Living Carbon is a public benefit corporation with a mission to responsibly rebalance the planet's carbon cycle using the inherent power of plants. We believe that gigaton scale CO2 drawdown will only happen if solutions are both beneficial to the environment and profitable to landowners. We've developed a proof of concept photosynthesis-enhanced seedling and are working on scaling our production lab and commercializing our technology. We're backed by some of the most prominent investors in Silicon Valley including Felicis Ventures, YCombinator, and Chris Sacca of LowerCarbon Capital.

If you believe that climate change is the defining global emergency of the century and want to join an ambitious project that's working on a biological solution, we'd love to hear from you.

Your role:

We're looking for someone who's excited to be part of a mission-driven early stage company. As our Research Scientist, you will play an essential role in planning and executing molecular biology experiments to help meet the company goal. A successful candidate will have experience with molecular biology, cloning, and assay development with strong working knowledge of plant physiology. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to the company's strategic goals and think creatively about how to move quickly and solve problems.

Responsibilities:

• Design, plan, and execute experiments to advance projects to help meet company goals
• Conduct in depth literature analysis, formulate working hypothesis, design and carry out experiments to test gene functions and pathway manipulations
• Design and conduct molecular and biochemical assays and screening systems for discovery of genes and enzymes
• Design and make plant expression constructs to optimize transgene gene expression for the ultimate goal of improving trait performances
• Design and conduct plant physiology experiments to evaluate plant growth and development under abiotic stress conditions
• Analyze, interpret data and deliver results for time-sensitive goals
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge in molecular biology and biochemistry and proactively propose and implement application of new technologies and ideas to speed up project goals
• Author assay protocols, SOPs, work instructions and other documents as needed
• Keep a detailed record of experimental data and analysis. Summarize project progress in written reports and present during team meetings.
• Provide timely project updates to management, participate in scheduling and forecasting meetings, be flexible, be able to handle multiple projects and help drive key decisions with solid data and scientific leadership.
• Manage multiplex activities in a well-organized manner. Understand and assign project priorities and ensure projects are executed efficiently on the right priorities
• May train and oversee junior scientists in the lab, providing ongoing coaching, guidance and feedback to ensure they are successful in their work, as well as have the necessary and timely access to information and other resources.

Requirements:

• MS/Ph.D in plant molecular physiology, biology, biochemistry or other related fields
• Demonstrated hands-on experience using molecular biology and biochemistry techniques to study plant physiology problems
• Experience with bioinformatic tools for DNA and protein sequence analysis is required
• Prior experience in RNAseq and/or NGS data analysis is highly desirable
• Prior research experience in plant physiology including nutrient uptake, transportation, and utilization is desirable
• Prior experience in molecular biology, physiology, or biochemistry related to heavy metal accumulation and detoxification in plants is preferred
• Prior experience in plant biotech industry is highly desirable
• Sound knowledge on recombinant DNA technology and vector design/construction for altered plant gene expression
• Demonstrated ability to formulate hypothesis, design experiments, analyze data, interpret results, trouble-shoot experiments, prepare reports, and present results
• Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Self-motivated, team-oriented, and a proactive driving force of execution
• Desire to work for an early-stage mission-driven organization
• Strong pace of execution, humility and willingness to do what it takes to complete a project even if it means doing something outside your typical scope of work
• Appreciation for plants, ecosystem thinking and the need for ambitious solutions to help rebalance our planets and slow climate change

Living Carbon PBC offers competitive compensation, and generous healthcare, dental and vision insurance.

Living Carbon PBC is an equal opportunity employer.

We believe the best solutions to climate change are created by diverse teams. Living Carbon is focused on building a multicultural and inclusive team with strong representation from the many diverse communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. As a public benefit corporation, ensuring solutions to slow climate change are widely distributed to all peoples is critical to the success of our mission.