Lab Manager, Aquaculture

Socket.dev; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 106,000 - 133,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Volunteer time off

Family-forming benefits funding

Relocation support

Job summary

Biohub in San Francisco seeks an Aquaculture Lab Manager to oversee the day-to-day operation of its aquatic model-organism facility, ensuring safe, compliant husbandry of zebrafish and other species that support imaging and research.

You will manage water quality, recirculating systems, equipment maintenance, EH&S compliance, and mentor junior staff while translating program goals into actionable plans and improvements.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience across all areas of aquaculture/lab operations with deep specialization in at least one area (e.g., water quality, RAS, or fish husbandry).
• Ability to communicate clearly with researchers, vendors, and EH&S consultants.
• Proven knowledge of aquatic model organisms and related biosafety requirements.

Responsibilities

• Plans, coordinates, and manages day-to-day aquaculture activities and resources for uninterrupted operation.
• Coordinates with researchers to understand needs and procures equipment, feed, and supplies.
• Ensures readiness of all aquaculture resources and manages inventory and maintenance.
• Oversees equipment moves, cleaning, calibration, and maintenance to maintain capacity.
• Develops EH&S solutions for safety challenges and ensures compliance with standards.
• Manages lab service contracts and coordinates with service providers.
• Collaborates with facilities teams on upgrades and maintenance of water, ventilation, electrical, and HVAC systems.
• Performs inspections of equipment to minimize downtime and protect animal welfare.
• Implements improvements to husbandry, water quality, or facility operations.
• Translates research workstreams into actionable husbandry plans and SOPs.
• Mentors junior staff and documents SOPs and records for reproducibility.

Skills

Aquaculture operations

Clear communication

Zebrafish husbandry knowledge

Lab equipment know-how

Safety and biosafety compliance

Team leadership experience

Job description

Biohub is the first large-scale initiative bringing frontier AI models, massive compute, and frontier experimental capabilities under one roof. We're building a general-purpose system to accelerate scientific discovery, integrating frontier AI models, biological foundation models, and lab capabilities, with the ultimate goal of curing disease. Our technology powers scientists around the world, translating AI capabilities into tools that accelerate research everywhere.

The Team

Through our multi-dimensional imaging program, we build imaging tools that capture life across scales — from single proteins to whole organisms — revealing how proteins and cells function, communicate, and assemble into living systems. These observations are laying the groundwork for a new generation of AI models that can predict cellular behavior and guide the development of better treatments for widespread diseases. You can learn more about our work here.

Our work brings together three powerhouse universities - Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco - into a single collaborative technology and discovery engine.

Our Vision

• Pursue large scientific challenges that cannot be pursued in conventional environments
• Enable individual investigators to pursue their riskiest and most innovative ideas
• Facilitate research by scientists and clinicians at our home institutions and beyond

We are a team of passionate individuals powered by technology, guided by scientific research, and driven by collaboration, working toward a mission to cure or prevent all disease.

The Opportunity

Biohub is seeking an Aquaculture Lab Manager to lead the day-to-day operation of its aquatic model-organism husbandry facility, ensuring the safe, efficient, and compliant husbandry of zebrafish and other aquatic species that underpin the Imaging Grand Challenge's research programs.

This role oversees the aquaculture system end to end — water quality, recirculating system performance, fish health and colony management, equipment readiness, and regulatory/EH&S compliance — and works closely with researchers, scientists, and platform teams to ensure the facility reliably supports ongoing and upcoming experiments.

This position is well-suited for a candidate with hands-on aquaculture or aquatic-model-organism facility management experience who can plan and execute semi-complex laboratory activities independently, translate operational objectives into concrete plans, and mentor junior lab staff.

