Research Associate – General Biology Full Time

At Medra, our mission is to use AI, robotics, and biology to accelerate life science research, with the ultimate goal of eradicating disease. We have been quietly building the foundational layers of our Physical AI Scientist platform:

🤖 Physical AI that can operate scientific instruments with human-level dexterity.

🧪 Scientific AI that can analyze results, reason about next steps, and close the loop autonomously.

This is an incredibly ambitious mission, but we believe that a team of ambitious people with high ownership can accomplish incredible things.

About The Role

As a Research Associate on our forward-deployed team, you will work across customer deployments to help them achieve their scientific objectives with Medra’s Physical AI. You will embed yourself at the customer, acting as a true partner on their team to ensure that the Medra platform is achieving scientific outcomes and driving value for the organization. You will apply the scientific method (hypothesis, design, experimentation, analysis) to test and validate the fidelity of our Physical AI Scientist platform for their workflows.

You will be in close communication with our end users (scientists) and have your eyes and ears on the ground to help us get ahead of any issues, while taking insights and learnings from the customer back to the company to guide improvements to our product.

Internally, you will partner closely with our forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) to drive a successful deployment. You will become a platform super-user who understands the strengths and limitations of our platform, and can apply creativity and scientific intuition to solve challenging problems.

We’re looking for someone who enjoys the scientific process, thrives on solving problems, and gets excited by working across multiple diverse scientific projects. The right candidate acts with urgency and thrives under pressure.

Key Responsibilities

• Design & execute wet-lab experiments to validate Medra’s autonomous Physical AI against scientific KPIs/metrics
• Deploy on-site to our customer’s labs — embed with their scientists to validate the science, conduct hands-on training on the robot & instruments, and provide ongoing support as they ramp up usage
• Own the installation, QC, and troubleshooting/error-handling for all laboratory instruments on the Physical AI platform
• Support internal R&D on new protocols and assays, and explore emerging technologies & techniques
• Keep detailed experimental records and documentation (SOPs) for all workflows
• Communicate results clearly, succinctly, and on-time

What You Bring To The Team

• B.S. or B.A. from a top university in Biological Sciences or a related field
• 3+ years of research experience, including hands-on wet-lab work
• Experience in undergraduate research programs
• Has published in scientific journals or presented at conferences
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively within a team
• Innate curiosity about science and technology

This position is 100% in-person; you must be able to come on-site to our San Francisco office. We offer relocation benefits for applicants who need to relocate.

What we offer

• An opportunity to change the way that scientific research happens
• Fast-paced, creative, and collaborative work environment
• Significant equity ownership
• 401k
• Medical and dental insurance
• Unlimited PTO
• Weekday dinners