidly. PopVax’s experimental work and clinical dose production is based at the RNA Foundry, our integrated R&D and GMP-capable clinical dose production facility in Hyderabad.
PopVax's north star is our goal of developing novel vaccines and therapeutics over the next decade with the cumulative ability to save 1 million lives each year – the Million Lives Mission. To that end, we are developing first-in-class vaccines against Hepatitis C, Strep A, and adult pulmonary TB; broadly-protective best-in-class vaccines against COVID-19, influenza, malaria, and HPV; and precision immunotherapies against hard-to-treat solid tumours such as liver cancer and pancreatic cancer. Beyond existing diseases, we are leveraging our high-speed platform to build rapid-response biosecurity capabilities against engineered de novo pathogens.
Our mission is funded by Vitalik Buterin’s Balvi Fund, the Gates Foundation, the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Renaissance Philanthropy, and Good Ventures, with individual investments from Enveda founder Viswa Colluru and Tesla self-driving AI pioneer Dhaval Shroff. Our first program, an open-source broadly-protective COVID-19 vaccine, will begin a Phase I clinical trial in Australia in mid-2026. This is just the start – we intend to advance 6+ novel vaccine and immunotherapy programs into human clinical trials over the next three years, decisively demonstrating that world-class biotech R&D is possible in India.
No matter the job title, each person’s role at PopVax is ultimately about helping bring safe, effective new medicines that represent a step-change over the current standard-of-care to the people who need them, as quickly as possible. If you are looking for a place where the ambition is high, the learning curve is steep, and the work matters to billions, you’ll feel at home here.
If you’re excited by the idea of advancing scientific, clinical, and regulatory frontiers of vaccines and immunotherapies, spending each day developing medicines with the potential to save millions of lives, and building a generational global pharmaceutical company in India along the way – join us!
Role Overview
At PopVax, we move fast. Sometimes uncomfortably fast. We design, build, test, and iterate on RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics at a pace that often outstrips the systems meant to support that work. This shows up most clearly in Analytical Sciences.
We can design elegant molecules, run complex processes, and generate promising data — but if we can’t reliably measure what we’ve built, characterize it deeply, and translate that into decisions that hold up under regulatory scrutiny, everything slows down. Or worse, we move forward with incomplete understanding.
We need someone who can build an analytical function that is both fast and uncompromisingly rigorous — one that keeps up with the pace of our science without becoming a bottleneck.
That someone is our Vice President of Analytical Sciences.
What You’ll Actually Do
You will own how PopVax understands its products — from early discovery through GMP release.
This includes everything: method development, characterization strategies, assay validation, specifications, stability, and the systems that connect all of it into something coherent and scalable.
But this is not a role where you inherit a finished system. You will be building it while it is being used. Programs are moving. Batches are running. Decisions are being made. You will need to bring structure without slowing things down.
You’ll work closely with process development, formulation, manufacturing, and quality to ensure that analytical insights are not an afterthought, but a core driver of how we design and produce our products.
Specifically, you will:
Build the analytical backbone as we scale. Design and implement a unified analytical strategy across pDNA, mRNA, and LNP systems. Ensure that methods, data, and standards are consistent across programs — so that what we learn in one place compounds everywhere else.
Make analytical a decision engine, not a service function. Ensure that analytical outputs directly inform process optimization, formulation design, and product selection. If a dataset doesn’t change a decision, it shouldn’t exist.
Balance speed with rigor. We do not have the luxury of choosing one. You will define what “good enough” means at each stage — when to move fast with directional data, and when to slow down and fully characterize.
Own method development, qualification, and validation. From early-stage assays to GMP-ready methods, you will ensure that what starts as exploratory work evolves into robust, transferable, and regulatory-ready systems.
Standardize what matters. Identify where variability is costing us time or clarity, across assays, instruments, or data analysis, and eliminate it.
Manage vendors and collaborations. Not everything may need to be done in-house. You will systematically identify the right partners work with and hold them to the same standards as we hold ourselves.
Build and lead the team. Recruit and develop a high-caliber analytical team across levels and specialties. Create clear ownership, high standards, and a culture where people care about both the details and the outcomes.
Prepare us for the clinic. Work closely with QA and manufacturing to define specifications, release assays, and stability strategies. Ensure that our analytical package holds up under regulatory scrutiny.
Introduce better tools and approaches. Whether it’s LC-MS methods, capillary electrophoresis, sequencing-based analytics, or data systems, you will continuously upgrade how we measure and understand our products.
Ensure data integrity and usability. Analytical data should be trustworthy, traceable, and easy to interpret. You will define how data is generated, stored, analyzed, and communicated across the company.
Who You Are
You are comfortable operating at two very different altitudes.
At one level, you can define analytical strategy across multiple programs, anticipate regulatory expectations, and design systems that will scale with the company.
At another level, you are willing to go deep into a method, a chromatogram, or a failed assay — and understand exactly what is going wrong and why.
You are deeply curious. When something looks off, you don’t move on — you dig. You ask why a peak shifted, why a yield dropped, why two datasets don’t agree. You are not satisfied with surface-level explanations, and you build teams that share that instinct.
You are a systems thinker. If an assay is inconsistent, you don’t just fix the assay — you ask whether the problem is sample prep, instrumentation, training, or lack of standards, and you fix the underlying issue.
You are pragmatic. You understand that in a fast-moving environment, perfect is often the enemy of progress — but you also know where compromise is unacceptable.
You are comfortable with ambiguity and partial information, and you know how to make decisions anyway.
Most importantly, you understand that Analytical Sciences in a company like PopVax is not a support function. It is one of the primary determinants of whether our products succeed or fail.
Qualifications
PhD in Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related field.
4+ years of experience in analytical development for biologics, RNA, or gene therapy products.
Demonstrated experience building and leading analytical teams in a biotech or pharmaceutical environment.
Deep expertise in techniques such as HPLC/UHPLC, LC-MS, capillary electrophoresis, and nucleic acid characterization methods.
Strong understanding of CMC, method validation, and regulatory expectations for clinical-stage programs.
Preferred (but not required)
Direct experience with mRNA, pDNA, or LNP-based systems.
Experience supporting IND/CTA filings.
Experience scaling analytical functions from early-stage R&D to GMP environments.
Reporting Structure
You will report directly to the CEO and work closely with leaders across Process Development, Formulation, Manufacturing, and Quality.
This role sits at the center of how PopVax translates protein and mRNA designs into real, manufacturable, and clinically viable products.