Protein Biochemistry Technician

Future Fields; Edmonton; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision benefits

Equity

Flexible paid time off

Job summary

Future Fields in Edmonton, Alberta, is seeking a hands-on Protein Biochemistry Technician to operate our in-house expression platform and deliver reliable protein data for client and internal programs.

You'll handle routine expression runs, RNA prep, and analytical assays (SDS-PAGE, Western blot, plate-reader readouts), keep meticulous records in Benchling, and collaborate with platform development scientists and project managers.

Qualifications

• Hands-on molecular biology including PCR, gel electrophoresis, and nucleic acid QC.
• RNA handling and IVT knowledge with RNase-free technique.
• Protein expression in one or more systems and understanding factors affecting yield.
• Protein analytics including SDS-PAGE, Western blot, quantification and plate-based assays.
• Reliable execution to deadlines and clear communication of results.

Responsibilities

• Set up and run small-scale protein expression on our in-house platform for client projects and internal programs.
• Make mRNA by in vitro transcription with proper RNase-free technique.
• Receive and QC DNA templates for concentration and integrity; log stocks.
• Run analytical assays and produce data with appropriate controls and standards.
• Record everything in Benchling and hand clean results to the project manager.

Skills

Molecular biology

RNA handling

Protein expression

Biochemistry

Analytical assays

Documentation

Problem-solving

Education

BSc in biochemistry or related

Tools

Benchling

Plate reader

Job description

Ready to make an impact? Transform DNA templates into reliable protein data that powers cutting‑edge biotech breakthroughs.

Changing the world—one fruit fly at a time.

We're unleashing the next biorevolution.

We've developed a novel insect-based expression platform to enable bio-products across humanity's most critical verticals.

At Future Fields, we are continually learning and evolving. We know we don't have all the answers, but we try to ask all the questions. We believe in "failing forward" and leveraging our mistakes to help us grow. We never want our team to feel constrained by the status quo and we don't judge ideas based on where they come from. We actively work to foster a culture of collaboration, innovation and psychological safety through transparency, structure, and open communication. We know it sounds cliché, but every employee really is a valued and equal member of the Future Fields team.

We are a rapidly growing venture‑backed startup (with support from awesome investors including Bee Partners, Y Combinator, BDC Climate Tech, R7 Partners, Toyota Ventures and Amplify Capital). We've even had a shoutout from Ironman himself! Joining our team now means you'll have the opportunity to shape our culture and products, to lead others, and to influence the direction of our company. Perhaps most importantly, you'll be joining a team that is genuinely energized by this work and the meaningful potential of biotech to change the world.

About the role

We are looking for a hands‑on Protein Biochemistry Technician to run small‑scale protein expression and analytics on our in‑house expression platform - for our clients, and for ourselves.

Most people know us for raising fruit flies at industrial scale to make recombinant proteins. Alongside that, we run small‑scale protein expression as a service: clients bring us their proteins, and we express them and analyze what comes out. We do the same for our own internal programs, so some weeks your client is the person at the next bench.

Your day runs from template to data: check the DNA templates that arrive, make the mRNA, run the expression, and measure what came out with analytics you trust. When a client or an internal team is waiting on a result, you're the reason it arrives on the day we said it would - and the reason nobody has to ask whether it's right!

Most weeks, the job is doing well‑understood things very well: the same expression runs, the same gels, the same assays, set up carefully and documented properly. Some weeks, something won't behave - low yield, a truncated product, two assays that tell different stories: and you'll help work out why, with controls and clean experiments rather than repeats and hope. We need someone who enjoys both, and who knows when a question has been answered well enough to move on.

This role exists because our clients and our own programs both need protein, quickly and reliably, and that only happens when someone owns the work every time, to the same standard, on a timeline people can plan around. All of this work is research grade. That means rigour, controls and records you'd be happy to show anyone.

You'll report to Paige, Technical Project Manager, as part of our CDMO team. In this role, you'll collaborate closely with platform development scientists and client‑facing project managers. While project managers manage client relationships and deliver final reports, you own the responsibility of ensuring all handed‑over data is accurate and dependable. Like everyone on a small team, you'll also pitch in on other general lab technician duties for the CDMO team as needed.

