Staff Scientist, Assay Development & Integration
About The Position
Nautilus is developing a single-molecule protein analysis platform intended to make proteomic insights more accessible and support drug development and precision medicine. The Staff Scientist will lead development and integration of new assay workflows, taking chemistry from laboratory development onto the instrument and establishing reliable methods that can be transferred to operations. Reporting to the program lead, this role works across science, engineering, and operations in partnership with assay, probe development, engineering, and bioinformatics teams. The scientist owns assay performance on the platform, from early integration experiments through operational method transfer. The role is suited to an experienced assay scientist with a record of developing and integrating assays on complex instruments incorporating optics, fluidics, and surface chemistry, and of leading teams through difficult integration challenges using data to guide decisions.
Requirements
- PhD in biochemistry, molecular biology, bioengineering, chemistry, or a related field with 10+ years of industry experience; or a BS/MS with 15+ years in a related biotechnology or materials science field.
- Deep hands-on experience developing single-molecule assays and analysis techniques.
- Demonstrated record of innovation in developing protein or molecular biology assays.
- Hands-on experience handling proteins, including labeling, storage, and stability.
- Track record of integrating assays on complex instruments with integrated optics, fluidics, and assay workflows.
- Exceptional experimental design and data analysis skills, including multi-factor experiments.
- Proficiency in Python or a similar language for analyzing large datasets.
- Track record of leading cross-functional technical work in a fast-moving environment.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with protein assays, affinity reagents, or immunoassays.
- Experience with surface chemistry and immobilization on flow cells or arrays.
- Experience with gentle elution, stripping, or surface regeneration methods.
- Background in sequencing, proteomics, or other high-throughput platforms.
- Experience transferring methods to operations or manufacturing.
- Startup or early-stage product development experience.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and development of robust assays and reagents with simple, elegant workflows.
- Partner with the library preparation team to confirm that assay reagents work as intended on the platform.
- Define and develop control reagents to evaluate assay performance on the integrated system.
- Develop workflows that remove reagents after each binding cycle while keeping proteins intact on the platform.
- Design complex, information-rich experiments that provide decisive direction to the program.
- Solve integration problems across detection, fluidics, optics, surface chemistry, reagents, and software.
- Troubleshoot reagent and binding-cycle issues, including antibody quality and incomplete reagent removal, and drive root-cause analysis and permanent corrective actions.
- Lead failure analysis with engineering and bioinformatics and drive performance improvements.
- Set assay performance metrics and acceptance criteria, and use them to make go/no-go decisions.
- Analyze large datasets in Python, use bioinformatic pipelines, and turn results into recommendations for R&D leadership.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
Ph.D. or professional degree
