Company Summary:

Tessera Therapeutics is pioneering Gene Writing™— a new biotechnology designed to offer scientists and clinicians the ability to write small and large therapeutic messages into the genome, thereby curing diseases at their source. Gene Writing holds the potential to become a new category in genetic medicine, building upon recent breakthroughs in gene therapy and gene editing while eliminating important limitations in their reach, utilization, and efficacy. Tessera Therapeutics was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences innovation enterprise that conceives, resources, and develops first-in-category companies to transform human health and sustainability.

Position Summary:

The Cell Culture Automation Scientist will be responsible for elevating our cell culture research, development, and manufacturing capabilities by developing and deploying cutting-edge automation platforms and technologies. We are searching for a driven, enthusiastic, and self-motivated individual who is comfortable multi-tasking and working independently on various aspects of the platform. This individual will join a dynamic, rapidly growing, and highly collaborative team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with scientists to adapt benchtop cell culture workflows to semi and fully automated workflows through requirement gathering, scripting, and deployment of liquid handlers and integrated automation platforms
• Collaborate with scientists to map their workflows, gather robust requirements and specifications, and identify bottlenecks to improve efficiency and throughput
• Develop custom GUI and/or scripts to augment existing automation software and improve workflow efficiency
• Partner with the Computational Biology and Data Infrastructure teams to integrate automation into our computational and informatics infrastructure
• Prepare detailed development documents and provide hands-on training to scientists allowing for successful handoff of automation platforms
• Provide method development and trouble-shooting support for existing automation workflows
• Work with third-party vendors to identify and implement new automation platforms and technologies
• Evaluate new automation technologies that will introduce cutting-edge technologies to Tessera

Basic Qualifications:

• BS, MS, or PhD in molecular biology, computer engineering/science, or bioengineering with 5+ years laboratory automation experience is required
• Extensive experience programming and developing with one of the following laboratory automation software/hardware and liquid handlers such as Hamilton Vantage/STAR line, Tecan Fluent/Evo, Beckman i5/i7, HighRes, Biosero, etc.
• Experience with third-party automation hardware such as decappers, tube labelers, dispensers, sealers/peelers, etc.
• Hands-on lab experience with at least one of the following: mammalian cell culture, cancer cell line culture/maintenance, iPSC cell culture/screening, or HTS for cell culture
• Experience with LIMS and ELN such as Benchling
• Experience with Python, C#, SQL, etc.
• Strong attention to detail and self-starter with the capability to work on multiple projects simultaneously
• Strong communication and presentation skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• MS/PhD with 5+ years of automation experience
• Experience with scheduling software such as Cellario, Green Button Go, Overlord, etc.
• Experience with HTS assay development
• Experience integrating automation hardware fully into data infrastructure, scheduling software, cloud infrastructure, and analytics software
• Extensive experience in more than one of the above automation/liquid handling platforms
• Experience in DoE and method development
• Experience with JMP or Spotfire
• Experience with Ambr15/Ambr250 platforms
• Experience with sample storage automation such as LiCONiC or Hamilton storage

More About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $50B in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.2B in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $18B of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 41 transformative companies, including Axcella Health (NASDAQ: AXLA), Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Indigo Ag, Kaleido Biosciences (NASDAQ: KLDO), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology, Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), and Sigilon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SGTX).

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies:  Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates.  The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team.   Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.