Like most positions at Future Fields, a solid foundation in biology - specifically biochemistry and molecular biology - is essential. With a team largely composed of people with diverse backgrounds, you'll always have colleagues ready to collaborate and discuss assay results or analyze a gel.

One thing to know up front: this is a bench job. Most of your day is in the lab, with very little desk time, and a good share of the work is repetitive by design. If that sounds like a good day, keep reading.

This role will own

Protein expression

• Set up and run small‑scale protein expression on our in‑house platform for client projects and internal programs, on a schedule other people can rely on.
• Bring the same care to the fiftieth run as the first: correct setup and the right controls always.
• Run expression screens across templates and conditions, and report clearly what worked and what didn't.
• Plan your week around deadlines, and flag early when something is at risk of slipping.

mRNA and templates

• Make mRNA by in vitro transcription - capping, purification and RNA QC - with careful RNase‑free technique.
• Receive and QC incoming DNA templates: concentration, integrity, and a check that what arrived is what was ordered.
• Keep mRNA and template stocks organized, labelled and logged.

Analytics

• Run the assays that tell us what came out: SDS‑PAGE, Western blot, protein quantification, and luminescence, fluorescence and activity assays on the plate reader.
• Produce data that holds up: proper controls and standards, sensible replicates, and results you can explain.
• Help improve methods as you go.

Problem‑solving

• When expression or analytics don't behave - low yield, truncation, misfolding, noisy assays - help work out why, with experiments that separate the possibilities rather than changing five variables at once.
• Know when you have enough. Bring a clear recommendation and keep things moving, rather than chasing a perfect answer while a deadline goes by.
• Write down what you learn in our ELN (Benchling) so the same problem is a ten minute fix next time, and share what you see with the scientists who develop the platform.

Data, documentation and confidentiality

• Record everything in Benchling - templates, mRNA lots, expression runs, results - in enough detail that any experiment can be traced and repeated.
• Hand clean, well‑organized results to the project manager on each client project, who prepares what goes to the client.
• Keep client materials and data confidential, always.

Upstream materials, occasionally

• Occasionally help prepare upstream reagents and materials when the team needs it.

About you

You like being at the bench and you like getting things done. You take pride in work that's right the first time and on time, you're happy running a well‑practised protocol for the tenth time this week, and when something goes sideways you get curious rather than frustrated. You'd rather deliver a good answer today than a perfect one next month. You're comfortable when priorities shift mid‑week, and when you're handed something half‑finished, your instinct is to get it over the line.

What we need you to have done before

• Hands‑on molecular biology. PCR, gel electrophoresis, and nucleic acid quantification and QC as a regular part of your work.
• RNA work. Hands‑on RNA handling, ideally in vitro transcription, somewhere RNase‑free technique genuinely mattered.
• Protein expression and biochemistry. You've expressed proteins in one or more systems, and you have a working sense of why some express well and others don't.
• Protein analytics. SDS‑PAGE and Western blot are second nature, and you've run quantification and plate‑based assays—luminescence, fluorescence, activity.
• Reliable execution to deadlines. You've run parallel experiments that other people were waiting on, and delivered them on time without cutting corners.
• Documentation and attention to detail. Your lab notebook or ELN is something another scientist could pick up and repeat your work from, and you notice when a label, a number or a band looks off.
• Problem‑solving at the bench. You've had an experiment fail and helped work out why.

Where you might be coming from

An academic or industry lab where you were the reliable pair of hands for protein work, a core facility, a CRO or CDMO, a synthetic biology or biotech startup, or a protein science or assay team. A BSc or MSc in biochemistry, molecular biology or a related field, plus roughly 2+ years of hands‑on lab experience. Above all, we're looking for someone who takes initiative, takes feedback well, and wants to grow with a team that's still building a lot of things for the first time.

Bonus points (nice‑to‑haves)

• Experience across more than one expression system - bacterial, yeast, insect or mammalian.
• CRO, CDMO or core‑facility experience, where the protein belongs to someone else and so does the deadline.
• mRNA production by IVT at larger scale.
• Design of experiments (DoE) for expression or assay optimization.
• Liquid handling automation.
• Familiarity with HPLC or mass spectrometry for protein characterization.
• Benchling, or experience working within a quality system.