What You'll Do

• Plans, coordinates, and manages the aquaculture facility's day-to-day activities; manages schedules and resources to ensure efficient, uninterrupted operation of the aquatic facility.
• Works with researchers and scientists to understand laboratory and husbandry resource needs for the aquaculture environment; collects and organizes requests for additional equipment, feed, and supplies, and obtains requested items.
• Ensures readiness and availability of all aquaculture resources — including recirculating water systems, tanks, filtration and monitoring equipment, feed, and reagent chemicals; manages inventory of supplies and recommends efficiencies.
• Manages equipment moves and maintenance (e.g., tank cleaning, filter changes, system defrosting/descaling, sensor calibration) to keep the facility running at expected capacity.
• Works with EH&S consultants and/or Platform Managers, or independently, to develop and implement EH&S solutions for aquaculture-specific safety challenges (e.g., water chemistry, biosafety, waste handling); monitors equipment and activities to ensure adherence to safety protocols in compliance with federal, state, and organizational standards.
• Manages laboratory service contracts for assigned aquaculture equipment (e.g., recirculating aquaculture systems, water treatment units); works with researchers, scientists, or super users to understand maintenance or repair needs, and with service providers to ensure work aligns with expectations and contract terms.
• Works closely with facilities personnel to implement complex lab-plant upgrades and maintenance related to water, ventilation, electrical, gas, heating, and air conditioning systems supporting the aquaculture facility.
• Manages and coordinates preventative maintenance; conducts inspections of semi-complex to complex equipment (e.g., life-support systems, water quality monitors) and ensures repairs are made promptly to reduce unexpected downtime and protect animal welfare.
• Monitors laboratory equipment and usage to comply with EH&S requirements, protocols, policies, procedures, and established standards; identifies issues and works with EH&S consultants to implement solutions.
• Improves methods, systems, or tools that contribute to the broader research workstream; regularly develops solutions to recurring husbandry, water-quality, or facility-operations challenges.
• Translates workstream objectives from research programs into actionable husbandry and facility-operations plans.
• May act as a team lead for lab technicians or junior staff; trains and mentors staff on aquaculture procedures, animal husbandry, and safety practices.
• Documents SOPs, husbandry protocols, and facility records to support reproducibility, regulatory compliance, and continuity of operations.

What You'll Bring

Required

• Demonstrated experience across all areas of aquaculture/lab operations, with in-depth specialization in at least one area (e.g., water quality management, recirculating system operation, or fish husbandry).
• Ability to communicate clearly, directly, and respectfully with multiple audiences, including researchers, scientists, vendors, and EH&S consultants.
• Proven knowledge of aquaculture facility practices and processes, including husbandry standards for aquatic model organisms (e.g., zebrafish).
• Strong understanding of semi-complex to complex scientific/aquaculture instruments and systems (e.g., recirculating aquaculture systems, water quality monitors, filtration units).
• Proven knowledge of lab equipment and procedures needed to support aquatic model-organism research; familiarity with animal welfare and biosafety requirements for aquatic species.
• Advanced experience and competency in single-focus lab operations, with the ability to translate theoretical knowledge into practical approaches involving research, analysis, and execution of action plans, as could be acquired through higher education and/or equivalent professional experience.
• Typically has 5-8 years of progressively complex, related professional experience in aquaculture, animal facility management, or laboratory operations.

Preferred

• Direct experience with zebrafish or other aquatic model-organism husbandry in a research setting.
• Hands-on experience operating and troubleshooting recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS).
• Experience developing or maintaining water quality management and biosecurity protocols.
• Experience mentoring or training junior lab staff or technicians.
• Experience contributing to the design or build-out of new aquaculture facilities or lab space.
• Familiarity with IACUC or equivalent regulatory/compliance frameworks governing aquatic model organisms.

Compensation

The San Francisco, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $106,000.00 - $133,000. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process.

This position may be eligible to participate in our discretionary annual performance bonus program. Bonus eligibility and targets are determined in accordance with our total rewards philosophy and may vary by role.

Benefits for the Whole You

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.
• Funding for select family-forming benefits.
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

#LI-Hybrid