As a Senior Scientist in Metabolic Engineering your focus will be on pathway optimization and strain improvement ensuring completion of projects with strict time deadlines. You will help lead a team of seven scientists to meet the needs of Debut’s strain engineering and your responsibilities will include:

• Engineering metabolic pathways and performing genomic editing using CRISPR/Cas9 systems
• Developing medium-to-high throughput strain construction to rapidly improve bioproduction of target molecules
• Designing, setting up, executing, and documenting metabolic engineering experiments. Working with peers and management to define pertinent experiments, develop protocols, collect, and analyze resultant data within agreed timelines
• Coaching junior staff and problem solving with them to ensure progress across multiple deadlines
• Writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for internal use
• Project management and tracking strain building and testing
• Collaborating with fermentation and product purification processes to ensure work products are delivered on time and at spec
• Functioning as the point person for a project and processing data for subsequent review and reporting.
• Managing the strain engineering workflow and ensuring on time delivery

Qualifications

• PhD with 8+ years of experience in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, or a related field
• Proficient and thoughtful in designing and performing CRISPR-based genomic editing
• Deep knowledge in the central metabolism of E. coli and optimization of metabolic pathways
• Must have experience with metabolic engineering in E. coli with a proven track record of creating commercial strains
• Experience working with other organisms is highly desirable
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with a proven track record of being innovative and generating key breakthroughs to advance cell lines.
• Has lead campaigns from conception to pilot production for small molecules
• Experienced in BLAST search, sequence alignment, and phylogenetic trees
• Familiar with Geneious, MindManger, and Smartsheet
• Must possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills to facilitate interactions with a highly interdisciplinary team
• Motivated by a sense of urgency, attention to detail, and an engrained penchant for professional development of themselves and their co-workers
• Strong organizational and time-management skills including managing projects simultaneously
• Excellent attention to details and diligent adherence to deadlines and deliverables
• Ability to prioritize responsibilities and multi-task
• Must be motivated, self-directed, and work well with little oversight
• Ability to learn quickly in a fast-paced startup environment
• Must be willing to work non-standard hours supporting a 24/7 operation including weekends