Scientific Lead (potential co-founder role) – Bio + AI / Compute

Location: Flexible

Type: Part-time → Founding equity role (transition to full-time)

Stage: Pre-seed / early concept

About the Company

We are building a next-generation compute platform for biology, focused on solving the hardest computational bottlenecks in genomics and protein science - including:

• Irregular sequence alignment (dynamic programming workloads)
• Graph-based protein interaction modeling
• Large-scale biological data processing (multi-omics, pipelines)

Our vision is to rethink how biological computation is executed - from software all the way down to hardware-aware optimization.

This is a deep-tech, first-principles company at the intersection of:

• Bioinformatics
• AI / machine learning
• Systems & compute architecture

We are currently at an early stage and are looking for a scientific co-founder to shape the direction of the platform.

The Role

We are looking for a Scientific Lead (potential co-founder) (part-time initially) who will:

• Help define the scientific vision and roadmap
• Identify the highest-value biological use cases (where compute is a bottleneck)
• Guide development of novel computational approaches
• Act as a bridge between:
  • biology
  • algorithms
  • engineering

This is not a traditional “head of bioinformatics” role - it is a foundational, zero-to-one role shaping the company’s core thesis.

Responsibilities

• Define and prioritize target workloads in biology (e.g., sequence alignment, graph biology, multi-omics pipelines)
• Translate biological problems into computational primitives and requirements
• Co-design novel approaches to accelerating bio workloads (software and/or hardware-aware)
• Evaluate existing tools and pipelines; identify inefficiencies and opportunities for 10x improvements
• Collaborate closely with engineering on:
  • algorithm design
  • data structures
  • performance trade-offs
• Contribute to technical positioning, whitepapers, and early research narratives
• Support early conversations with:
  • research labs
  • biotech companies
  • potential partners

Ideal Profile

We are open to different backgrounds, but strong candidates typically have:

• PhD or equivalent experience in:
  • Bioinformatics
  • Computational Biology
  • Systems Biology
  • or related field
• Experience in at least one of:
  • NGS / genomics pipelines
  • protein structure / interaction modeling
  • graph-based biological analysis
  • large-scale biological datasets
• Strong understanding of:
  • how biological data is generated
  • where current pipelines break or scale poorly
• Ability to think beyond tools and into:
  • fundamental computational constraints
  • system-level optimization

Nice to have

• Exposure to:
  • high-performance computing (HPC)
  • GPU / parallel computing
  • large-scale data systems
• Experience working across:
  • academia + industry
• Publications or prior research leadership

What makes this role different

• You are not joining a team → you are forming the core thesis
• You will influence:
  • product direction
  • technical architecture
  • long-term company vision
• This is deep-tech + first principles, not incremental optimization

Commitment & Structure

• Part-time initially (e.g., 1–2 days per week or equivalent)
• Flexible collaboration model
• Expected to transition to full-time as company scales

Compensation

• Founding equity stake (co-founder level)
• Cash compensation: limited at this stage, can evolve post-fundraising, but TBD

Why this matters

Biology is becoming a computational science, but current infrastructure is:

• inefficient for irregular workloads
• not designed for biological data structures
• constrained by legacy compute paradigms

We believe there is an opportunity to build the next generation of compute for life sciences

How to Apply 

Send a short note including:

• Your background and current focus
• What you believe are the biggest computational bottlenecks in biology today
• Why this problem space is interesting to you

Tone Check (important)

This role is ideal for someone who:

• wants to build, not just analyze
• is excited by ambiguity and first-principles thinking
• is open to starting part-time with asymmetric upside