Scientist, Forward-Deployed
What We're Building:
At Medra, our mission is to use AI, robotics, and biology to accelerate life science research, with the ultimate goal of eradicating disease. We have been quietly building the foundational layers of our Physical AI Scientist platform:
🤖 Physical AI that can operate scientific instruments with human-level dexterity.
🧪 Scientific AI that can analyze results, reason about next steps, and close the loop autonomously.
This is an incredibly ambitious mission, but we believe that a team of ambitious people with high ownership can accomplish incredible things.
About the role:
As a scientist on our forward-deployed team, your objective is to embed yourself with your scientific counterparts at the customer, acting as a true partner on their team to ensure that the Medra platform is achieving scientific outcomes and driving value for the organization. You will become an expert in our customer’s science, deeply understanding their scientific requirements and applying the scientific method (hypothesis, design, experimentation, analysis) to test and validate the fidelity of our Physical AI Scientist platform for their workflows. You will be in close communication with our end users (scientists) and have your eyes and ears on the ground to help us get ahead of any issues, while taking any insights and learnings from the customer back to the company to guide improvements to our product.
Internally, you will partner closely with the engagement manager and forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) to drive a successful deployment. You will work alongside an elite team of robotics, software, and hardware engineers to provide scientific oversight during scoping, build, and deployment. You will be a platform super-user who understands the strengths and limitations of our platform, and can apply creativity (& scientific intuition) to solve challenging problems.
We’re looking for someone who acts with urgency and thrives under pressure. This is a unique opportunity to use your skillset to what will be a step-change in drug discovery through artificial intelligence and robotics, and will offer significantly more exposure than working in a traditional biotech or pharma role.
Key responsibilities:
Be the scientific subject matter expert - understand customer requirements and provide biological context to guide scoping, product development, and capability prioritization.
Design & execute wet-lab experiments to validate Medra’s autonomous Physical AI against scientific KPIs/metrics
Deploy on-site to our customer’s labs - embed with their scientists to validate the science, conduct hands-on training on the robot & instruments, and provide ongoing support as they ramp up usage
Own the installation, QC, and troubleshooting/error-handing for all laboratory instruments on the Physical AI platform
Support internal R&D on new protocols and assays, and explore emerging technologies & techniques
Keep detailed experimental records and documentation (SOPs) for all workflows
Communicate results clearly, succinctly, and on-time
What you bring to the team:
PhD in biological sciences or related field with 2 years of experience, or Master's degree with 5+ years of experience
Deep scientific expertise as evidenced by a track record of top-tier publications / presentations
Excellent interpersonal skills and a demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively within a team.
Innate curiosity about science and technology
Bonus points for:
Expertise in adapting scientific workflows for execution with robotics and automation equipment / instrumentation
Hands-on experience with emerging AI/ML tools and technologies
Familiarity with enterprise software platforms and integrations with lab systems (ELN, LIMS, etc.).
Experience in dynamic, start-up environments.
This position is 100% in-person, you must be able to come on-site to our San Francisco office. We offer relocation benefits for applicants who need to relocate. Travel is required, up to 25-50%.
What we offer
An opportunity to change the way that scientific research happens
Fast-paced, creative, and collaborative work environment
Significant equity ownership
401k
Medical insurance and dental Insurance
Unlimited PTO
Weekday dinners