Senior Scientist

Viridos is a privately held biotechnology company harnessing the power of photosynthesis to create transformative solutions to mitigate climate change. Our unparalleled understanding of algal genetics and ability to translate innovation from lab to field underpins our scalable platform to produce low-carbon intensity biofuels for aviation, commercial trucking, and maritime shipping. Building on a legacy of genomic firsts, our team of scientists and engineers are shaping new pathways toward a sustainable bioeconomy. We are currently looking to add a Senior Scientist with the expertise and desire to improve photosynthesis to our team in La Jolla, CA.

Position description:

The Senior Scientist will apply knowledge of photosynthesis with the synthetic biology tools developed at Viridos to improve photosynthetic efficiency and biomass productivity of our strains, leading to commercially viable algae for the production of fuel and chemicals.  The successful candidate will have extensive experience in photophysiology and significant exposure to microbial molecular biology, protein biochemistry, transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatic data analysis.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• The Senior Scientist will work with their supervisor and manage a small team of researchers contributing significant intellectual input into the design of experiments, employing advanced photophysiological techniques to provide in-house expertise on the light reactions of photosynthesis.  
• Carefully execute and oversee laboratory experiments, including growth of photosynthetic microbes under meticulously defined conditions, sampling and extraction of nucleic acids and proteins, including subcellular fractionation of eukaryotic algae.
• Work closely with bioinformaticians to analyze and compare large data sets from various advanced omics experiments, summarize and present data and independently design hypothesis-driven experiments exploiting extracted information.
• Employ molecular tools to generate and characterize recombinant strains of eukaryotic algae.
• Contribute significantly to overall success of science program(s), on-going projects, critical patents, grants, or scientific publications.
• Instruct and provide guidance to Sr. Research Associates and Research Associates.
• Consistently demonstrate initiative in implementing projects and/or necessary work.

Knowledge and Abilities:

• Requires a Ph.D. in Phycology, Microbiology, Plant Biology, or a related field and 5-8 years of relevant postdoctoral or industrial experience.
• Broad and detailed experience with photobiology, photosynthetic processes, and techniques for monitoring photosynthesis (chlorophyll fluorescence, gas exchange, etc).
• Knowledge of CO₂ acquisition and fixation pathways is highly desired.
• Working knowledge and experience with modern nucleic acid sequence analysis and other bioinformatics tools is required.
• Managing a team of researchers for high performance and professional growth and development
• Must possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills to facilitate interactions with a highly interdisciplinary team.
• Experience working with eukaryotic algae or other microbial photo-autotrophs is an advantage.

Estimated base salary range for a Senior Scientist is $115,000 - $145,000. Should the level of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable salary range may be updated as well.

Benefits:

• Competitive medical, dental, vision plans Company paid life insurance plan Onsite Gym 401k plan Stock Option program Tuition reimbursement and Professional Development Employee Referral bonus Competitive PTO and Holiday plan