Innovation Fellow

Arcadia Science•Emeryville, CA

25d•$8,000 - $12,000•Onsite

About The Position

We are Arcadia Science, an evolutionary biology company founded and led by scientists. Our mission is to turn natural innovations into real-world solutions by developing systematic and quantitative approaches to leveraging biology for therapeutics R&D. We share our research as openly as possible to accelerate discovery and make our work broadly useful. The Opportunity Weâre closing the gap between biological data and biological understanding. Our Pilots advance this work by rapidly testing new ways to measure, model, and interpret biology. What works becomes reusable tools for the rest of Arcadia and beyond. Pilots drive the adoption of new technology and research topics within Arcadia and may also be a source of IP, licensing, and spin-outs. Read more about our work through ourpublications. We are seeking an Innovation Fellow to join our Pilots team for a 3-month fellowship. This is an ideal opportunity for scientists who are in the final stages of their PhD or postdoc training and want to experience doing fast-paced, high-risk research in an industry setting. Innovation Fellows will prototype tools or devise novel approaches for efficient scientific inquiry, using strategically chosen biological questions as a test bed. Fellows will scope pilot projects with clear decision points, with the goal of publishing their work openly by the end of the fellowship. Areas of Focus The two most important qualities we're looking for are generativity (the ability to identify and develop new research projects) and strong scientific strategy to align your work with Arcadia's goals and efficiently de-risk ambitious research directions. Beyond that, we're looking for candidates with skills that span computational and experimental biology. This may include: - Tool and technology development for biological research - Independent experimental design and execution - Data analysis pipeline development - Novel assay development or adaptation - Integrating computational predictions with experimental validation - Working across diverse organisms and cell types

Requirements

PhD in life sciences, bioengineering, or a related field (3+ years post-PhD experience preferred)
Hands-on experience in wet lab work and computational analysis
Strong programming skills (Python and/or R required; familiarity with bash and version control)
Ability to work independently while collaborating with cross-functional teams
Strong writing skills, verbal communication skills, and comfort with rapid iteration
Experience troubleshooting experimental or computational challenges

Responsibilities

Execute a defined pilot project in coordination with current team members
Familiarize yourself with internal platform capabilities
Identify key risks early and optimize for "failing fast" so that promising directions can be pursued and dead ends abandoned quickly
Establish and track go/no-go decision points for your project
Collaborate with Arcadiaâs technically diverse team
Keep detailed experimental records and documentation for all workflowsContribute to collaborative ideation around new pilots
Publish results openly and share data, code, protocols, and methods by the end of the fellowship