Research Associate – In Vivo Operations

Merge Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Merge Labs in San Francisco is seeking a Research Associate with strong in vivo expertise and hands-on rodent surgical experience to join our In Vivo team. This highly hands-on role focuses on executing and scaling in vivo operations with independence, precision, and delivering reproducible data across multiple studies.

You will partner with Scientists to generate high-quality, reproducible data, optimize workflows, and help build scalable in vivo pipelines from the ground up.

Qualifications

• BS, BA, or MS in Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Bioengineering, or a related field, with 5+ years of relevant academic or industry experience, including strong hands‑on in vivo research expertise – particularly in rodent stereotaxic surgery (handling, dosing, monitoring, and post‑operative care) – and a demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, rigorously documented studies while balancing speed and precision across multiple concurrent experiments.
• Have proven ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and manage multiple concurrent studies.
• Have strong attention to detail with a focus on data quality, reproducibility, and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Execute complex in vivo studies in rodents, including execution of advanced surgical procedures and managing day‑to‑day study activities, including scheduling, dosing, monitoring, and data collection.
• Perform tissue collection, processing, coordination of downstream analyses (e.g., immunofluorescence, H&E staining, and ELISAs) and support histology and immunological assays as needed.
• Troubleshoot experimental issues and contribute to protocol optimization and workflow improvements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with teams to ensure seamless execution.
• Maintain accurate, detailed, and audit‑ready study documentation.
• Ensure strict adherence to animal welfare, regulatory, and biosafety standards.

Skills

in vivo research

rodent stereotaxic surgery

data quality & documentation

cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS/BA or MS in Biology/Neuroscience/Bioengineering

Job description

Merge Labs is a frontier research lab with the mission of bridging biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human ability, agency and experience. We’re pursuing this goal by developing fundamentally new approaches to brain-computer interfaces that interact with the brain at high bandwidth, integrate with advanced AI, and are ultimately safe and accessible for anyone to use.

About the team:

Our In Vivo team sits at the core of Merge Labs’ experimental engine, operating at the intersection of neuroscience, molecular biology, and engineering. We are responsible for executing and enabling in vivo studies across multiple teams, making our role critical to the success of the broader mission. We design, build, and run high-quality, scalable in vivo pipelines, supporting a wide range of experimental needs. As a central function, we collaborate closely with cross‑functional partners and serve as the backbone for translating ideas into robust, reproducible in vivo data. Given the breadth of teams relying on our work, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of execution, precision, and reproducibility. We are deeply committed to operational excellence, consistency, and continuous improvement, ensuring that every study is executed with rigor and reliability.

About the role:

We are seeking a Research Associate with strong in vivo expertise and hands‑on surgical experience in rodents to play a critical role in executing and scaling our in vivo operations. This is a highly hands‑on position at the core of our experimental work, requiring independence, precision, and the ability to deliver consistent and reproducible high-quality execution across multiple studies.

In this role, you will partner closely with Scientists to generate high-quality, reproducible data, continuously optimize workflows, and help build robust, scalable in vivo pipelines from the ground up. Your contributions will be essential to driving execution, enabling rapid iteration, and supporting the advancement of next‑generation neurotechnology.

In this role, you will:

• Execute complex in vivo studies in rodents, including execution of advanced surgical procedures and managing day‑to‑day study activities, including scheduling, dosing, monitoring, and data collection.
• Perform tissue collection, processing, coordination of downstream analyses (e.g., immunofluorescence, H&E staining, and ELISAs) and support histology and immunological assays as needed.
• Troubleshoot experimental issues and contribute to protocol optimization and workflow improvements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with teams to ensure seamless execution.
• Maintain accurate, detailed, and audit‑ready study documentation.
• Ensure strict adherence to animal welfare, regulatory, and biosafety standards.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• BS, BA, or MS in Biology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Bioengineering, or a related field, with 5+ years of relevant academic or industry experience, including strong hands‑on in vivo research expertise – particularly in rodent stereotaxic surgery (handling, dosing, monitoring, and post‑operative care) – and a demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, rigorously documented studies while balancing speed and precision across multiple concurrent experiments.
• Have proven ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and manage multiple concurrent studies.
• Have strong attention to detail with a focus on data quality, reproducibility, and documentation.
• Have excellent organizational and communication skills, with ability to coordinate across teams.

As we build, we're hiring for complementary strengths to form a high-impact team.

For more information about hiring at Merge, please visit our Hiring FAQ.

Merge Labs does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, family status, ancestry, citizenship, U.S. military (state and federal) and veteran status, or any other legally protected status. It is our intention that all applicants be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions are based on job related factors. We are an equal opportunity employer.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made by emailing [e-mail].

Compensation Range: $95K - $120K