LOCATION: King's Cross, London · PATTERN: Lab-based, full-time
The opportunity
We're a stealth startup in AI and bio, building infrastructure for data generation. The team is small and elite, the problems are hard, and the foundations are being laid right now. You'd help write them from the first line, with real ownership and a direct line to the founders.
This role sits at the start of our protein work. Every measurement we make depends on the protein in the well being the right one, made the same way every time, and you would be one of the people making it.
About us
AI for biology has a data problem. The data that matters most doesn't exist yet, so we're
building the infrastructure to produce it, with quality and traceability built in from day one.
We're in stealth and heads-down on execution. We'll share more about what we're building once you've spoken with the team.
The role
You will make proteins, many of them at once. The work runs from DNA through to purified, quality-checked protein in 96-well format, ready for the binding and biophysical assays downstream of you.
On the DNA side you will prepare expression templates from synthetic gene fragments, by PCR and by Golden Gate or Gibson assembly, and check them before they go forward. You will express proteins in cell-free systems first, with E. coli and mammalian (HEK293) expression following as the menu grows. You will purify them by affinity capture, mostly on magnetic beads in plates, and confirm what you made with quantification, CE-SDS and SEC.
Every step is recorded as you go: what went in, which lot, which conditions, what came out, and what failed. Failed expressions and poor yields are kept as data, so they get the same care as the successes.
As protocols settle you will help move them from the bench onto liquid handlers and our automated platform, working with the engineers who build it. This is a hands-on bench role, and in a small team you will also support the work either side of production when it needs doing. Downstream, that means molecular characterisation runs. Alongside, it means the cell culture behind our cell-based assays, from routine passage and banking to seeding assay plates.
Your first 90 days
FIRST 30 DAYS
◆ Run our core DNA preparation, cell-free expression and purification protocols to a
consistent standard.
◆ Learn how a sample is tracked, from DNA order to purified protein, and what gets
recorded at each step.
DAYS 30 TO 60
◆ Take a full plate of constructs from DNA through expression, purification and QC with
minimal support.
◆ Support on one step beyond production, such as a downstream characterisation
readout, a mammalian expression run or routine culture for the cell-based assay panel.
◆ Revise one protocol, including how its failures are captured.
DAYS 60 TO 90
◆ Run production week to week as part of the team, with QC results others can rely on
without checking.
◆ Own and routinely execute a downstream characterisation readout, a mammalian
expression route or maintenance of cell lines for a cell-based assay.
Who you are
You are a hands-on protein scientist who likes the bench and cares about doing the same thing well many times over. You have expressed and purified proteins yourself, you know what a failed prep looks like and why it failed, and you are comfortable working in plates rather than one tube at a time.
You keep records someone else could follow without asking you. You say early when something is not working, and you are happy with a plan that changes as we learn.
We do not hire people into boxes. The team is small, and early hires end up owning work beyond the job they joined for. Nobody arrives with every part of this role. If you are strong in most of it and quick to learn the rest, we want to hear from you.
MUST HAVE
◆ A PhD in biochemistry, protein science, molecular biology or a related field (recent graduates welcome), or a BSc or MSc with two to three years of hands-on lab experience. Industry experience in a high-throughput setting is preferred.
◆ Molecular biology for expression: PCR, cloning by Golden Gate or Gibson assembly, and checking constructs by gel, fragment analysis or sequencing.
◆ Recombinant protein expression and purification you have run yourself, in at least one of cell-free, E. coli or mammalian systems, with affinity capture such as His, Strep or Protein A.
◆ Protein QC: quantification, SDS-PAGE or CE-SDS, and reading the results critically.
◆ Working in 96-well or 384-well plate formats, with careful, traceable record-keeping.
◆ Mammalian cell culture with good aseptic technique: adherent and suspension lines,
thawing, passaging and banking, and transient transfection of HEK293 or CHO cells for expression.
NICE TO HAVE
◆ Protein characterisation: binding kinetics by SPR or BLI, or biophysical assays such as nanoDSF, DLS or analytical SEC.
◆ Cell-based assays such as reporter bioassays for binding or blockade, receptor internalisation or cytotoxicity, with imaging or flow cytometry readouts.
◆ Liquid handlers, magnetic-bead purification systems or other lab automation.
◆ Experience with antibodies, nanobodies or other binder formats.
Why this is unusual
Most protein production roles make a handful of proteins well for one project. This one makes many, in plates, for a lab built around the quality of its data, and that changes the job in two ways.
The record is part of the product. Every construct, lot, condition and QC result is captured as structured data, including the proteins that did not express, because a result is only as trustworthy as the material behind it. And the protocols you write become the starting point for automated workflows, so they have to be precise enough for a liquid handler to follow.
That means more documentation and more standardisation than most research labs ask for.
Some people find that energising; some find it outside their lane. Worth knowing in advance which one you are.
How we work
This is a lab-based role at our site in King's Cross, London. The proteins are made in the lab, so most of your week will be too, with room for writing and analysis away from the bench.
The wider team is distributed and travels, so you will work with people who are not always in the building.
We work in the open. Decisions are written down, work happens in Slack rather than scattered across tools, and the week opens with a session the whole company attends. There is a quarterly offsite. Each person owns their area and makes the call inside it, and we will expect that of you early rather than late.
UK benefits are 30 days of annual leave plus public holidays, a pension with a 10% employer contribution, and top-tier Bupa private health cover. More is added as the team grows.
The team you will join
You will join the protein science team and report to a senior member of its scientific staff. Day to day you will work with the scientists running DNA supply, molecular characterisation and the cell-based assays downstream of you, with the functional genomics team who share the cell culture suite, and with the engineers building the software and automation the lab runs on.
We are a small, elite team, and the people in it make the calls in their own areas.
Our process
Our process has four stages. A short screening call about the role and the practicalities. A behavioural interview about how you work, run from the same template for every candidate, before anything technical. A technical stage with the protein science team, built on real work from our lab rather than a puzzle, in person at the lab. Then references, aimed at whatever we still want to understand.
If you are not sure whether you match every line above, apply anyway. We would rather read it and decide.
We are an equal opportunity employer. We make hiring decisions on merit, scope-fit, and the strength of the working relationship we expect to build with each hire. Applications welcome from candidates of any background.
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