Scaling Experiments for AI-designed Medicines

Inceptive; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Inceptive in Palo Alto is seeking a senior scientific leader to drive growth in high-throughput and translational biology, partnering with our AI team to maximize data utility for foundation models.

You will lead the development and scale-up of multiplexed assays across in vitro, cellular, and in vivo systems, mentor a multidisciplinary lab, and align a lab strategy with therapeutic priorities for rapid data generation and validation.

Qualifications

• PhD with 6+ years post-PhD in industrial research for drug development.
• Experience mentoring a data-driven lab of 10+ scientists.
• Expertise with high-throughput or multiplexed assays in mammalian cells.
• Ability to set scientific direction while executing operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and scale-up of high-throughput assays across in vitro, cellular, and in vivo systems.
• Define a lab strategy aligned with therapeutic and platform priorities.
• Champion antedisciplinary culture and cross-boundary collaboration.
• Mentor a multidisciplinary team to rapidly generate biological data for AI models.
• Oversee development of validation assays aligned with downstream applications.

Skills

High-throughput assays

Lab leadership

Experimental design

Biological data analysis

Python programming

Cross-functional collaboration

Mammalian cell work

Translational biology

Education

PhD in relevant field

Tools

Lab automation

Job description

At Inceptive, you will help pioneer the next generation of AI-designed drugs, with the potential to positively impact billions of people, as part of a collaborative, antedisciplinary team.

Training on natural and experimentally-derived data is a core aspect of how our AI models learn to generate therapeutic molecules with exceptional properties. We invest deeply in building and scaling data sources to train and evaluate our models for maximal performance. At the same time, careful validation in orthogonal, translationally-relevant assays is crucial to orient our models.

We are seeking a senior scientific leader versed in high-throughput and translational biology to drive the continued growth and impact of our Palo Alto Lab. You will be a force multiplier for our scientists and engineers, ensuring a high standard of scientific rigor and output in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. You will also interface closely with our AI team to maximize the impact of internal data on Inceptive’s foundation models.

Your Mission, should you choose to accept it

• Lead development and scale-up of high-throughput assays across in vitro, cellular, and in vivo systems, leveraging multiplexed assays and laboratory automation
• Define and execute a lab strategy aligned with Inceptive’s therapeutic and platform priorities, while remaining flexible as modality and partnership needs evolve
• Champion an antedisciplinary culture, encouraging curiosity, rigor, and collaboration across scientific boundaries
• Manage, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers that rapidly generates high-impact biological data to improve and validate AI design models
• Oversee the development of industry-standard validation assays to keep models and data generation aligned with downstream therapeutic applications

Qualifications

• PhD and 6+ years of post-PhD experience in industrial research applied to drug development
• Experience managing and mentoring a data-driven lab of 10+ scientists
• Experience using high-throughput and/or highly multiplexed assays to generate rich datasets from mammalian cells
• Proven ability to set scientific direction while also executing operationally
• Deep understanding of theory, techniques, and experimental design in molecular and cellular biology
• Visualization, analysis, and statistics applied to complex biological datasets
• Availability to work with team members across US and Europe, with meetings starting at 7am PT
• Readiness to travel several times a year for company retreats and business events
• We value in-person collaboration and expect candidates to work at our lab location

Preferred skills

• Translational experience with mRNA, oligonucleotides, or other genetic medicines
• Expertise in immunology and/or cell therapy
• Hands‑on experience in RNA biology and biochemistry
• Scientific programming in Python
• Hands‑on experience with modern data engineering workflows