Senior Data Scientist

Job Description - Pioneer Labs - Senior Data Scientist

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 The Align Foundation. See https://www.pioneer-labs.org/ for more information. 

Senior Data Scientist

The Opportunity

Pioneer is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to join our team. Our scientific mission relies on generating functional genomics data at scale, and you will contribute to driving analysis and interpretation of these datasets. As a senior member of the team, you will lead end-to-end data platform efforts, from experimental design and raw data processing to downstream analysis and modeling.

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 members of a growing computational team. This is an in-person role at our office in Emeryville. Compensation will be based on experience.

Key responsibilities

Examples of responsibilities include:

• Lead functional genomics platform analysis: Collaborate closely with the experimental team to design and analyze high-throughput functional genomics experiments, providing bioinformatics and statistical expertise to inform experimental design and interpret data.

• 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: Implement and refine existing 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 Computer Science, Statistics, Physics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field, with 2+ years of post-PhD experience.

• Statistics: 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 applied machine learning (e.g. linear regression, classification, unsupervised learning).

• Bioinformatics: Experience with applying bioinformatics tools and concepts (i.e. sequence alignment, enrichment analysis, etc), especially in the context of functional genomics.

• 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:

• Leadership: Comfort taking the technical lead on proposing rigorous solutions to solve hard and/or ambiguous data analysis problems, and working in teams to drive results in a timely manner.

• 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 and public-facing reports 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 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.

• Previous experience in a startup or agile development environment

Salary and benefits 

The candidate's starting pay 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: $155,000 - $190,000

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

• 401(k) 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.