Fermentation Scientist — Streptomyces & Scale-Up

Yahoo! Inc.; Vacaville (CA); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Paid time off

Stock options

Job summary

Oath, Inc. is seeking a Fermentation Scientist to develop, optimize, and scale microbial fermentation processes across SmF, SSF, and DSP. You will focus on Streptomyces and translate lab work into scalable manufacturing processes, collaborating with microbiology, formulation, and manufacturing teams.

The role requires PhD with 1–5 years of relevant experience, hands-on fermentation expertise, and ability to travel up to 10%. Hybrid work in Vacaville, CA with equity compensation and benefits.

Qualifications

• PhD with 1–5 years of relevant industry experience in microbiology, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, fermentation science, or a related field.
• Hands‑on experience with submerged liquid fermentation and solid‑state fermentation.
• Experience cultivating Streptomyces or closely related filamentous microorganisms.
• Experience with fermentation scale‑up and technology transfer is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize submerged liquid fermentation and solid-state fermentation processes.
• Design and execute fermentation experiments from bench scale through scale‑up.
• Develop robust cultivation processes for Streptomyces and other microbial strains.
• Optimize media, inoculum strategies, growth conditions, productivity, yield, and process consistency.
• Develop and improve downstream processing (DSP) approaches for microbial biomass and product recovery.
• Troubleshoot fermentation and DSP performance and identify key drivers of process variability.
• Support process scale‑up and technology transfer to internal manufacturing teams and external CDMOs.
• Develop process documentation, protocols, batch records, and technical reports.
• Analyze experimental and manufacturing data and translate findings into actionable process improvements.
• Collaborate closely with microbiology, formulation, manufacturing, quality, and external partners.

Skills

PhD with 1–5 years of experience

Submerged liquid fermentation

Solid-state fermentation

Streptomyces cultivation

Downstream processing (DSP)

Fermentation scale‑up & tech transfer

Vendor management

Travel up to 10%

Google Suite / Excel / Slack

Education

PhD in microbiology/biotechnology/biochemical engineering/fermentation science

Job description

Oath, Inc. is seeking a Fermentation Scientist to develop, optimize, and scale microbial fermentation processes across SmF, SSF, and DSP. You will focus on Streptomyces and translate lab work into scalable manufacturing processes, collaborating with microbiology, formulation, and manufacturing teams.

The role requires PhD with 1–5 years of relevant experience, hands-on fermentation expertise, and ability to travel up to 10%. Hybrid work in Vacaville, CA with equity compensation and benefits.