Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) is transforming the way scientists and researchers analyze DNA and RNA through real-time, accessible sequencing technology. Our innovative nanopore platform enables breakthroughs across research, clinical genomics, infectious disease, oncology, and many other fields.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and collaborative Applications Scientist to join our Commercial Applications team in Alameda, California. This is an exciting opportunity for an early-career scientist who enjoys hands-on laboratory work, customer collaboration, and solving complex scientific challenges using cutting-edge sequencing technologies.
The Opportunity
As an Applications Scientist, you will support strategic customer collaborations by designing and executing wet lab experiments, generating high-quality nanopore sequencing data, and partnering with bioinformatics, commercial, and R&D teams to deliver meaningful scientific outcomes.
You'll work across a wide variety of applications, including:
- Rare and undiagnosed diseases
- Oncology
- Metagenomics
- Single-cell and spatial biology
- Multiomics
- Whole genome sequencing
- Transcriptomics
- Targeted sequencing
- Adaptive sampling
This role offers an excellent opportunity to broaden your expertise across diverse sequencing applications while working directly with customers and internal scientific experts.
What You'll Do
Experimental Design & Laboratory Research
- Design and execute sequencing experiments, including library preparation strategies and sequencing workflows.
- Generate high-quality nanopore sequencing data from diverse sample types.
- Perform molecular biology techniques including:
- DNA and RNA extraction
- Library preparation
- PCR
- Fragmentation and size selection
- Library quality control
- Cell culture
- Troubleshoot technical challenges related to sample preparation, library construction, multiplexing strategies, and sequencing performance.
Customer & Scientific Collaboration
- Partner with customers and internal teams to support strategic research collaborations.
- Provide technical guidance on sequencing workflows, laboratory best practices, expected yields, and read-length optimization.
- Collaborate closely with bioinformatics scientists to analyze and interpret sequencing results.
- Contribute scientific expertise across multiple nanopore sequencing applications.
Scientific Communication
- Prepare technical reports, presentations, posters, application notes, and other customer-facing materials.
- Clearly communicate project outcomes and recommendations to customers and internal stakeholders.
Laboratory Operations
- Maintain laboratory inventory, including reagents, consumables, sequencing flow cells, and supplies.
- Ensure laboratory activities comply with quality standards, safety procedures, and operational best practices.
What You'll Bring
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, or a related Life Science discipline with 1–3 years of industry experience, or
- Master's degree in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, or a related field.
- Strong wet lab molecular biology experience gained through academic or industry research.
- Solid understanding of molecular biology principles and experimental design.
- Excellent troubleshooting and critical thinking skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication abilities.
- Ability to manage multiple projects in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with next-generation sequencing (NGS), particularly long-read sequencing technologies.
- Experience working directly with customers or external collaborators.
- Familiarity with bioinformatics tools and computational analysis.
- Experience using Linux, command-line interfaces (CLI), HPC environments, Python, R, or data analysis workflows.
Knowledge of genomics applications including transcriptomics, metagenomics, targeted sequencing, or whole genome sequencing.
Please note that no terminology in this advert is intended to discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, age, disability or sexual orientation. Every candidate will be assessed only in accordance with their merits, qualifications and abilities to perform the duties of the job.
The salary for this role is between $82,400 and $103,000 USD. The salary offered will reflect the skills and experience of the candidate.
Certain roles within ONT are eligible for annual bonus and stock. These awards are allocated based on individual performance.
Employees based in the US have the option to choose healthcare benefits, participate in the company 401(k) plan and company match, we also offer short-term and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, and commuter benefits to name a few.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We select and employ candidates only in accordance with their merits, qualifications, and abilities to perform the duties of the job regardless of gender, marital status, race, religion, color, age, disability, sexual orientation, military or veteran status. If you require an accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact [email protected] To learn more, visit: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf
Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Our goal is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology for faster, information rich, accessible and affordable molecular analysis. The first application is DNA/RNA sequencing, and the technology is in development for the analysis of other types of molecules including proteins. The technology is used to understand and characterise the biology of humans and diseases such as cancer, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, and whole environments. With a thriving culture of ambition and strong innovation goals, Oxford Nanopore is a UK headquartered company with global operations and customers in more than 125 countries.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, or related Life Science discipline (or Master's degree)
- 1-3 years of industry experience (or Master's degree)
- Strong wet lab molecular biology experience (DNA/RNA extraction, library preparation, PCR, fragmentation, size selection, QC)
- Solid understanding of molecular biology principles and experimental design
- Excellent troubleshooting and critical thinking skills
- Strong written and verbal communication abilities
- Ability to manage multiple projects in a collaborative, fast-paced environment
- Experience with next-generation sequencing (NGS), particularly long-read sequencing technologies
- Experience working directly with customers or external collaborators
- Familiarity with bioinformatics tools and computational analysis
- Experience using Linux, command-line interfaces (CLI), HPC environments, Python, or R
- Knowledge of genomics applications (transcriptomics, metagenomics, targeted sequencing, whole genome sequencing)
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Oxford Nanopore Technologies and has not been reviewed or approved by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered good to above average across many roles, with employer-provided ranges visible for several U.S. commercial and applications positions and company materials emphasizing market‑competitive base pay. Commercial and some senior technical posts, particularly in the U.S., are positioned as competitive and often paired with strong variable components.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — All‑employee share plans in the UK and a U.S. employee stock purchase plan indicate broad access to equity as part of total reward. Company communications highlight attractive bonus and share plans that add meaningful upside beyond base pay.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. roles indicate strong health insurance and core protections, while official materials and country overviews reference private medical coverage and wellbeing support. These elements position the health package as a notable strength alongside cash compensation.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Insights
What We Do
Our goal is to enable the analysis of anything, anywhere, by anyone. We have developed the world’s first and only nanopore DNA and RNA sequencing platform. It’s a new generation of sequencing technology — the only one to offer: scalability to portable or ultra-high throughput formats, real-time data delivery, and the ability to elucidate rich biological data. We are aiming to disrupt the way that biological analyses are currently performed, and open up new applications that have a profound, positive impact on society. Our devices offer real-time analysis, for rapid insights, in fully scalable formats — from pocket to population scale — and the technology is being used in more than 100 countries worldwide. Founded in 2005 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, the company now employs more than 600 people from multiple disciplines including nanopore science, molecular biology and applications, informatics, engineering, electronics, manufacturing and commercialisation. The management team, led by CEO Dr Gordon Sanghera, has a track record of delivering disruptive technologies to the market.
