Job Description - Pioneer Labs - Lab Manager

About Pioneer Labs

Pioneer Labs is a startup engineering life for Mars. We are building the first microbes that can turn Martian dirt, water, and air into the building materials needed to sustain life in the low-resource environment of the red planet. Along the way, we use data-driven biological engineering to study the fundamental science of extremophiles and uncover how their remarkable abilities are encoded in DNA. Our goal is to advance the science that enables a green human civilization—on Earth and beyond.

We are a nonprofit research startup based in Emeryville, California. We do marsshot science with an agile, 12-person team. Pioneer is funded by grants from the Astera Institute’s residency program, The Align Foundation, and other science funders. See pioneer-labs.org to learn more, or visit pioneerlabs.substack.com to read more about our science.

Lab Manager

Pioneer is seeking a new team member to act as lab manager. They will join our team full-time in-person in Emeryville, California.

It takes an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work to create a functional lab where it’s easy to do science. It’s the Lab Manager’s job to make sure the lab runs smoothly and contribute to taking our science to the next level by contributing to optimizing protocols, increasing throughput, and proactively solving technical problems before they happen. The Lab Manager will be supported by Pioneer’s Operations Associate, who handles less technical operations and coordinates administrative support.

Key responsibilities

• Laboratory Operations: Oversee day-to-day lab activities, including equipment maintenance, inventory, chemical safety, and compliance. Maintain a well-organized and efficient laboratory environment. Liaise with the facilities management team at our laboratory space.

• Technical Optimization: Conduct Design of Experiments (DOE) to optimize key protocols. Develop, maintain, and publish standard operating procedures (SOPs). Support research and data workflows across microbial, molecular, and automation projects.

• Data and Infrastructure Coordination: Bridge experimental, computational, and automation teams to streamline data capture, storage, and analysis. Track assay throughput, contamination, and lab performance metrics.

• Financial and Asset Management: Manage analysis of lab budget and procurement, with assistance from other administrative and operations staff. Obtain quotes for instruments, analyze spending, and maintain a model for wet lab cost and throughput. Track lab equipment assets.

• Fieldwork and Compliance: Coordinate bioprospecting trips, including permits and logistics. Serve as the main point of contact for facilities and safety compliance.

• Community and Communication: Coordinate internal training, journal clubs, and conference participation. Support scientific communication operations, including preprint submissions and DOI management.

Key Experience and Competencies

• Operational and Technical Expertise: Proven track record managing scientific operations in a small, fast-paced research team. Skilled in wet lab setup, equipment management, and safety procedures.

• Scientific Background: MS or more in Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, or related field. Hands-on experience in microbial cultivation, molecular biology, and lab management.

• Analytical Skills: Experienced in DOE, assay optimization, and quantitative analysis of lab workflows and costs. Strong ability to identify bottlenecks and propose data-driven improvements.

• Project Management: Excellent organizational and multitasking abilities, capable of balancing technical, operational, and administrative responsibilities independently.

• Flexibility and Communication: Strong written and interpersonal skills. Comfortable traveling for fieldwork, conferences, and collaboration with partner organizations.

About Pioneer

Things to know about us:

• We’re a small, tight-knit, multidisciplinary team. To achieve our goals, experts in everything under the sun — microbiology, space missions, operations, and more — need to work together effectively. Diversity of thought and skill accelerates science, so we aim to hire people with a wide range of expertise, identities, technical backgrounds, and experiences. People thrive on the team when they are good at written and verbal communication, are excited to learn new things from others, and enjoy working on projects that are bigger than any individual scientist.

• We do no-bullshit science. We’ve very lucky to get to work on science that is extremely cool! And yet, no amount of hype will save a flight test if the science or engineering doesn’t check out. We aim to make things that actually work. That requires constant, level-headed assessment of our own results, genuine curiosity, and a healthy mix of ambition and humility.

• We want to get a lot smarter, but only somewhat bigger. Over the next couple years, we’ll improve our ability to do science primarily by better leveraging automation and external collaborations, rather than by scaling the size of the wet lab team.

Salary and benefits

Pioneer Labs takes a market-based approach to compensation. We benchmark salaries based on equivalents in for-profit biotech startups. The salary for this role will likely be $120k-$150k/year. The candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and interview performance.

In addition, we offer benefits including:

• Health Insurance (inc. medical, dental, and vision) for employee and dependents

• Family leave (up to 12 weeks)

• A flexible time off policy

• Employer-matched 401(k) plan
  

Compensation Range: $120K - $150K