Job Description - Pioneer Labs - (Senior) Computational Biologist

About Pioneer Labs

Pioneer labs is engineering the first microbes that will be used on Mars. We are building an engineering platform that allows us to cultivate hearty critters that can grow robustly even in extreme conditions. We aim for this research to make biomanufacturing ubiquitous, reliable, and green - on Earth and beyond.

To do so, Pioneer is building a platform for polyextremophile microbial engineering. Our approach combines functional genomics and robotics accelerated evolution to rapidly engineer microbes that are tailored to suit harsh, unusual conditions found in biomanufacturing.

We are a nonprofit startup based in Emeryville, California. We do marsshot science with an agile, startup-like team. Pioneer is supported by the Astera Institute's Residency Program, and is a pilot project of Align to Innovate. See https://www.pioneer-labs.org/ for more information.

Computational Biology
The Opportunity

Pioneer is seeking a (Senior) Computational Biologist to join our team in early Summer 2025. Our scientific mission relies on generating functional genomics data at scale, and you will contribute to driving analysis and interpretation of experimental data. In addition, you will apply computational tools to inform experimental design as well as leverage external datasets for insight generation.

While this is a purely computational position, we are especially interested in candidates with prior wet lab experience and a generalist quantitative mindset.

You will report to the Head of Data as one of the key early members of a growing computational team. This is an in-person role at our office in Emeryville. Job title and compensation will be based on experience.

Key responsibilities

Examples of responsibilities include:

Support existing functional genomics analysis: Collaborate with the scientific team to design and analyze high-throughput functional genomics experiments, providing bioinformatics and statistical expertise to interpret data and guide experimental design.
Develop new analysis methods: Adopt and expand new methodologies for analyzing data from various modalities, giving expert advice on developing new experimental assays as needed.
Automate and streamline workflows: Create and implement automated workflows for processing and analyzing experimental data.
Drive insight generation with computational projects: Through techniques like mathematical modeling and machine learning, conduct in silico experiments to discover new scientific insights from our data and inform future wet lab experiments.
Leadership, mentorship, and collaboration: Mentor junior research associates, lead meetings and strategy planning, and collaborate with cross-functional teams within and outside of Pioneer Labs.

About You

Note that this section describes an ideal candidate in order to provide insight into what this job could entail. The more of these that apply to you, the more likely we think you will be a good fit for the role. Please don't hesitate to apply even if you don't feel like you're a perfect match!

Essential

Technical:

Educational Background: Ph.D in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Statistics, Physics, or a related quantitative field, with 0-4 years of post-PhD experience.
Bioinformatics: Experience with applying bioinformatics tools and concepts (i.e. sequence alignment, enrichment analysis, etc), especially in the context of functional genomics.
Data Analysis: Fluency with core data science skills, including statistics (e.g. hypothesis testing, Bayesian inference, power analysis, simulations), high-dimensional analysis techniques (e.g. dimensionality reduction, clustering), and basic machine learning (e.g. linear regression, classification, unsupervised learning).
Software: Fluency in Python and familiarity with version control, Linux systems, and package managers (e.g. conda).
Experience. Track record of leading successful projects at the intersection of biology and engineering, as evidenced by publications, submitted manuscripts, open source code development, and/or projects accomplished in industry.

Interpersonal:

Collaboration: Excellent communication skills and demonstrated ability to collaborate with scientists, engineers, and software developers.
Initiative: Strong initiative to learn and build new pipelines and analysis tools, with a proactive problem-solving approach.

Problem Solving: Ability to think critically and employ scientific problem-solving and troubleshooting.
Science Communication: Effectively communicate complex scientific concepts through clear documentation, reports, publications, and presentations.

Desirable

Nice-to-have qualifications, experience and competencies:

Prior wet lab experience, either hands-on or in deep collaboration, especially in microbiology and synthetic biology
Experience with directed evolution and/or strain engineering
Experience with NGS and/or long read sequencing
Experience with metagenomics
Experience with deep learning and mathematical modeling
Experience building data pipelines using tools such as Docker and/or Nextflow.
Experience building data visualization applications with tools like Shiny and/or Dash.
Experience with AWS cloud computing infrastructure
Experience with other software languages such as C, C++, Java, R, etc.
Experience using laboratory automation, e.g. Hamilton Star, Beckman Echo, etc
Previous experience in a startup or agile development environment

Salary and benefits

The candidate's starting pay and job title will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and interview performance. Pioneer Labs takes a market-based approach to compensation. We benchmark salaries based on equivalents in for-profit biotech startups.

Anticipated salary range: $140,000 - $185,000

We offer benefits including:

Health Insurance (inc. medical, dental, and vision) for employee and dependents
Family leave (up to 12 weeks)
A flexible time off policy
403(b) plan

Pioneer Labs welcomes everyone

We believe diversity enriches our team and so strive to hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don't discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Astera

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(Senior) Computational Biologist