# Senior Research Associate or Scientist 1

**Company:** [Astera](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/astera)
**Location:** Emeryville, CA
**Role:** Other
**Salary:** $90k – $120k/yr
**Experience:** 3+ years
**Skills:** Molecular Biology, Microbial Engineering, Yeast Engineering, Genetic Engineering, Primer Design, Golden Gate Cloning, Dna Assembly, Plasmid Construction, Library Generation, Biological Assays, Experimental Design, Data Analysis, Quality Control, Gpu Clusters
**Posted:** 2026-08-26

> The researcher will build and operate a high-throughput experimental biology platform, designing microbial engineering and molecular biology experiments, optimizing assays, and translating measurements into datasets for AI model improvement. Requires a relevant bachelor’s or master’s degree, at least three years of industry experience, and strong cloning expertise.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Design and execute molecular biology and microbial engineering experiments for high-throughput, reproducible measurements.
- Develop, troubleshoot, and optimize biological assays and workflows to increase throughput, reduce variability, and generate model-training data.
- Own experimental projects from design through execution, analysis, interpretation, and documentation.
- Analyze experimental and computational datasets, identify trends, troubleshoot results, and guide follow-up experiments.
- Establish laboratory protocols, workflows, documentation, and quality-control systems.
- Maintain laboratory equipment, reagents, and workflows; contribute to a safe, organized research environment.
- Contribute methods, datasets, and physical artifacts to open science efforts.

## Requirements
- Bachelor's or master's degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, or a related field; PhD holders are welcome.
- At least 3 years of industry experience and significant hands-on research experience.
- Hands-on experience engineering yeast or other microbes, including strain construction, genetic engineering, and strain characterization.
- Strong experience with primer design, Golden Gate cloning, DNA assembly, plasmid construction, and library generation.
- Ability to independently execute and troubleshoot experiments with rigorous experimental design, controls, quantitative measurement, reproducibility, and documentation.
- Ability to take loosely defined experimental objectives through design, execution, analysis, and iteration.
- Resourcefulness, persistence, and comfort diagnosing failed experiments.
- Ability to build new experimental capabilities and collaborate with experimental biologists and computational or AI researchers.
- Comfort operating with ambiguity and moving quickly in an entrepreneurial environment.

## Nice-to-haves
- Familiarity with protein modeling, sequence models, structural biology, or adjacent biological research areas.
- Experience building and scaling training infrastructure on large GPU clusters.
- Team management and technical leadership experience.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Base salary: $90,000–$120,000 during the residency.
- Potential for a founding research role in a future spinout, contingent on project success and mutual fit.
- Full benefits package, including health insurance, company-sponsored retirement plan, vision, dental, and daily lunch.

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