To apply, please reach out to contact@alignbio.org with a CV and cover letter.

Align to Innovate is a nonprofit organization on a mission to kickstart the use of programmable experiments to improve reproducibility and big data collection in life science research. We’re running a suite of programs at the interface of biology, automation, and machine learning to rapidly convert the field of biology to a data-first discipline.

We aim for these programs to represent a new strategy for life scientists to collaborate on large, data-intensive projects, and are seeking team members who are excited to build out this concept with us.

As a remote organization with employees across North America and Europe, we embrace new team members from any geography.

Role overview

Align to Innovate is seeking a Technical Manager to run our externally-facing Protein Engineering Tournament. The Tournament is a fully-remote, community-driven competition designed to foster the development and evaluation of computational approaches to protein engineering. The tournament consists of an in silico round, in which participants predict biophysical properties from protein sequences, followed by an in vitro round, in which novel protein sequences are designed, expressed, and characterized using automated methods. Following recent success and the overwhelmingly positive response to our Pilot tournament, we are now looking to scale the effort with $2M in new funding. 

This role  will assume a leadership role in shaping future Protein Engineering Tournaments. They will work across all aspects of the program – from planning, to execution, and through subsequent iterations – with the ultimate goal of building a scalable and ongoing effort akin to a CASP or Kaggle competition.  

The Technical Manager, Protein Engineering Tournaments should be comfortable with both wet-lab R&D and in-silico protein engineering, have experience managing multi-year research projects, and be adept at working with internal and external stakeholders. Given our small team and evolving nature of scientific research and development, we are looking for folks who are adaptable and collaborative. 

Responsibilities 

• Engage with members of the protein engineering community to understand current scientific challenges in the field that could be addressed in future Tournament iterations. 

• Liaise with other ongoing protein engineering projects at Align to create opportunities to synergize with the Tournament.

• Work with stakeholders and members of the Tournament organizing community to formalize the technical scope of the next competition. 

• Formulate outreach and engagement strategy for increasing participation in events. 

• Manage relationships with vendors and CROs in service of data generation. 

• Organize and participate in scientific workshops, conferences, and other community events.

• Manage timelines and resources for multi-year scientific research projects. 

• Connect regularly with project stakeholders to manage expectations.

• Build tools and develop processes for organizational success.

Qualifications

Note that this section describes a nearly ideal candidate in order to provide insight into what this job entails. The more of these that apply to you, the more likely we think you will be a good fit for the role. Please don’t hesitate to apply even if you don’t feel like you’re a perfect match! 

• Versed in protein engineering, including rational design and Machine Learning design approaches (such as sequence- and structure-based models and protein large language models).  

• An advanced degree with a focus on Protein Engineering or several years of relevant professional experience. 

• Familiarity with both wet-lab R&D and in-silico protein engineering.

• Demonstrated experience managing interdisciplinary, and ideally remote, teams. 

• Demonstrated experience leading projects in a scientific discipline, ideally involving outside collaborations in industry, academia, or government. 

• Have prior experience working with stakeholders to understand scientific challenges, business needs, and critical project requirements.

• Comfortable with remote work and distributed teams.

• The ability to travel occasionally for domestic and international events (eg: quarterly team meetings, conferences and workshops, partner site visits).

• A humble approach to collaboration and mentorship, including good listening skills, open-mindedness, receptivity to feedback, and flexibility.

• Ability to communicate effectively with varied stakeholders to ensure that project and organizational needs are met.

• Excitement for interdisciplinary field-building efforts, particularly within data-driven biology.

Salary and benefits 

Align to Innovate takes a market-based approach to compensation. The candidate's starting pay will be based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and work location.

For US-based employees*, we offer attractive benefits including: 

• Health Insurance (inc. medical, dental, and vision)

• Family leave (up to 13 weeks)

• 401k matching

• Paid time off

• 15 company holidays, plus one day off for your Birthday

• Monthly wellness benefit

• Volunteer community service hours 

• Educational reimbursement plan

• Child care reimbursement

*For non-US-based employees, benefits will vary based on your country of residence. 

Align to Innovate welcomes everyone. 

We believe diversity enriches our team and so strive to hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences. 

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

To apply, please reach out to contact@alignbio.org with a CV and cover letter.