Senior Mammalian Engineer 3, Functional Genomics

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe's growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.

Team Introduction

The Mammalian group at Ginkgo is an independent business unit focused on enabling preclinical drug development for partners by applying biological engineering to design and screen large genetic design spaces and learn from those screens using modeling and AI approaches. We have specific focuses in genetic medicines (including cell and gene therapy and rna therapeutic design) and biologics. We leverage cutting-edge NGS and proteomics technologies to conduct screens in pooled formats and custom flexible automation to do so in arrayed formats.

Ginkgo is continuously crossing new frontiers of biological engineering. Recently, the mammalian group has leveraged its expertise in regenerative medicine and large scale screening approaches with high content readouts to build state-of-the-art functional and chemi-genomics capabilities to support partners' discovery efforts. We're looking for curious, creative, and driven pioneers in this field to join us at this juncture and have a great opportunity to impact the direction and growth of the team.

Job Description

We're searching for a remarkable senior scientist to help shape our growing effort in the large scale generation of multimodal phenotypic data in relevant in vitro systems subject to chemical and genetic perturbations. The is a deep technical role that requires strategic thinking, technical leadership, and execution. The successful applicant will have deep experience in designing and executing chemical and functional genomic screens in a variety of cell lines and primary cells, in a discovery biology, target discovery and/or target validation setting. The ideal candidate has broad familiarity across multiple experimental areas including cell engineering methods, NGS technologies, single cell approaches, high content imaging, and assay development. In addition, a demonstrated track record of applying quantitative approaches to biological problems is a must. Experience managing interdisciplinary teams to deliver technical milestones on timelines is a requirement.

Is this the role for you? Your deep technical understanding should enable you to offer technical solutions to potential partners' challenges and then work to deliver those solutions. You are ready to roll up your sleeves and get the work done, leading from the bench. As a driven and organized team member, you will need to be flexible and able to re-prioritize with the changing demands of a fast-paced environment. Team members will be inspired by your commitment to technical excellence and delivery.

Please note: this role would be based in our Seaport location at 27 Drydock Avenue.

Responsibilities

• Deliver key technical deliverables on our multi-omics product roadmap. This includes defining a technical approach and then working with a cross-functional group to execute, as well as working closely with Product and Sales teams to shape our strategy and messaging.
• Support resource management and project planning across the broader team
• Communicate project performance to leadership and external customers
• Identify and help develop new technologies to drive next-generation platform development
• Directly interface with current and potential external partners, pitching Ginkgo and scoping and writing collaboration workplans
• Provide feedback on feasibility of various approaches to senior management and key internal stakeholders
• Grow, supervise, and mentor a small team of researchers working on RNA therapeutic-specific challenges
• Assist with shaping Ginkgo's overall direction as a company and support its evolving needs, as necessary

Minimum Requirements

• PhD or equivalent experience in a biology or bioengineering related field
• 10+ years of research experience post-PhD, with significant expertise in molecular biology, mammalian cell culture and cell engineering, assay development, and familiarity with next-generation sequencing technologies.
• 3+ years of industry experience utilizing genomic approaches in a drug discovery or discovery biology setting OR strong publication track record doing the same in a non-profit setting.
• Strong molecular biology expertise, with significant experience in mammalian cell culture, cell engineering assay devel and familiarity with next-generation sequencing technologies
• Ability to work with interdisciplinary teams in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
• Excellent communication and organization skills, with the ability to effectively convey project plans and complex technical information to a wide range of internal teams, executive leadership, and external partners

Preferred Capabilities and Experience

• Track record of leading successful teams and mentoring multiple team members
• Quantitative background with demonstrated ability to extract biologically meaningful data from large datasets and speak to the pros and cons of various data science and informatics approaches.
• Experience with scRNAseq approaches a plus
• Ability to effectively interface with custom and commercial LIMS systems, and utilize software tools for sample and workflow management

We also feel that it's important to point out the obvious here – there's a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.

We're developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it's something we'll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it's critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

To learn more about Ginkgo, visit or check out some curated press below:

• What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)
• Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)
• Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: 'If we try, we can win' (CNBC)
• Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)
• Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)
• Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)
• The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)
• Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)
• Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)
• Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)

We also feel that it's important to point out the obvious here – there's a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.

We're developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it's something we'll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it's critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.

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