Our values

• We empower bright people to find and solve problems.
• We take our work seriously, ourselves not so much.
• We celebrate the process, not the outcome.

The role

We are looking for a full-stack Bioprocess Engineer to lead the rapid production of de novo protein prototypes end to end. Your job is to turn novel protein designs into real, purified protein, from building the expression strains, through fermentation, to downstream processing and recovery.

This is a hands-on, in-person lab role. You will build strains, run bioreactors, and carry out downstream processing day to day, driving fast iteration between the designs we receive and the proteins we ship. We give bright people room to find the real problems and solve them, so you will own this work rather than wait to be told what to do next. If you like to see the immediate impact of your ideas and learn fast, you will feel at home here.

What matters most to us

More than any single skill, we are looking for a way of thinking. We can teach you a technique or a piece of kit. What we cannot teach is caring about the problem, and that is what we are really after. The people who do well here take the initiative and own their work. They are curious, they ask why, and they think creatively when the obvious approach isn't working. Early-stage science is a real up-and-down journey, with good weeks and hard ones, and we want someone who wants to be on it with us. What we offer in return is a supportive environment to solve what we think are some really cool problems.

What you will do

• Build and engineer K. phaffii expression strains for new protein targets.
• Plan and run bioreactor cultivations to express recombinant proteins in K. phaffii.
• Run downstream processing and recovery, and optimise both upstream and downstream conditions to improve yield, speed, and reproducibility.
• Keep clear, honest records and feed results back into the platform to shorten the design-to-protein cycle.
• Work closely with the CTO to develop and implement novel process automations and ML-guided bioprocess controls.

We care about how the work is done, not just the headline number. Careful method and good record-keeping matter to us as much as a strong yield.

What we are looking for

• Around 2 to 4 years of relevant experience, from industry or research.
• People who grok ("to understand intuitively or by empathy") biology, and who know their way around a wet lab. If you don't have experience of the entire stack, from strain engineering to freeze-drying, we can teach that.
• Desirable: bioreactor and downstream-processing experience, not essential if you have the biology and can pick the rest up fast.
• Desirable: comfort with laboratory automation.
• Desirable: some Python for data handling or process work.
• A relevant degree in a life sciences or engineering discipline is common, but we care more about what you can do, and how quickly you learn, than how you got there.

If you do not tick every box but you have the aptitude and the appetite for this kind of work, please apply anyway. We would rather hear from you than not.

Location

This role is based in person at our lab in the Cambridge area, UK. It is not a remote or hybrid position. You will need the right to work in the UK. We are not able to sponsor visa applications at this time.

Pay and benefits

• Annual salary of £50,000 to £55,000.
• Share options, so you have a real stake in what we build together.
• Private medical insurance.
• Flexible working hours.
• Pension.

How to apply

Sound like you? We would love to hear from you.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, and we are committed to a fair and inclusive hiring process. Engineering biology is not yet as diverse as it should be, so we especially encourage applications from people who are underrepresented in the field, including women in STEM. If there is anything that would make the process work better for you, tell us and we will do our best to accommodate it.

Apply through our online form at https://careers.changebio.uk/. We will ask for your name, email, CV, and answers to the questions below. We want to learn how you approach problems. Use no more than one page of A4 to answer the questions in whatever format or style suits you best, and feel free to combine them.

• Tell us about a problem you are proud of finding and solving.
• Tell us about a time you had to make a decision without perfect information.
• Tell us about a great day at work.
• Tell us about the last rabbit hole you went down.

Here is what to expect:

• Applications close Monday 27 July, 12:00pm BST.
• Online interview invitations will be sent by Monday 3 August. We will let every candidate know either way.
• Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a paid, in-person practical assessment in the lab, week of 17 August.
• Offers will be made by 31 August.