The RoleAxcend is hiring an
Applications & Support Scientist to be the scientific face of our
Focus LC® platform with customers, prospects, and the broader chromatography community. You'll develop methods, run demos, support customer onboarding, troubleshoot real-world applications, and represent Axcend at conferences and customer sites across our markets - pharma and biopharma, academic and government labs, environmental, food & beverage, and industrial chemicals.
The role sits at the intersection of science and commerce. You'll work hand-in-hand with our sales, engineering, and applications teams to make sure customers get publication-quality results from our instruments - and that our instruments keep getting better because of what you learn in the field.
This is a high-visibility, high-autonomy role for a curious analytical chemist who loves capillary-scale separations, enjoys talking science with other scientists, and can read a room well enough to support a sales conversation without overstepping it.
What You'll Do- Develop and translate methods: Build, optimize, and translate methods on the Focus LC platform across diverse customer applications - small-molecule and biomolecule analysis, trace analysis in complex matrices, reaction and process monitoring, and quality control workflows - adapting conventional HPLC methods to the capillary scale to deliver lower solvent use, smaller sample volumes, and faster cycle times.
- Run customer-facing demos and proof-of-concept studies: Demonstrate Focus LC performance against the customer's real samples and existing methods, in their lab or ours.
- Support the sales process: Serve as the technical voice in the room - answer deep scientific questions during evaluations, frame Axcend's capabilities accurately and confidently, and know when to escalate commercial questions back to the sales lead.
- Onboard new customers: Install method packages, train customer scientists, and provide hands-on troubleshooting during the first weeks of operation.
- Provide ongoing applications support: Answer technical questions, troubleshoot challenging separations, and develop methods for new analytes as customers expand their usage.
- Create technical content: Application notes, posters, white papers, and case studies that communicate Focus LC capabilities to scientific audiences across our markets.
- Represent Axcend at conferences and industry events: Pittcon, HPLC, EAS, ASMS, and other meetings relevant to your accounts - present posters and talks, staff the booth, and build relationships with the chromatography community.
- Feed customer insights back to engineering and product: Translate field observations into prioritized product, firmware, and method improvements.
- Contribute to peer-reviewed publications in collaboration with academic, industrial, and customer partners.
What You'll BringRequired- Education: PhD in Analytical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Biochemistry, or a related field - or MS with 3+ years of industry experience in analytical instrumentation.
- HPLC depth: Hands-on method development experience with HPLC and LC-MS; comfort with reverse-phase and adjacent modes (e.g., ion-exchange, HILIC, normal-phase) appropriate to your application areas.
- Scientific communication: Demonstrated ability to present technical work clearly - through publications, conference presentations, posters, or technical reports.
- Customer-facing presence: Confidence and composure speaking with senior scientists, lab managers, and customer technical staff; able to handle tough technical questions without losing footing.
- Commercial awareness: Understanding of the boundary between technical conversation and commercial conversation - instinct for when to dig in scientifically and when to bring sales back into the loop.
- Curiosity and rigor: A researcher's mindset - you ask "why," design experiments to answer it, and document your work in a way others can build on.
- Travel and location: Ability to travel approximately 50% both international and domestic. Must have reasonable proximity to a major U.S. airport.
Preferred- Capillary or microflow LC experience: Direct hands-on work at the capillary scale is a major plus.
- Industry experience in any of our markets: Pharma, biopharma, academic research, government or forensic labs, environmental testing, food & beverage, or industrial chemicals.
- Method validation: Experience under ICH, USP, AOAC, EPA, or equivalent regulatory frameworks.
- Specialized techniques: 2D-LC, high-throughput screening, reaction monitoring, intact mass / peptide mapping, or trace-level quantitation in complex matrices.
- Data tools: Fluency with chromatography data systems (Empower, ChemStation, Chromeleon) and analytical scripting (Python, R) for data analysis.
- Published track record in chromatography or analytical chemistry.
- Network: Existing relationships in the chromatography community across one or more of our markets.
What You'll Gain at Axcend- A platform where your scientific work directly shapes a growing product line - your methods become product features, and your customer learnings drive R&D priorities.
- Visibility across the chromatography community as the public-facing scientific voice of an emerging instrument company.
- Direct collaboration with experienced engineers, chemists, and applications scientists in a small-team setting where ideas move from whiteboard to instrument quickly.
- A clear growth path into senior applications, applications leadership, product management, or commercial roles as Axcend scales.
- Participation in an early-stage company with real market traction.
Benefits & CultureOur culture is a direct reflection of our core values: Do it with integrity • Bring passion • Be bold • Be respectful • Show humility • Take ownership • Have fun.
What we offer- Opportunity for equity ownership
- Flexible PTO
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
- Life insurance and 401(k) retirement plan
- Family, medical, and caregiver leave
- Remote-eligible from anywhere in the U.S. near a major airport, with periodic visits to Lehi, UT headquarters
How to ApplySubmit your resume and a brief note on why this role interests you - including a publication, presentation, or applied project you're proud of. We review applications on a rolling basis.
