Field Applications Scientist

Takara Bio Europe; Stuttgart; Remote; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Takara Bio Europe is seeking an experienced Field Applications Scientist to support its NGS and Spatial Biology portfolio across Europe. The FAS will act as a primary technical contact, delivering on-site and remote training, workflow implementation, and troubleshooting.

The role requires strong practical NGS and Spatial Biology laboratory experience, with expertise in automated NGS workflows and customer-facing support across multiple European countries.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of FAS or customer-facing technical experience in life sciences.
• Strong lab experience with NGS and Spatial Biology workflows.
• Experience supporting NGS/Spatial Biology techs including training and troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary technical applications contact for NGS and Spatial Biology.
• Deliver on-site and remote customer training, workflow implementation, and troubleshooting.
• Support customers from evaluation through routine use and adoption.
• Build trusted relationships with researchers, core facilities, and KOLs.
• Collaborate with Territory Managers and Sales during opportunities.
• Provide technical seminars, consultations, and product evaluations.
• Support automation workflow deployment and scripting in customer labs.
• Document interactions and feedback to internal teams.
• Deliver training to sales teams and partners.

Skills

NGS workflows

Spatial Biology

Troubleshooting

Technical training

Customer training

Automation platforms

Documentation

Cross-functional collaboration

Scientific communication

Travel readiness

Education

MSc/PhD in Molecular Biology or related

Post-doctoral or relevant research experience

Tools

CRM systems

LIMS

Workflow scripts

Job description

Takara Bio is seeking an experienced Field Applications Scientist to support its NGS and Spatial Biology portfolio across Europe. The FAS will be a primary technical applications contact, providing pre- and post-sales support, customer training, workflow implementation, and troubleshooting.

The role requires strong practical NGS and/or Spatial Biology laboratory experience and the ability to understand customer workflows, resolve technical issues, and translate complex science into clear guidance.

The role also requires practical experience implementing and troubleshooting automated NGS workflows and associated workflow scripts or methods on customer laboratory automation platforms.

The FAS will work closely with Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Technical Support, R&D, and other specialist teams, and will contribute to internal training, knowledge sharing, onboarding, and mentoring. The role has no formal line-management responsibility.

Customer Applications Support

Act as a primary technical applications contact for customers using Takara Bio NGS and Spatial Biology technologies.

Deliver on-site and remote customer training, workflow implementation, and scientific troubleshooting.

Support customers from evaluation through routine use, helping resolve technical barriers and maximise successful adoption.

Build trusted technical relationships with researchers, core facilities, KOLs, and other scientific stakeholders.

Partner with Territory Managers, NGS Sales Specialists, Inside Sales, and other commercial colleagues during customer opportunities.

Understand scientific objectives and workflow requirements and provide technical seminars, consultations, demonstrations, and product evaluations.

Support implementation and troubleshooting of automated NGS workflows and associated scripts or methods on customer laboratory automation platforms, working with internal teams or automation partners where required.

Technical Expertise & Escalation

Maintain advanced knowledge of NGS and Spatial Biology products, workflows, applications, competitors, and market developments.

Escalate complex issues to Technical Support, Product Management, R&D, Field Engineering, or other specialist teams as appropriate.

Where relevant, help distinguish application-related issues from instrument-related issues.

Field Feedback, Documentation & Launch Support

Document customer interactions, training, troubleshooting, outcomes, and follow-up actions accurately and on time.

Provide structured Voice of Customer, market, competitor, and recurring technical feedback to relevant internal teams.

Support new product launches, early-access activities, field evaluations, training materials, and technical documentation.

Deliver technical training to sales teams, distributors, and other internal teams as required.

Support onboarding and technical development of new FAS and commercial colleagues.

Share applications best practices and provide informal mentoring, without formal supervisory or performance-management responsibility.

This is a home-based role open to candidates ideally located in Germany or the United Kingdom, with approximately 50–75% travel across Europe required for customer training, implementation, troubleshooting, demonstrations, meetings, conferences, and internal activities, including overnight and international travel; a valid driving licence is required.

Qualitifcation

Mandatory

MSc or PhD in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Genomics, Biotechnology, or a related scientific field. A BSc may be considered with significant relevant field and applications experience.

Post-doctoral or equivalent research experience involving NGS, Spatial Biology, single-cell analysis, or related advanced molecular biology workflows.

Experience

Mandatory

Minimum 3 years of FAS, applications support, or closely related customer-facing technical experience within life sciences.

Minimum 3 years of laboratory or related scientific experience.

Strong practical laboratory experience with NGS and/or Spatial Biology workflows.

Experience supporting NGS and/or Spatial Biology technologies, including customer training and complex workflow troubleshooting.

Strong understanding of NGS library preparation, sequencing workflows, Spatial Biology applications, and experimental design.

Practical experience implementing, optimising, or troubleshooting automated NGS workflows and deploying or adapting workflow scripts or methods in customer laboratory automation environments.

Experience supporting commercial Spatial Biology technologies or single-cell NGS applications.

Experience with instrument-based workflows and working with engineering or instrument-support teams.

Experience developing technical training or onboarding/mentoring less experienced colleagues.

Experience supporting customers across multiple European countries.

Competences, skills and abilities

Mandatory

Fluent English, oral and written.

Strong scientific and technical capability across NGS and Spatial Biology workflows.

Excellent troubleshooting, communication, presentation, and scientific training skills.

Customer-focused, self-motivated, proactive, and able to work independently.

Strong organisation, documentation, follow-through, and ability to manage multiple priorities.

Ability to collaborate effectively across commercial, scientific, technical, and operational teams.

Ability to support implementation, deployment, and troubleshooting of automated NGS workflow scripts or methods in customer environments.

Willingness and ability to travel extensively.

Fluency in German and/or French would be a distinct advantage.

Experience with CRM/customer-support systems and strong scientific storytelling skills.

Ability to coach, mentor, and develop the technical confidence of others.