Principal Biology Specialist

TaskUs

10d•$150,000 - $220,000•Remote

About The Position

TaskUs partners with technology companies to build safety, intelligence, and human-in-the-loop operations for artificial intelligence. The Principal Biology Specialist will lead a specialized domain pod supporting a frontier AI research and safety company. The role supports safeguards designed to prevent advanced AI systems from lowering technical barriers to biological weapons or other catastrophic risks. Because legitimate life-science research may use terminology associated with biological threats, human reviewers triage flagged cases and provide ground-truth labels used to train and validate automated safety classifiers. As the pod’s senior subject matter authority and technical lead, this specialist oversees a tiered team, establishes adjudication frameworks, resolves ambiguous dual-use escalations, and briefs client safety leaders on emerging biological risk vectors. The position is remote in the United States, with Texas preferred, and requires unrestricted US work authorization. Daily work involves reviewing flagged interactions concerning dangerous pathogens, toxic agents, dual-use protocols, and synthetic biology instructions. Selected candidates may be subject to client-directed insider-threat screening, background checks, and credential verification before and during engagement.

Requirements

Master’s or Ph.D. in Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology, Immunology, Synthetic Biology, Biosecurity, or a directly related life-sciences discipline.
At least 9 years of professional experience in biodefense, biosecurity policy, public health threat surveillance, biosafety (BSL-3/BSL-4 operations), or specialized CBRN analysis.
Exceptional fluency in life-science research protocols and ability to distinguish legitimate academic workflows from actionable weaponization pathways.
Deep familiarity with the Federal Select Agent Program, GDM (Gene Drive / DNA Synthesis screening guidelines), Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and export control regimes.
Proven experience technically leading a team of scientists, analysts, or intelligence specialists in high-stakes environments.
Exceptional ability to communicate complex microbiological principles and risk assessments to technical engineers, policy teams, and client executives.
Based in the United States with unrestricted work authorization.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience with the US Department of Defense (DoD/DTRA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/ASPR/BARDA), CDC, USAMRIID, or the Intelligence Community.
Active or recent US Government Security Clearance (Secret / Top Secret).
Direct experience evaluating computational biology misuse, AI safety red-teaming, or automated bio-classifier benchmarking.
Practical experience in high-containment laboratories (BSL-3 or BSL-4) or with DNA synthesis screening providers.

Responsibilities

Serve as the pod’s final escalation authority for ambiguous, high-consequence cases, complex customer appeals, and potential high-severity biological threat activity.
Establish adjudication standards to distinguish legitimate scientific inquiry from catastrophic misuse, including cases involving select agents and toxins, genetic modification, scaled culturing and synthesis, and weaponization or dispersion.
Deliver high-fidelity, peer-reviewed ground-truth labels to validate, evaluate, and fine-tune automated AI safety and refusal classifiers.
Refine investigative playbooks and labeling taxonomies in alignment with international biological conventions and US Select Agent regulations; advise client policy leadership on evolving biotechnology capabilities.
Technically direct and mentor Senior and Junior Biology Specialists, and manage review calibration and quality assurance protocols.
Prepare clear, actionable risk memos and brief client biosecurity leads on emerging model capabilities and dual-use boundaries.