Our mission at Asimov is to advance humanity's ability to design living systems, enabling biotechnologies with outsized benefit to society. We're developing a mammalian synthetic biology platform––from cells to software––to enable the design and manufacture of next-generation therapeutics.
What would software engineering be like without an IDE? How could humans design a modern plane without CAD? Genetic engineering will be even more demanding—and we're building the tools to make it possible. Kernel is our platform for bioengineers to design, build, and debug genetic systems as confidently as we ship code. We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to help us build it.
You'll join an interdisciplinary team that works directly with scientists, synthetic biologists, and computational biologists alongside your teammates in software engineering and product.
About the Role:
- Make architectural decisions that will shape Kernel for years, with real ownership over how the system evolves.
- Design GraphQL APIs for searching, editing and analyzing tens of thousands of genetic constructs using Python 3, SQLAlchemy and Strawberry.
- Architect data models that represent the genuine complexity of biological systems.
- Interface directly with synthetic biologists to understand their workflows and identify tools that would transform their productivity.
Be part of an on-call rotation to support the software you’ve helped develop.
About You:
- You have 10+ years building production software - systems that other engineers depend on, not research code that runs once.
- You have deep expertise in Python 3, and ideally with GraphQL, SQLAlchemy, and/or Strawberry.
- You’re the kind of engineer who loses track of time working on an interesting technical problem. You want challenges that will have you waking up with a new idea that you can’t wait to try.
- You think about API design, data migrations, and what happens when the system has 10x usage.
- You want to help design a product with a close-knit team, not just write code from predefined specifications. You can navigate the ambiguity of building something first-of-its-kind.
We're fueled by a vision to transform biological engineering into a fully-fledged engineering discipline. Should you join our team, you will grow with a constantly evolving organization and push the frontiers of synthetic biology. Company culture is key to Asimov, and ours is a culture of recombination; we believe that our mission can only be achieved by bringing together a diverse team with a mixture of backgrounds and perspectives.
Skills Required
- 10+ years building production software
- Deep expertise in Python 3
- Experience with GraphQL, SQLAlchemy, and/or Strawberry
Asimov Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Asimov and has not been reviewed or approved by Asimov.
-
Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage is positioned as comprehensive, with additional protection benefits like life and disability insurance and access to an FSA. Medical coverage is also described as fully covered in at least one case, reinforcing perceived strength in baseline health benefits.
-
Retirement Support — A 401(k) plan with a company match is included as a core benefit and is repeatedly listed as part of the standard package. This adds a stable long-term savings component alongside other elements of total compensation.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid holidays and sick time are complemented by an unlimited vacation policy and flexible scheduling. This combination suggests broad time-off coverage, while day-to-day usability can vary with workload and team norms.
Asimov Insights
What We Do
Asimov builds tools to program living cells. By integrating mammalian synthetic biology, computer-aided design, and machine learning, our multi-disciplinary team is advancing the design and manufacture of biologics and gene therapies.
Gallery
