Program Lead, Organism Engineering

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Job description

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe's growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms. Today, our foundry is developing over 40 different organisms to make different products across multiple industries.Our team of Organism Engineers is the core of Ginkgo's strain engineering platform. We believe biology is a unique engineering substrate that comes pre-loaded with startlingly brilliant code we didn't write. Enabled by our high-throughput foundry, we study and design the most efficient way to create a new organism using the most advanced molecular biology techniques. We also employ various -omics technologies for understanding, troubleshooting, and debottlenecking our designed systems.We are looking for a highly talented Program Lead to manage a team of up to five Organism Engineers in developing finely engineered bacterial, yeast or fungal strains to produce commercial products for Ginkgo's customers. With your depth of experience in metabolic engineering, you'll be responsible for identifying and implementing sound technical strategies and project plans that will lead to successful, newly engineered strains. Plus, as a technical leader in your field, you will use your expertise to provide critical insight into the evaluation of strain performance and pathway optimization in Ginkgo's world-class foundry, while leveraging the unique capabilities of our automated workflows to maximize efficiency.ResponsibilitiesProvide technical direction and guidance on metabolic engineering to your team to ensure project successSupport resource management and project planning across your metabolic engineering teamMeasure and evaluate team performance with respect to the technical success of team projects, as well as the continued development of your high-performing teamCommunicate project and team performance to executive leadership and external customersIdentify new technologies in metabolic engineering to increase the efficiency of constructing improved strains within Ginkgo's foundryCollaborate with customers and internal process development teams to establish commercial-scale processes based upon novel strains developed by your teamPartner with our Business Development Team to identify and evaluate new project opportunities from both a technical and commercial perspective, and communicate Ginkgo's unique offerings to current and potential customersAssist with shaping Ginkgo's overall direction as a company and support its evolving needs, as necessaryDesired Experience and CapabilitiesPhD in metabolic engineering, molecular biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, microbiology, or related fieldAt least three years of industrial experience in engineering microbial hosts for the production of enzymes or chemicals, and at least one year of experience in a director-level roleExcellent project management skills, with the ability to oversee multiple simultaneous projects, meet deadlines, and collaborate with cross-functional teams; formal project management training is a plusProven track record of leading successful teams and mentoring multiple team membersSuperb communication skills, with the ability to effectively convey project plans and complex technical details to a wide range of internal teams, executive leadership, and external customersAbility to adapt to changing priorities and pivot as needed in a fast-paced environmentTo learn more about Ginkgo, check out some recent press:What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: 'If we try, we can win' (CNBC)Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)We also feel that it's important to point out the obvious here there's a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.We're developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can and will impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it's something we'll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it's critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.Apply for this job