Description

Who we are:

Oncocyte is a molecular diagnostics company whose mission is to provide actionable answers at critical decision points across the cancer care continuum, with the goal of improving patient outcomes by accelerating and optimizing diagnosis and treatment.

Mission of the role:

The Staff Scientist will lead implementation activities for proprietary molecular diagnostic assays. The technologies for which this role will be responsible include isolation of nucleic acid from blood and plasma, genotyping by next-generation sequencing or qPCR, and detection of rare single-nucleotide polymorphisms by droplet digital PCR. The Staff Scientist will be responsible for executing and training others in the workflow, preparing protocols, interpreting data, troubleshooting, generating reports, and identifying process improvements.

Your day-to-day:

• Product Development: Gains expertise in the subject matter to define an experimental plan and develops methods to ensure successful execution.
• Assay Improvement: Identification of alternative approaches, troubleshooting, and technical decision-making.
• Prepares protocols performs data analysis, interprets results, and prepares reports.
• Maintains knowledge of scientific-technological developments with an emphasis in molecular biology to identify new processes or procedures by reading current literature.
• May attend technical conferences or seminars.
• Contribute to the intellectual property portfolio of the company by implementing innovative and creative ideas to solve problems or improve current methods used in the clinical laboratory.
• Manages laboratory staff by providing technical guidance, training in molecular techniques, and prioritization of work.
• Communicates with critical suppliers and maintains relationships with technical staff for the purposes of on-time delivery of project milestones.
• Supports project managers by establishing timelines and reporting the status of assigned projects.
• Establishes and maintains Design History files and Quality Management documentation.
• Contributes ideas to improve team processes.
• Maintains lab and technical notebooks in a complete and consistent manner, following all regulatory and quality assurance requirements.
• Other tasks as assigned.

What it takes to do this job:

• Masters (M.S.) or Doctorate (Ph.D.) in molecular or cellular biology with 2+ years of relevant experience, required.
• Experience in the pharmaceutical or molecular diagnostic industry and clinical laboratory experience.
• Clinical laboratory certification from such agencies as ASCP, AMP, CAP.
• Molecular techniques including PCR chemistry and design, qPCR, and Next-Generation Sequencing.
• Nucleic acid handling, extraction, and purification from clinical samples.
• Experience running and troubleshooting droplet digital PCR.
• Next-generation sequencing bioinformatics.
• Experience in genotyping and variant calling.
• Statistics (Process and DOE, clinical).
• Ability to communicate and present complex scientific information to scientific and non-scientific audiences.
• Proven leadership abilities and project management, evidenced by the history of successful project delivery.
• Strong analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills.
• Previous industry experience in research and development.

Physical Demands:

• Standing, sitting, walking, bending, reaching, manual manipulation, and lifting 25 pounds.
• Ability to have full-body movement
• All candidates must take a color vision test.
• Ability to work on a mobile device, tablet, or in front of a computer screen and/or perform typing for at least 50% of a typical working day.
• Ability to grasp with both hands; pinch with thumb and forefinger; turn with hand/arm; reach above shoulder height.

Who you are:

• You have a “do what it takes – no job is too small” team player and a positive attitude with a willingness to wear other hats and step in to perform and support other roles when needed.
• You have superb written and verbal skills and an exceptional ability to communicate clearly and professionally.
• Your organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to multi-task are excellent.
• You like building effective internal and partner relationships including with team members, clients, vendors, suppliers, and team members.

You will have the opportunity to:

• Improve patient outcomes.
• Meaningfully impact the company’s short-term and long-term success.
• Work collaboratively across all levels within the organization.
• Grow your role as you see fit.
• Learn everything there is to know about cancer diagnostic laboratories.
• Create an inspiring workplace.

Questions?

Contact: Alex Clark
People & Culture Business Partner
15 Cushing, Irvine, CA 92618
aclark@oncocyte.com