Head of Platform Bioengineering & Assay Development

Parallel Bio, San Francisco, California

Parallel Bio has this job in 1 other place

San Francisco, California, US

The role

Parallel Bio · San Francisco · Onsite

The mission

Drug discovery has a translation problem: more than 95% of drugs that succeed in animal models fail in humans. Parallel Bio is building an alternative: human-first drug discovery powered by organoids, automation, and AI, running on real human biology from the very first experiment.

Our platform has demonstrated strong concordance with clinical patient data and the ability to model complex human biology, including immunotoxicology, immune stimulation, and autoimmune disease. Pharmaceutical partners, including Fortune 500 companies, are already using the platform, and we have raised approximately $30M from investors including AIX Ventures, Marc Benioff, Jeff Dean, and Y Combinator.

All jobs

Head of Platform Bioengineering & Assay Development

Parallel Bio, San Francisco, California

Parallel Bio has this job in 1 other place

San Francisco, California, US

The role

Parallel Bio · San Francisco · Onsite

The mission

What you need

Who you are

A principal scientist. You have led bench scientists directly, developed their scientific judgment, and held them to a standard. You can reconcile competing interpretations among people who report to you and reach a decision without suppressing healthy technical disagreement.

A deeply experienced experimental scientist. You have spent your career developing complex biological assays and understand how difficult it is to make living systems behave reproducibly.

A builder and process developer. You ask not only whether an experiment works, but under what conditions, how often, why it fails, how variable it is, and what must be controlled to make it reliable. You enjoy taking something that works in the hands of one expert scientist and making it executable by an organization.

A rigorous troubleshooter. When data are ambiguous, you design experiments that distinguish competing explanations rather than relying on intuition alone.

A systems thinker. You understand that biological performance emerges from the interaction of cells, reagents, protocols, operators, instruments, automation, software, and data systems.

Hands-on. You are comfortable setting scientific strategy and equally comfortable going to the bench when a difficult problem requires it.

Comfortable with ambiguity. You can bring structure to immature technologies without imposing unnecessary bureaucracy or pretending uncertainty does not exist.

Mission driven. You are excited by the opportunity to replace animal models with scalable human biology and fundamentally change how medicines are discovered.

Technical foundation

You hold a Ph.D. in Immunology, Cell Biology, Biology, Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Biology, or a related discipline, with typically 10 to 15 or more years of relevant experience developing complex biological assays, models, and platforms.

You have demonstrated significant experience in several of the following areas

Deep immunology expertise and hands-on work with complex human in vitro models, organoids, primary immune cells, or advanced mammalian cell culture.
Direct management of bench scientists, including setting scientific direction, running data review, and developing scientific judgment in a team.
Building biological systems from 0 to 1 and adapting them onto automated or higher-throughput platforms.
Experience building Process Development functions or technology-transfer frameworks in an early-stage biotechnology company.
Assay development, characterization, optimization, and technology transfer.
Identifying and controlling biological and technical sources of variability.
Developing assays or processes for automated or high-throughput environments.
Translating early-stage R&D methods into robust workflows used by other scientists or operational teams.
Establishing controls, acceptance criteria, reference standards, or system-suitability approaches for biological assays.
Leading technically complex investigations and experimental troubleshooting.

Equivalent combinations of education and experience will also be considered.

Head of Platform Bioengineering & Assay Development

The role

Head of Platform Bioengineering & Assay Development

The role

What you need

Who you are

You have demonstrated significant experience in several of the following areas

Nice to have

Scientific leadership

Assay and process development

Technology transfer and platform readiness

Scale-up and robustness

Cross-functional platform development

You will help create a clear path from

Parallel Bio

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