Scientific Operations - Associate / Scientist (Contract)

REACH INDUSTRIES; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 41,328 - 61,992; Full time

Job summary

REACH INDUSTRIES is hiring a Scientific Operations Associate for an on-site role in Cambridge, MA. This position is for a contractor (3-6 months) focused on maintaining lab operations, supporting experiments, and collaborating with scientists and automation systems. Ideal candidates should have a Bachelor's degree and 2-5 years of hands-on lab experience, showcasing strong organizational skills and an ability to work in fast-paced environments. An hourly pay between $30-45 is offered, depending on experience.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of demonstrated hands-on lab experience with modern wet lab techniques.
• Strong desire to improve scientific workflows.
• Ability to troubleshoot protocols systematically, with attention to technical and human variability.

Responsibilities

• Keep labs organized, stocked, and ready for daily experimentation.
• Assist with lab setup and teardown for protocols and workflows.
• Draft and maintain SOPs, protocols, QA/QC, and operational documentation.

Skills

Hands-on lab experience

Experimental design skills

Troubleshoot protocols

Familiarity with digital lab tools

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in a scientific or technical field

Tools

ELNs

LIMS

Python

R

Job description

Scientific Operations – Associate / Scientist (Contract)

Location: On-site, Cambridge MA

Type: Full-time (40h/week) contractor (3-6 months)

Pay: $30-45/h (pay is based on a 40 hour per week schedule and depends on experience/expertise)

Level: Early Career (2–5 years industry experience)

About the Role

• We’re looking for a hands‑on, detail‑driven Scientific Operations Associate to help keep our labs running smoothly as we scale.

• You’ll be embedded in day‑to‑day lab operations to support experiments, uncover edge cases in protocols, and collaborate with both scientists and automation systems to help build the infrastructure behind fast, reproducible science.

• This is a true doer role in an early‑stage startup. You’ll wear many hats, move quickly, and help turn messy, real‑world lab work into clean, repeatable operations that scale.

What you’ll accomplish with us:

Lab Ops & Daily Execution

• Keep labs organized, stocked, and ready for daily experimentation.

• Assist with lab setup and teardown for protocols and workflows.

• Draft and maintain SOPs, protocols, QA/QC, and operational documentation.

• Coordinate staff scheduling, shared equipment booking, and lab logistics.

• Support EHS requirements, audits, and compliance reporting.

• Maintain chemical and biological inventories, wastestreams, and documentation.

• Help onboard and train visiting operators.

Inventory, Procurement & Equipment

• Order reagents, consumables, and equipment; track deliveries and usage.

• Maintain accurate inventory to avoid downtime.

• Support equipment set‑up, maintenance, calibration, and vendor coordination.

Technical Excellence

• Assist with scaling, stress testing, and troubleshooting protocols.

• Support benchmarks to validate reproducibility and scalability across lab settings.

• Generate high‑quality, structured experimental data for deviations, and edge cases.

• Document critical experimental variables for robust handoffs to humans and robots.

• Capture tacit biological knowledge, from intent to execution.

• Be customer obsessed: initiate, support, and lead initiatives to deliver results to clients.

Requirements

• Work onsite daily in Cambridge, MA.

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in a scientific or technical field.

• 2–5 years of demonstrated hands‑on lab experience with modern wet lab techniques.

• A strong desire to improve scientific workflows.

• Experimental design skills with a strong bias toward documentation, reproducibility, and iteration.

• Ability to troubleshoot protocols systematically, with attention to technical and human variability.

• Familiarity with digital lab tools (e.g., ELNs, LIMS, lab automation systems).

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

• Clear communicator and collaborative teammate.

• Comfortable working in fast‑paced, hands‑on lab environments.

Nice to Have

• Startup or early‑stage experience preferred; comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration is a must.

• Experience with assay design, development, and optimization.

• Coding experience for complex data analysis and statistics (Python, R).

• Hands‑on experience troubleshooting next generation sequencing assays.

• Demonstrated experience using AI/ML tools in research, whether for experimental design, data analysis, or predictive modeling.

• Experience working with or supporting internal lab teams as well as direct customer‑facing work in partner or external lab environments.