Scientific Project Manager

JOB DESCRIPTION

We are seeking a highly motivated Scientific Project Manager to join our research group. The successful candidate, holding a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences or health technologies, will work within a multidisciplinary team and in a highly collaborative, intersectoral environment. The Scientific Project Manager will oversee the planning and follow-up of research and innovation activities at workstream level within a EU-funded project, ensuring that scientific objectives are met on time and in compliance with regulatory and quality standards. He/she will act as a key interface between the different partners, the project management team and the coordinator, facilitating decision-making on scientific results and ensuring efficient information flow throughout the project life cycle. He/she will also support the coordinator in supervising research conducted in the coordinator’s laboratory, working closely with staff responsible for hands‑on experimental studies. The ideal candidate will have solid experience in project management, preferably in the field of antibodies or biotherapeutics and within large consortia. This person will enjoy working collaboratively while being able to operate independently. He/she will contribute to scientific project structuring and planning, scientific coordination and operational follow‑up, and will help to coordinate scientific reporting, documentation and quality‑related activities. He/she will have primary responsibility for scientific reporting and communication/dissemination activities for the coordinator’s laboratory.

PROJECT SUMMARY

The Scientific Project Manager will ensure that all HENIPROTECT research and innovation activities are properly planned, coordinated and delivered on time, in accordance with scientific, regulatory and quality requirements. HENIPROTECT is a 6‑year European project recently funded under the HORIZON‑HLTH‑2025‑01‑DISEASE‑03 call, bringing together 17 partners (21 research groups) across Europe. HENIPROTECT addresses the urgent need for effective countermeasures against Henipaviruses, in particular Nipah virus (NiV). With its high mortality rate and proven human‑to‑human transmission, NiV represents a global health‑security concern with limited treatment options. HENIPROTECT aims to deliver the first inhaled antibody-based therapy for both prevention and treatment of NiV infection, expandable to Hendra virus. The project will advance the most promising humanized Ab candidate (derived from murine Nip35) to first‑in‑human clinical trial, and lay the foundation for an Ab cocktail combining Nip35 and Nip1.7 that blocks viral entry through complementary mechanisms, providing a dual‑target approach for a broad protection against NiV. By targeting the respiratory tract—the main site of infection and transmission—the inhaled formulation will offer direct protection, blocking viral replication and turning off environmental spread. To achieve this, the consortium will finalize preclinical characterization of the Ab candidates, optimize their formulation for inhaled delivery through mesh‑nebulization, and establish regulatory‑compliant production processes, including GMP manufacturing. Pharmacokinetic and toxicology studies, supported by modelling platforms, will guide safe clinical translation. Parallel efforts will adapt a cost‑effective inhalation device, establish an alternative microalgae‑based production platform, and create a flexible Ab toolbox to counter emerging viral variants, ensuring affordability, scalability, and long‑term resilience.

Detailed missions

• At the consortium level, the scientific project manager will work in close collaboration with the project management team, the partners responsible for communication/dissemination activities, and the operational project managers across partner organisations. He/she will review periodic scientific and technical reports, contribute to quality assurance by checking consistency of data, adherence to procedures and, when applicable, compliance regulatory guidelines and contribute to the organization of scientific meetings, consortium events, workshops and representation at conferences. He/she will help ensure that project documentation (protocols, SOPs, deliverables, meeting minutes, regulatory correspondence) is complete, traceable and archived according to institutional or regulatory requirements. He/she will be in charge of organizing and leading Workstream project meetings, prepare agendas, minutes, action lists and ensure scientific follow‑up. He/she will monitor progress against milestones, identify deviations or risks, and propose corrective actions to the project management team.
• At the coordinator’s lab: Help supervise, follow‑up research advances and coordinate activities with external partners and subcontractors for scale‑up phases. He/she will be in charge of preparing periodic scientific and technical reports, preparing and/or coordinating scientific and communication materials (presentations, abstracts, posters, manuscripts, newsletters, website content …).

JOB ENVIRONMENT

Team 3 'Pharmacology of inhaled pharmaceuticals' of CEPR/INSERM U1100 is affiliated to INSERM (French institute of biomedical research) and the University of Tours, in France. It is a multidisciplinary and health‑technology oriented team, focusing on the delivery of biopharmaceuticals through the airways for treating respiratory diseases. Other teams of INSERM U1100 deals with lung immunity, microbiology and pharmacology. Please visit our website: for more information. The HENIPROTECT project is funded by the EU.

Starting date: 1st of September 2026