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Salary: USD 95,000 - 115,000 / annual
Alta Resource Technologies is a next-generation mining company founded in 2023 that uses synthetic biology to separate critical minerals from conventional and unconventional resources, including e-waste. The company is addressing a historic opportunity in mineral supply chain diversification and sustainability.
Role Overview
Alta is seeking a Scientist I in Protein Engineering to join the Applied Biology team in Boulder, CO. This individual contributor role focuses on developing and implementing assays for data-driven protein design campaigns aimed at discovering and validating enhanced binding specificity. The scientist will be a key contributor to building high-throughput screening capabilities and developing assays for ion binding and bioconjugation.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and execute high-throughput assays for protein characterization, including protein quantification, bioconjugations, and binding capacities
- Design and implement microtiter plate workflows for directed evolution campaigns
- Develop and onboard novel assays for protein characterization
- Work with scientists to provide rapid turnaround of testing data to support protein discovery and guide round-over-round improvements
- Interpret test data and protein analysis data for guiding protein design iterations
- Collaborate with strain engineers to achieve reliable microtiter production
- Ensure excellent documentation practices for all protocols and experiments
Required Qualifications
- Ph.D. in biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, or related fields with 1-3+ years of research experience
- Strong hands-on laboratory skills with a record of independently running and troubleshooting experiments
- Expertise in developing and optimizing high-throughput biochemical assays and library-scale workflows
- Experience in design and implementation of automated workflows
- Experience with assay miniaturization and plate-based formats (96/384-well)
- Experience characterizing protein–ligand binding affinity and kinetics, such as those used in antibody engineering
- Experience with assay analysis for selecting novel candidate leads
- Deep knowledge of classic and state-of-the-art molecular biology and multiplex library-scale approaches to directed evolution campaigns
- Demonstrated knowledge of experimental design, the scientific method, and statistical analysis
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to work within different teams
- Strong organizational and documentation skills
- Must be authorized to work in the US without sponsorship
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in protein discovery and directed evolution campaigns to improve protein characteristics
- Experience with metalloproteins, protein-ion or small molecule interactions, or bioconjugate biochemistry
- Experience in bioinformatics pipelines and scripting to aid in data analysis and protein design
- Experience with generative protein design and structural modeling
