Staff Scientist, Assay Development at Guardant Health in Redwood City, CA

Company Description

Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on helping conquer cancer globally through use of its proprietary blood tests, vast data sets and advanced analytics. The Guardant Health Oncology Platform leverages capabilities to drive commercial adoption, improve patient clinical outcomes and lower healthcare costs across all stages of the cancer care continuum. Guardant Health has launched liquid biopsy-based Guardant360®, Guardant360 CDx and GuardantOMNI® tests for advanced stage cancer patients. These tests fuel development of its LUNAR program, which aims to address the needs of early-stage cancer patients with neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment selection, cancer survivors with surveillance, asymptomatic individuals eligible for cancer screening and individuals at a higher risk for developing cancer with early detection.

Job Description

To enable Guardant Health to lead the disruption of cancer treatments through non-invasive cancer screening, the Technology Development Team is seeking a highly motivated Staff Scientist to lead the research activities designing and developing novel assays and technologies for oncology diagnostics. At Guardant, we leverage the most advanced technologies and work with leaders in many fields to create the most impactful and meaningful technologies for cancer management.

As a Staff Scientist in the Technology Development Team, you will interface cross-functionally with operations, process engineering, bioinformatics, as well as collaborate with other assay development teams. You will be hands on in the lab to evaluate, improve, and validate new technologies related to liquid biopsy sequencing assays for the detection, treatment, and monitoring of all cancer types. You will play a critical role in demonstrating the validity of new assays and leading the implementation into our existing platform. You will be responsible for mentoring a team of more junior scientists and research associates to develop existing assays as well as future product offerings.

Duties and Responsibilities

● Develop and incorporate innovative technologies into our liquid biopsy platform

● Identify, assess, and validate cutting-edge research and technologies in molecular oncology and diagnostics to improve assay approaches

● Identify areas for improvement in current assays and propose and implement solutions

● Collaborate within technology development and cross-functionally with operations, process engineering, and bioinformatics to facilitate effective execution of product goals

● Be highly committed to deliver results in a fast-paced and rapidly growing organization

● Be a mentor to grow junior team members

● Write experiment reports, SOPs, technical evaluations and invention disclosures as needed

● Present data, proposals, and progress in various forums and to technical and non-technical audiences

Qualifications

● PhD degree in molecular biology, biomedical sciences, or related field with 6+ years of industry work experience

● Strong foundation in molecular biology techniques and NGS assay development, exemplified by publications, patent applications, and/or industrial R&D experience

● Experience in research, development and/or optimization of NGS technologies with strong preference for experience with immunology or cancer detection assays

● Familiarity with commonly used bioinformatics tools in the analysis of NGS data

● Proven ability to manage multiple research projects simultaneously. Detail orientated with demonstrated ability to organize, document and condense scientific data

● Committed team player: demonstrated ability to contribute in an environment where numerous contributions are required to accomplish complex goals. Enjoys working both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment and able to adapt to change.

● Strong underlying curiosity and drive

● Sense of humor is a must

Preferred Skills:

● Experience with cell-free nucleic acid NGS assays

● Experience with multiomic NGS assays

● Experience with multi-parameter flow-cytometry/FACS/mass-cytometry

● Experience with multiplex proteomic assays (e.g. mass spec, luminex)

● Experience working with FFPE

● Experience with assay development for automated liquid handling platforms is a plus

Additional Information

Employee may be required to lift routine office supplies and use office equipment. Majority of the work is performed in a desk/office environment. Ability to sit for extended periods of time.

Guardant Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.