Computational Biologist

Arcadia Science

$150K — $200K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science, or related field
  • Minimum 2 years post-PhD experience in relevant roles
  • Proficiency in production-quality coding, beyond just analysis notebooks
  • Demonstrated history of developing open tools and pipelines for broader use

Responsibilities

  • Lead or contribute to protein engineering, phylogenetic analyses, and research optimization projects
  • Enhance the scalability of computational methods for biological data analysis
  • Create workflows to assess the statistical validity of bioinformatics pipelines
  • Serve as a liaison between scientists and engineers to refine research into practical tools
  • Define usability standards for computational tools, including expected inputs, outputs, and workflows
  • Articulate technical tradeoffs to both scientific and engineering teams

Benefits

  • Flexible scheduling with part-time or full-time options
  • On-site work at Arcadia's office, fostering teamwork and collaboration
  • In-depth application process includes practical work tests and interviews
  • Opportunity for direct involvement in the transition from research to product development
Full Job Description
About the role

We're looking for several PhD-level computational scientists to help develop our bioinformatic tools into scalable products that are rigorous and useful for a wide range of researchers. You'll work closely with the platform scientists and engineering team, quickly and iteratively translating research-grade code and methods into something usable, testable, and ready to openly release. Our most urgent need right now is in protein engineering and design, but we're also looking for expertise in genetics and phylogenomics.
What you'll do
  • Lead or contribute to projects in areas such as protein engineering and design, phylogenetic analyses, and research protocol optimization
  • Improve the effectiveness or scale of computational approaches for analyzing biological data
  • Develop workflows to evaluate the statistical rigor of bioinformatic pipelines
  • Act as a bridge between scientists and engineers to turn research prototypes and analysis scripts into robust, user-facing tools
  • Help define what "usable" means for a given computational tool: inputs, outputs, edge cases, and the workflows real users will expect
  • Communicate technical tradeoffs clearly to both scientists and engineers
What we're looking for
  • A PhD in a relevant field (computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science, or a related discipline)
  • At least 2 years of relevant post-PhD experience, in academia or industry
  • Comfortable producing production-quality code, not just analysis notebooks
  • A track record of creating open tools, pipelines, or software that other people used, not just running one-off analyses
Nice to have
  • Familiarity with modern protein structure and design tools (e.g., AlphaFold, ESMFold, RFdiffusion, or similar)
  • Track record of collaborating closely with software engineers: code review, shared repos, CI/testing workflows (rather than handing off scripts)
  • Experience working with agentic coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), with intuition around trade-offs between speed, code quality, and maintainability
  • Experience taking a research tool through to a released product
Schedule, location, and compensation

This is an on-site role at Arcadia's office. We're open to either part-time or full-time arrangements. For part-time roles, we require a minimum of 15 hours/week with at least five of those hours on-site, preferably in the mornings during team strategy sessions. The annualized compensation range is $150,000-$200,000 commensurate with experience, prorated for part-time schedules.

Application Process

Please submit a resume and fully answer all application questions addressing your interest in and qualifications for the position. The review process will involve in-person interviews and a short, practical work test. Employment offers are contingent on reference and background checks.

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Arcadia Science

More Pharmaceuticals & Biotech Jobs

Find similar Computational Biologist jobs: