Flexible Computer Science Bioinformatics Jobs in Chicago, IL

Founding Scientific Lead

Location: US-based | Onsite, hybrid, or flexible working arrangements available

Founding team opportunity | Potential Chief Scientific Officer progression

The Role

We are seeking an experienced scientific leader to serve as the company's first senior scientist, helping bridge cutting-edge biology, AI, and automation. This individual will lead the development of computational biology workflows, ensure scientific rigor across products and outputs, and act as the key scientific authority within the business.

You will partner closely with engineering, AI, and product teams to define scientific standards, validate outputs, and help build intelligent systems capable of supporting research and laboratory workflows. As the organization grows, there is a clear pathway to evolve into a Chief Scientific Officer role.

What You'll Accomplish

• Lead computational biology workflows: Design, build, and optimize end-to-end computational and experimental workflows that transform scientific questions into actionable results.
• Drive laboratory automation: Translate manual laboratory processes into scalable and automated workflows, ensuring scientific requirements are accurately reflected in automation systems.
• Support AI-driven scientific initiatives: Contribute to the evaluation, refinement, and implementation of AI-enabled scientific tools and research workflows.
• Act as the scientific authority: Review protocols, workflows, and outputs across a broad range of scientific disciplines, ensuring scientific accuracy and quality.
• Maintain scientific integrity: Oversee scientific accuracy in customer-facing, investor-facing, and internal materials.
• Develop validation frameworks: Create evaluation criteria, datasets, quality controls, and scientific review processes to support product development.
• Build and grow scientific teams: Identify capability gaps and recruit scientists and subject matter experts as the organization expands.
• Engage with customers and stakeholders: Serve as a scientific representative to clients, partners, and the wider research community.
• Monitor industry developments: Track emerging technologies, methodologies, and trends across life sciences, drug discovery, and research services.
• Help shape the future of AI-enabled research: Contribute to the development of scalable, data-driven approaches to scientific experimentation and decision-making.

Who You Are

• Highly proactive and comfortable operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.
• Practical and execution-focused, with a strong preference for testing ideas through data and experimentation.
• Able to balance scientific rigor with business and product needs.
• Strong communicator capable of translating complex scientific concepts into actionable guidance for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable collaborating across science, engineering, AI, and product teams.
• Demonstrates intellectual honesty and a commitment to evidence-based decision-making.
• Possesses broad scientific exposure across multiple stages of research and development.

Technical & Scientific Experience

• PhD in Life Sciences, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, or a related discipline (or equivalent industry experience).
• Extensive hands-on laboratory and scientific research experience across multiple experimental techniques and modalities.
• Proven experience designing and managing computational biology workflows and data-driven research programs.
• Strong understanding of scientific reproducibility, validation, experimental design, and quality control.
• Ability to work effectively alongside software engineers, data scientists, and AI researchers.
• Experience collaborating with external research organizations, CROs, laboratories, or scientific service providers.
• Strong publication record or demonstrated scientific impact within academia or industry.
• Proficiency with scientific programming and data analysis tools such as Python and/or R.
• Experience leveraging AI, machine learning, or data science tools within research environments is highly desirable.
• Interest in the opportunities and limitations of AI-enabled scientific discovery and automation.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary.
• Meaningful equity package aligned with experience and impact.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Paid time off and company holidays.
• Opportunity to influence company strategy, scientific direction, and long-term growth from an early stage.