We are looking for a capable, motivated cell culture scientist who wants to learn fast in a small, integrated team and contribute from day one.

Your background should include:

• Solid hands-on cell culture experience: Confident and independent at the bench with mammalian cell culture, including aseptic technique, routine maintenance, and keeping lines healthy, contamination-free and on schedule.
• A supportive, reliable working style: You take pride in work that other people depend on: consistent execution, careful records, and flagging problems early rather than quietly working around them.
• Motivation to develop: Keen to broaden your skills across molecular biology, library generation and screening support, and to grow into greater ownership as the platform scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain our cell lines: Own routine mammalian cell culture (e.g., passaging, feeding, counting, cryopreservation, thawing, mycoplasma testing, contamination control) so healthy, characterised cells are available when programmes need them.
• Prepare cells for high-throughput screening: Expand, harvest, count and format cells to the specifications our screening team requires, executing against timelines and quality criteria.
• Support mammalian library generation: Assist with construction of mammalian-expressed antibody and protein libraries (e.g., transfection/transduction, selection, expansion, banking, etc.).
• Support cloning and molecular biology: Carry out routine molecular biology to support construct generation: PCR, restriction and assembly cloning, bacterial transformation, plasmid preparation, and sequence verification of clones.
• Keep work traceable: Maintain clear, accurate records in electronic lab notebooks (ELN), keep cell and plasmid inventories accurate and up to date, and follow established SOPs.
• Keep the lab running: Prepare media, buffers and reagents; manage consumable stocks and ordering; and help maintain shared equipment so we are never blocked on the basics.
• Embody good lab citizenship: Maintain lab cleanliness and organisation, comply with local SOPs and health-and-safety/risk-assessment requirements.

Required Experience

Successful candidates will have a BSc or Msc in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry or related discipline, plus 1-2 years of hands-on laboratory experience in an industry or academic research setting.

The candidate must have:

• Practical mammalian cell culture experience: aseptic technique, routine maintenance of adherent and/or suspension lines, cell counting and viability assessment, and cryopreservation and recovery of cell banks.
• Some working knowledge of standard molecular biology techniques: PCR, cloning, bacterial transformation or plasmid preparation.
• Careful, organised documentation habits: accurate record-keeping and comfort working to established SOPs.
• A genuine desire to be in the lab: hands-on, rigorous, and happy for the majority of your time to be at the bench.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills: appropriate for a small, integrated team where cross-domain conversation happens daily, and the confidence to ask questions and raise issues early.
• Motivation to excel in a fast-moving environment: comfortable with shifting priorities and the pace of an early-stage discovery pipeline.

Additional Experience Welcomed

Not required, but candidates with one or more of the following will be at an advantage:

• Experience supporting high-throughput or automated screening: plate-based workflows, liquid handlers, or working at scale in 96/384-well format.
• Experience in creating and maintaining transient or stable cell lines
• Familiarity with flow cytometry, qPCR, or basic cell-based assays.
• Experience in an industry drug discovery environment, or with biologics (e.g., antibodies, bispecifics, fusion proteins, etc.).
• Experience with electronic lab notebooks and sample/inventory management systems.

Cultural Profile

At Divergence Labs, our culture is built on a foundation of intellectual honesty, independence of thought, and a relentless commitment to excellence. We believe in fostering a collaborative environment where every team member feels empowered to contribute and grow.

We are looking for individuals who embody the following characteristics and can fit in with a high-performing team of drug hunters, investors, engineers, and machine learning researchers:

• Intellectual Honesty: We value candid and open discussion. Our team admits when wrong, advocates when right, and never shies away from constructive feedback.
• Bias for Action: We take initiative and ownership of our work, actively seeking out new ideas, and taking well-researched and smart risks.
• Team First Attitude: We win as a team and lose as a team. There are "no egos" at Divergence Labs, and we understand great ideas can come from anywhere.
• Independence of Thought: We think critically and challenge assumptions. When it suits us, we develop hypotheses that may run counter to consensus, "zigging while others are zagging."
• Resilience: Drug development is a tough sport. We persevere in the face of challenge.
• Embrace the Unfamiliar: We are humbled and excited by how much there is left to learn.

Next Steps

Interested candidates can reach out to careers@divergencelabs.com with their resume and two to three sentences expressing their interest.

Divergence Labs is an equal-opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.