Senior Scientist, Upstream Fermentation R&D arbeitnow Differential.bio Munich · 9/29/2026

Primetime; München; Hybrid; EUR 110.000 - 160.000; Vollzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

Stock options

Competitive salary

Zusammenfassung

Differential is seeking a Senior Scientist, Upstream Fermentation R&D to build out wet lab capabilities and drive customer projects from scoping to execution. You will lead cultivation, media development, and assay design across multiple microbes, collaborating with automation and bioinformatics for scalable, model-ready workflows.

You will mentor junior scientists, ensure rigorous documentation, and contribute to data/AI/robotics-driven media and bioprocess optimization at our Freising Munich

Qualifikationen

• PhD (or equivalent) in Microbiology or related field.
• 3+ years in industrial or translational microbial fermentation research.
• Strong hands-on cultivation and media development experience.
• Experience with lactid acid bacteria, B. subtilis, E. coli or yeasts.
• Proven design/validation of microbiology assays.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication.

Aufgaben

• Lead cultivation and study of microbial species from LAB to industry workhorses.
• Develop media to enhance productivity and stability at lab scale.
• Design and validate assays to inform media and bioprocess choices.
• Translate customer requirements into milestone-driven research plans.
• Collaborate with lab automation and data science on scalable data capture.
• Lead and mentor junior scientists/technicians with rigorous documentation.

Kenntnisse

Industrial fermentation

Media development

Assay development

Lab leadership

English communication

Ausbildung

PhD in Microbiology

Tools

Python

R

Matlab

Jobbeschreibung

We’re hiring a Senior Scientist, Upstream Fermentation R&D to build out Differential’s wet lab capabilities and help deliver customer projects in various domains, ranging from Probiotics to Specialty Chemicals.

You will drive delivery across a growing pipeline of customer projects end-to-end, from scoping research and project plans to hands‑on assay development and microbiology work, all while managing time, budget, and quality.

In close collaboration with lab automation and bioinformatics, you’ll define scalable, model‑ready workflows and develop the methods, instrumentation, and tools that make them reliable in production.

You will design and run media and cultivation experiments, develop assays, and generate AI‑ready datasets to drive data‑driven optimizations across a range of industrially relevant microbes and applications.

You’ll work closely with our existing microbiology team, help scale it further, and coach junior team members on experimental execution, documentation standards, and reproducibility.

You share our vision and actively evangelize data/AI/robotics‑driven media and bioprocess optimization as the engine of the Bioeconomy’s Future.

Key responsibilities:

Lead cultivation and study of a broad range of microbial species, from our current focus on lactic acid bacteria to industry workhorses such as E. coli, P. pastoris, and B. subtilis; also handle strains with challenging traits.

Develop media to enhance productivity and stability at lab scale, with the potential (not required) to extend into bioprocess development (e.g., feeding strategies, temperature, pH) at lab and production scale.

Design, validate, and standardize assays that inform media/bioprocess choices and support strain characterization, functional testing, and QC.

Translate customer requirements into lean, milestone‑driven scientific research plans that optimize speed, cost, and decision quality in a resource‑conscious startup environment.

Collaborate with lab automation and data science teams to design scalable, model‑ready data capture for fermentation parameters and metabolite panels.

Lead and develop junior scientists/technicians to execute experiments precisely and maintain rigorous documentation, enforcing SOP/QA standards.

Qualifications:

Ph.D. (or equivalent work experience) in Microbiology or related field

3+ years in industrial or translational research in microbial fermentation (probiotics/(agri)food/cosmetics preferred).

Proven ownership and hands‑on experience in cultivation and media development across lactid acid bacteria, B. subtilis, E. coli, and yeasts in an industrial/bioprocess setting; exposure to challenging traits (fastidious, anaerobic) is a plus. Strong depth in at least one is sufficient.

Assay developer at heart with demonstrated design/validation of microbiology assays.

Demonstrated ownership with hands‑on execution in a fast‑paced, resource‑constrained research environment, proven judgment on time/budget trade‑offs (build vs. buy, lab infrastructure, lean experimentation) to optimize speed, cost, and decision quality.

Excellent written and verbal communication in English - clear stakeholder updates, customer presentations, and concise technical writing.

Regular, in‑person presence at our Freising campus or downtown Munich lab is required.

Nice‑to‑have:

Hands‑on experience with benchtop bioreactors; huge plus if you have demonstrated scale‑up experience, from lab to production‑scale.

Experience with obligate anaerobes and otherwise challenging strains, e.g. handling fastidious, flocculent, agglutinating, sporulating strains, and working with nutritionally demanding or slow‑growing microbes.

Proven cross‑functional project management across wetlab and automation/bioinformatics/bioprocess workstreams.

Experience with Python/R/Matlab for DoE, growth/fermentation analytics, modeling‑ready datasets, and light scripting; reads/writes instrument CSV/API and LIMS fields.

Having already demonstrated a builder mindset, experience shipping in a startup or through internal research projects; comfortable with ambiguity and end‑to‑end ownership.

High autonomy to steer scientific development, deliver ambitiously, and help build a high-performing team - be a cornerstone hire.

State‑of‑the‑art labs in Freising and Munich (Martinsried) with a central Munich office (close to the Central Station).

Competitive salary + meaningful stock options.

This overview was written from the original listing to help you understand the role. Always confirm the specifics on the employer’s application page.