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Freenome is seeking a Senior Development Scientist I to join the Genomics Late Development team and advance early cancer detection through next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. You will develop, optimize, verify, and validate clinical-grade assay technologies for Freenome's multiomic platform, working across manual and automated workflows in a regulated, high-throughput production environment.
Key responsibilities include:
- Apply expertise in molecular biology, nucleic-acid biochemistry, and NGS to develop DNA assays using genome-wide and targeted approaches
- Lead mission-critical experiments to optimize, characterize, verify, and validate NGS-based assays, owning scientific strategy, experimental design, planning, timelines, and delivery
- Design and execute high-impact experiments, generate detailed documentation, perform data analysis, and present results cross-functionally
- Troubleshoot complex technical challenges, identify root causes, and drive process improvements to assay performance and laboratory workflows
- Drive project planning and prioritization by defining milestones, identifying and mitigating risks, and adapting to evolving program needs
- Partner cross-functionally with computational scientists, engineers, and clinical laboratory teams to transition development protocols into clinical production, including automation, validation experiments, and SOP development
- Document product development requirements, author study protocols and reports, and apply cGLP and cGDP standards to maintain scientific rigor and quality
Required qualifications:
- PhD in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, or related field with 4+ years of professional life sciences experience, OR Bachelor's/Master's degree with 10+ years of professional experience
- Experience designing and leading verification and validation studies for IVD assays in regulated clinical laboratory environments (GLP)
- Extensive hands-on experience in NGS-based automated assay development including extraction, library preparation, target capture, and sequencing
- Hands-on experience in nucleic acid preparation, amplification, and quantification (DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, qPCR, Qubit, Fragment Analyzer, Tapestation)
- Experience working with ctDNA/cfDNA as analytes in NGS workflows
- Proven track record of designing, planning, and executing successful experiments with independent data analysis and scientific presentation skills
- High attention to detail, accurate record-keeping, and ability to lead independent troubleshooting investigations
- Excellent written and verbal communication with ability to foster collaboration in multidisciplinary teams
- Flexibility and motivation to learn new skills and adapt to changing priorities
- Experience providing technical mentorship and training to other scientists and research associates
Preferred: Prior experience in clinical diagnostics and/or start-up environments.
