Senior-Research Associate - Strain and Enzyme Engineering

Research Associate / Senior Research Associate – Strain & Enzyme Engineering
Waltham, MA (Onsite)
Permanent

We are currently partnered with an innovative biotechnology company that is using synthetic biology and advanced microbial engineering to develop sustainable alternatives to traditionally sourced chemicals and ingredients. As they continue to expand their R&D team, they are looking for a Senior/Research Associate to support strain engineering and enzyme engineering programs. This is a hands-on laboratory role where you'll work closely with multidisciplinary teams to engineer microbial strains, generate analytical data, and contribute directly to research programs that move from early discovery through process development.

Base Salary: $85-100K

What you'll be doing:

• Design, construct, and validate plasmids for microbial strain engineering.
• Engineer and characterize E. coli strains using modern molecular biology techniques, including chromosomal integration methods.
• Culture, maintain, and screen engineered microbial strains in both liquid and solid media.
• Prepare fermentation and biological samples for downstream analytical testing.
• Operate GC and/or LC instrumentation to evaluate strain performance and generate high-quality analytical data.
• Analyze experimental results, identify trends, and present findings to cross-functional project teams.
• Maintain accurate experimental records, manage data within LIMS platforms, and support documentation including SOPs.
• Collaborate with scientists across molecular biology, fermentation, analytical development, and downstream processing.

What we're looking for:

• Research Associate: Bachelor's degree with up to 4 years of relevant industry experience.
• Senior Research Associate: Bachelor's degree with 4–7 years or Master's degree with 2–4 years of relevant experience.
• Background in molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry, bioengineering, chemistry, or a related life science discipline.
• Experience with molecular cloning techniques such as Gibson Assembly, Golden Gate Assembly, or restriction enzyme cloning.
• Hands-on experience culturing and screening engineered microbial strains.
• Experience with GC and/or LC analytical techniques is highly desirable.

Nice to have:

• Experience with chromosomal integration in E. coli (CRISPR, recombineering, etc.).
• Benchling or other LIMS platforms.
• Python, SQL, JMP, or similar data analysis tools.
• GC-MS or LC-MS experience.
• Fermentation sample preparation and extraction workflows.
• Automated liquid handling platforms.

If you're looking to join a collaborative and fast-paced team where you'll have the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge synthetic biology programs with real-world commercial impact, I'd love to hear from you. Please apply with an updated copy of your resume to be considered.

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