Lead Scientist, Early Stage R&D

Helaina is a VC-backed biotech startup creating a new category of functional food products.

Our vision is to bring the functional properties of human proteins to food. Helaina will be the first company to put human milk proteins into food, defining a new category of consumer nutrition products focused on supporting immunity. We see a range of opportunities to use our breast milk proteins to enhance other types of functional foods for all segments of the population.

Helaina is backed by top VCs in the industry including Spark Capital, Siam Capital, Primary Venture Partners, and Plum Alley. We are a team of change-makers looking for our next team member who is intensely passionate about advancing synthetic biology for food and beverage products and redefining the future of nutrition.

About the Job:

 In this role, you will oversee the operations of the ‘Design and Build’ unit of the Early-Stage Research & Development team. The successful candidate will be a motivated self-starter leader with a strong sense of initiative. 

What You’ll Do:

• Lead and manage high-throughput plasmid and strain construction workflows to meet critical milestones, ensuring operations are scientifically rigorous and align with company goals.
• Oversee planning and execution of experimental workflows, enforcing high standards of quality and consistency.
• Conduct thorough root cause analyses to address experimental challenges, regularly updating stakeholders on troubleshooting progress, and their impact on timelines. Outline and implement mitigation plans to manage failure modes effectively.
• Implement and monitor quality control measures to uphold operational excellence across plasmid and strain construction activities.
• Maintain high standards for experimental data documentation in Helaina’s state-of-the-art database, processing and analyzing results to generate actionable insights. Prepare technical reports, protocols, and presentations.
• Continuously research scientific literature and develop strategies to design new engineering targets.
• Identify key technology to enhance and expand our operations, validating and deploying robust, repeatable and reproducible protocols. Write detailed Standard Operating Procedures and train the team members to ensure smooth integration into workflows.
• Lead high-performing talent, fostering growth, motivation, and a collaborative, adaptive environment.
• Manage strain inventories, consumables, and equipment, collaborating with external vendors and technical representatives as needed.
• Maintain open, clear communication on priorities, trade-offs, and constraints, fostering alignment and a shared commitment to goals.
• Actively advocate for, enforce, and adhere to laboratory safety protocols, setting a standard for rigorous compliance across the team.
• Cultivate a collaborative, high-energy work environment that emphasizes a can-do attitude and a shared sense of urgency to achieve team and project goals.

About You:

• You have an advanced degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Bioengineering, or related field.
• You have a PhD with 5+ years or MSc with 7+ years of industry experience in Synthetic Biology within a biotech environment.
• You have 1-2 years of experience managing both projects and high-performing teams.teams.
• You have in-depth expertise in Synthetic Biology, with proficiency in high-throughput genome editing and automation.
• You have a strong foundation in microbial metabolism and synthetic biology principles.
• You have a proven ability to independently design, propose, and lead projects, including experimental planning, timeline, resource management, and stakeholder updates.
• You are skilled at multitasking and prioritization, with adaptability to adjust work plans efficiently as needed.
• You pay rigorous attention to detail in experimental design, execution, reproducibility, and documentation.
• You have exceptional oral and written communication skills.
• You have experience in protocol development and management of junior scientists through hands-on training. 
• You have experience in Design of Experiments (DoE) and multivariate analysis.
• Proficiency in statistical data analysis, mining historical data, and delivering results clearly and concisely.
• You have a track record of achieving target metrics through the design, construction, and testing of strains and cellular pathways for bio-product production.
• You bring enthusiasm, curiosity, and a proactive attitude to daily work.

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience gaining insights from computational and experimental systems biology data, including transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and metabolic models.
• Understanding of protein analytics, immunoassays, high-throughput screening and yeast fermentation. 
• Experience operating liquid handlers, preferably manufactured by Hamilton
• Quality control and control charting experience
• Experience working with JMP, Python, R, and/or Benchling
• Startup experience

Compensation is market-competitive with a yearly cash base of $115k - $135k plus equity.

We use a disciplined approach to compensation.  We believe this is the only way to create a consistent, strategic, and equitable compensation structure that in turn unlocks healthy growth for our organization.  We build our range with benchmarking data for the particular role from Pave.com.  Because Pave hooks into HRIS, they have the most accurate data for early-stage companies.  We decide any given hire's offer based on three factors:

first among them, expected performance in the role (based on performance in the interview process and proximity of experience);as well as seniority (amount of relevant experience);and location (different cost of living).

Benefits:

Helaina was founded on the belief that families should have freedom of choice.  We are committed to providing an inclusive workplace that does just that, supporting our team's health, wellbeing and professional development at every stage and milestone.  We are proud to offer comprehensive health care, generous parental leave and childcare reimbursement, equity packages and more.  A few highlights include:

• Full medical, vision and dental coverage
• Short and long term disability insurance coverage
• 401k match (up to 3%)
• Unlimited vacation days, including an all-company holiday between Christmas and New Year
• Paid Parental Leave for both parents + flexible return to work program
• Childcare reimbursement program
• Commuter Benefits
• Leadership Development coaching through BetterUp

Visit us at https://www.myhelaina.com/news to learn more about Helaina.

Helaina is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Helaina we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway.  You may just be the strongest candidate for this or other roles.  For more information, please contact careers@myhelaina.com.