At Parallel Bio, we are using the immune system to unlock safer, more effective drugs. By creating access to genuine human biology in a diverse, reproducible, and scalable way we’re changing the way researchers find, test, refine, and deliver these life-changing therapies.

The human immune system is the master regulator of health and disease in our bodies. Current tools used to discover drugs that target the immune system are wildly inadequate. To fix this critical gap, Parallel Bio created a human ‘immune system in a dish’ to rapidly accelerate the development of new drugs and immunotherapies more likely to work in patients. This means developing drugs that are known to safely work in humans before the first patient receives the first dose and an end to needlessly destroying millions of lab animals in the pursuit of human health.

By blending this biological innovation with the latest in high-throughput lab automation and integrated data capture & analysis, we’re creating a new type of biotech – one that brings the advantages of cloud computing to next-generation wet lab studies.

Why Work With Us

As a biologist, joining our team means:

• Pushing forward the understanding of how the immune system functions with real-world experimentation.

• Helping create new experimental methods that can be repeated and varied from the keyboard instead of the bench.

• Learning modern data & software practices - techniques considered beyond the cutting-edge in biotech.

• Creating experiments where copies of the same organism can be held constant - either for varied treatments or repeated across replicants to drive down scientific uncertainty.

• Access to diverse populations varied by sex, age, race, medical history can be used repeatedly and repeatably.

As a technologist, joining our team means bringing the rigor and scalability of computing into the biological domain:

• Work a problem with clear benefits for humanity. This is work worth doing.

• Bring modern software and data practices to biotech, an industry still catching up on 15 years of big data tech evolution.

• The breadth of our systems is breath-taking: from low-level robotics programming to data science & visualization to AI models of immune response and everything in-between. As a small team we tend to work across these areas rather than be siloed into one of them.

• Software is a first-class product concern at Parallel Bio, not a cost-center / service organization. We operate wet labs but we ship data-as-a-product.

• Learn the intricacies of the biological computing system that is the human immune system: antibody selection and production is a complex search problem.

The Role

Note to candidates: the requirements listed here are an exhaustive list of useful traits but not a hard list of requirements. Candidates who don't fulfill one or more of the listed requirements but whom still think they are strong candidates are encouraged to apply.

This role is a foundational role for Parallel Bio. We are executing a strategy that scales up novel immune organoids with automation to enable fully automated experiments of human immune response. The longitudinal studies we perform across diverse populations of human biology are only achievable using the precision, scale, and consistency of automation.

The immediate high-level goals for the person in this role are twofold:

• Lead the design, building, and operation of high-throughput facilities for our organoid experiments.

• Create a team that excels at building, operating, and continuously improving modern lab automation.

While this is a leadership role, it will be a hands-on automation role for next phase of the company’s development. You will be expected to be a technically-creative architect of automation, fluent in every level of the stack from power and networking to data capture and reagent management. You will be iteratively designing and building an end-to-end automated lab environment in close collaboration with a team of experienced software engineers.

This role reports directly to the Head of Technology and is a potential path to senior leadership as the company grows.

Areas of Responsibility

• Automation Development: Oversee the design, programming, and integration of robotic systems capable of executing high-throughput experimentation, including organoid seeding, culturing, media changes, and assay preparation.

• Process Optimization and Scalability: Drive enhancements to automation platforms to improve data accuracy, reduce costs, and increase throughput. Scale laboratory workflows to ensure reproducibility and support increased throughput and efficiency.

• Automated Data Capture: Produce automation designs that allow for the automated capture of both biological data and operational data for the automation itself.

• Compliance and Quality: Ensure that all automation systems adhere to relevant regulatory requirements and implement robust validation protocols for automated workflows.

• Vendor & Partner Management: Cultivate relationships with external vendors and partners to stay at the forefront of automation innovations, representing Parallel Bio at industry conferences and expos.

• Cross-Site Collaboration: Oversee automation efforts across our San Diego and Boston sites, ensuring cohesive workflows, seamless communication, and alignment of priorities.

Job Requirements

Technical Abilities

• 10+ years of relevant experience in automation engineering, with a significant portion in leadership roles within the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or life sciences industries.

• Expertise in robotic systems integration, liquid handling systems (e.g. Tecan, Hamilton), high-throughput technologies, plate-handling robots, automation-capable plate storage, imaging, centrifuges, and other related technologies.

• Familiarity with using programming languages (e.g., Python) for automation system development and customization as well as light data transformation and analysis.

• Experience with automation in organoid-based research, cell culture or similar biological systems is highly desirable.

• Proven track record of designing and implementing automation for laboratory or manufacturing automation.

Organizational Abilities

• Strong project management skills with the ability to oversee complex, multi-site automation projects from concept to implementation.

• Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Regulatory Knowledge

• Understanding of pharmaceutical industry standards, including cGMP requirements and validation protocols.

Location

• Based on the West Coast, preferably near San Diego, to facilitate interaction with our San Diego site and leadership team.