Senior Research Scientist - Validation

Full-time, Cambridge UK

Join Shift, where you’ll become an integral member of a high-performing and fast-moving team whose mission is to deliver the first drugs for safe cellular rejuvenation, addressing chronic diseases and extending healthy human lifespan. At Shift, we value ability and results, fostering a meritocratic culture that embraces respect, reliability, collaboration, challenge and communication.

Shift has pioneered a single-cell ageing clock with unmatched accuracy, powered by state-of-the-art machine learning and gene expression data. With this clock, our lab testing of rejuvenating interventions is four times faster than our peers and enables us to use cell simulations to meaningfully explore the vast combinatorial space of genes, a previously impossible task.

As a Validation Scientist at Shift, you'll deliver rejuvenating gene combinations and small molecules to aged human cells. You’ll work alongside our Head of Target Validation to provide valuable evidence about the safety, efficacy and generalisability of our rejuvenation candidates, to ensure only the best make it through to preclinical testing. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to the design and running of our discovery platform.

We are looking for someone with excellent cell culture skills, with experience in establishing and optimising functional assays in vitro. You should also be comfortable working in a highly standardised lab environment. This role provides an opportunity to be part of an exciting journey where your expertise accelerates the arrival of drugs for safe cellular rejuvenation. On starting, you will report directly to Brendan Swain, CSO.

What will you do?

● Test promising interventions to ensure our high-throughput readouts are well-calibrated.

● Characterise our best rejuvenation candidates using multi-omics and functional assays in several clinically relevant cell types.

What are we looking for?

Candidates must have:

● A PhD in cellular or molecular biology or similar

● A strong research background in either academia or industry

● Experience with aseptic mammalian cell/tissue culture

● Flexibility and willingness to learn on the job

The ideal candidate will also have experience with some of the following:

● In vitro gene delivery, especially with viral vectors

● Reprogramming of human or mouse cells

● Flow cytometry and FACS

● Experience with in vitro models such as organoids, co-cultures or organs on a chip

What we offer

Join a team at the forefront of scientific discovery, where your contributions can make a lasting impact on healthcare, shaping a future that extends the prime of life. You’ll work on problems that matter and have the opportunity for rapid role progression if you’d like it.

We offer on-demand learning and training to support your career growth and attendance at relevant conferences. You’ll work from our state-of-the-art lab and office facilities inside the Gurdon Institute in central Cambridge. You can expect a competitive salary with milestone-based reviews, share options, private medical insurance and paid holiday.

How to apply

Please send your CV and a short covering note outlining your interest and suitability for the position to brendan@shiftbioscience.com. You can expect to receive feedback within two weeks.

Interviewing with us

There are typically three stages - an initial chat to understand your motivations and interests, then a technical assessment and finally in-person team interviews. We will provide more information as you pass through each stage. We are a small and close-knit team and we’ll introduce you to everyone at Shift so that you can easily imagine the feeling of working alongside us.

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