HTS Research Associate

COMPANY

Octant is a clinical stage drug discovery company developing correctors for protein misfolding diseases with active programs in rare diseases and oncology. Octant’s platform, The Navigator, combines high-throughput synthetic biology, generative chemistry, and AI/ML to discover and develop therapeutics against complex cellular mechanisms in human cells.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Octant is seeking a Research Associate (RA) to join our High-Throughput Screening (HTS) team, where we develop, scale, and execute the high-throughput screening platform for Octant’s drug discovery programs. As a member of this team, you will:

• Build, improve, and execute our high-throughput screening workflows leveraging automation infrastructure and data quality control processes to support robust operations at scale
• Operate various automated liquid handling equipment including world-class multi-instrument integrated systems for routine high-volume workflows
• Analyze and interpret HTS data, identify assay artifacts, and troubleshoot complex processes to deliver reliable data for mapping chemical matter to biological activity
• Collaborate effectively across functional teams to develop, execute, and optimize screening strategies that enable high quality decision-making

You are motivated by Octant’s mission and have a team-first mindset. You bring strong technical skills in high-throughput plate-based assays, laboratory automation, and quantitative data analysis, along with excellent communication and an ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. You are highly attentive to detail, take ownership of experimental execution and data quality, and are energized by solving the technical challenges that arise at the frontier of drug discovery.

THIS JOB MIGHT BE GREAT FOR YOU IF YOU:

• Have a BS/BA in biology, biochemistry, genetics, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• Have 1-5 years of relevant experience in high-throughput screening, assay development, laboratory automation, and plate-based cellular or biochemical assays, including 384-well and 1536-well formats
• Have experience operating, developing methods for, or troubleshooting automated laboratory instruments (e.g. BioTek MultifFlo, Agilent Bravo, Beckman Echo)
• Are exceptionally detail-oriented, enjoy working at the bench, and thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative, cross-functional startup environment
• Take pride in producing clean, high quality data to inform decision-making for drug discovery
• Have experience analyzing data in R or Python (preferred)

The expected annual base salary for this role is in the range of $75,000 to $93,000, depending on experience level. We offer health benefits (medical, dental, vision), equity, and 401(k) matching.

Octant is located in Emeryville, California and our team works onsite.

We want to find the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may come from a less traditional background. We may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and experience to meet minimum qualifications. We know that confidence-gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply — we’d love to hear from you.

Octant’s Platform, “The Navigator,” accelerates the design, build, test, and learn iterations across chemistry and biology to build drugs against cellular mechanisms. The Navigator is an expanding set of drug discovery and development capabilities with three interwoven components that operate together: 

• Generative Biology – Multiplexed measurements from engineered sensors in human cells to understand cellular mechanisms
• Generative Chemistry – Nanoliter-scale chemical synthesis for rapid exploration of local & targeted chemical space 
• Generative AI – ML/AI ingests large-scale biological and chemical datasets and drives iteration of experiments to build better molecules faster

Together, the Navigator platform drives week-to-week progress on our drug programs, generative 3M+ readouts each week across multiple therapeutic areas.