Your future (with Future Fields)

This roadmap outlines the impact you'll make as you grow with us. We'll use this as a guide for your first year, knowing that in a fast‑paced environment, we'll adapt and evolve these goals together.

Within 1 month, you will:

• Develop a working understanding of our technology, terminology and end‑to‑end operating process, from strain development and insect rearing through midstream processing, purification, testing and customer delivery - and where small‑scale expression fits alongside it.
• Learn our expression platform by running it yourself alongside the people who built it: templates, expression runs, controls and the assays that read them out.
• Make your first mRNA and take it through expression and analytics end to end.
• Get set up in Benchling, and learn how we track samples, projects and handoffs between teams.

Within 3 months, you will:

• Run routine protein expression and mRNA prep independently for internal and client projects, on schedule.
• Own the core analytics workflow - gels, Westerns, quantification and plate‑based assays - with controls and standards you trust.
• Have delivered your first client project results to the project manager, on time and right the first time.
• Have helped work through your first expression or assay problem to a documented answer.

Within 6 months, you will:

• Be someone the team counts on to hit dates, with several projects running at once and sample tracking that doesn't depend on anyone's memory.
• Have improved at least one part of the workflow - template QC, IVT, an assay or expression setup - in a way that saves time or makes results more reliable.
• Be handling common expression and assay problems yourself, and know when to bring in help.
• Be sharing structured observations with the platform team, so shifts in performance get caught early.

Within 12 months, you will:

• Be running much of the day‑to‑day of our small‑scale expression work, with project managers and colleagues trusting your results without a second look.
• Have documented methods and SOPs for template QC, IVT, expression and analytics that a new team member could learn from.

About our team

Our story and approach to science are anything but conventional. Matt (co‑founder/CEO) was a touring punk rock musician who dropped out of University before returning to complete his PhD in cell biology. Jalene (co‑founder/COO) is a social researcher by training, previously working on issues from the right to affordable housing to harm reduction. The spark of an idea for our technology came while waiting in line for tiny, Canadian donuts. Our broader team of scientists, engineers, circus performers, restaurateurs, dancers, music aficionados, kid parents, pet parents, cyclists, and artists hail from every corner of the world - from small town Alberta to Poland, India, Vietnam and Pakistan. We credit our diverse team and experiences as the key to our success - and we encourage candidates of all identities and backgrounds to apply.

FAQs

Where is Future Fields located?

Our headquarters and production facility are located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, in a renovated historic warehouse. From the exposed brick to our summer patio—it's not your average lab space. It is central, close to transit and bike lanes, and walking distance to some of the city's best coffee shops, restaurants and Edmonton's incredible river valley.

Is this role on‑site?

Yes. This is a lab role in Edmonton, and most of your day will be at the bench rather than at a desk.

I haven't worked on your platform before. Should I apply?

Yes. Nobody has - it's our own in‑house platform, so nobody arrives already knowing it. A strong background in protein expression, molecular biology and analytics is what matters, and we'll teach you the platform.

Will I be working directly with clients?

Not directly. Each client project has a project manager who owns communication with the client and prepares what gets sent to them. Your job is to make sure the data behind it is excellent.

Any other perks?

Many! Some include: comprehensive health, dental and vision benefits; equity; flexible paid time off policy; and the office is always stocked with snacks and all the coffee you can drink.

Will I like working for a startup?

Great question. Startup life is definitely not for everyone. We move quickly. Projects and priorities shift fast. There is a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty at times and we're not immune to the growing pains of a rapidly scaling startup. The risk is high, but so is the reward. We promise you will never get bored. You will have fun and learn a lot. You will grow personally and professionally in ways you never imagined (alongside our company). You will be part of something much bigger than yourself and contribute directly to the mission of a team who cares deeply about changing the world for the better.

We are committed to building a diverse team and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified individuals, including those with disabilities and candidates from all backgrounds and identities.

Please note that for this specific position, we are unable to provide sponsorship for work authorization; candidates must currently be legally authorized to work in Canada.