We are Arcadia Science. Arcadia is a for-profit biology research and development company founded and led by scientists. Our mission is to transform evolutionary innovations into real-world solutions by openly developing more efficient, replicable, and sustainable ways to leverage the biology of diverse organisms.

The Arcadia Scientist-in-Residence program is an opportunity for creative, independent scientists from any sector to join us for up to one year. We are targeting individuals with approximately five years of intensive research training. This includes but is not limited to recent PhD graduates, industry scientists, or others at a similar career stage. During the program, Scientists-in-Residence will work to explore a new area of biology. 

Within Arcadia’s new scientific framework, we have two general buckets: dynamic projects and a centralized platform. Projects are fluid efforts that allow us to ask key biological questions. Our platform leverages evolutionary comparisons across diverse species and tool development, which together help us make better hypotheses and test them more efficiently. While the platform shapes projects, projects provide critical test cases for refining the platform. 

Similar to Project Scientists at Arcadia, Scientists-in-Residence will spend the first month or so getting to know the team by contributing their expertise and skills to ongoing projects. Scientists-in-Residence will then initiate a pilot project on the basis of team synergy and their specific interests. A pilot should make use of Arcadia’s unique expertise and structure and, as such, it should not be a direct continuation of the project scientist’s past or current research. Upon 1–3 months of design and de-risking, we may approve pilots to move to our central platform for organism and tool selection/development. Given the short timeframe for the Scientist-in-Residence program (up to 1 year), they will likely work primarily on one or more pilot-stage projects. 

Candidates applying to the Scientist-in-Residence position should be interested in exploring areas of biology which are distinct from their previous work, but for which they are uniquely positioned to study. Applicants will be asked to describe which general area of biology they are interested in exploring at Arcadia. Applications will be evaluated initially based on (1) the transformative potential of exploring this new area, broadly defined, and (2) the qualifications of the candidate with respect to exploring this area. Short-listed candidates will be invited to submit a brief research talk and potentially be invited for an on-site interview. 

Scientists-in-Residence are expected to fully participate in our organization-scale experiment. We would expect you to publish at all stages of the research cycle through Arcadia’s research-sharing site. We are also excited to think with candidates about translational potential for their work. Find more about our publishing and translational experiments here and here. We are looking to recruit multiple Scientists-in-Residence during 2023.

Successful applicants can expect to be compensated between $100,000–150,000/yr, commensurate with experience level. Compensation will also include benefits and potential relocation assistance for those originating outside the Bay Area, depending on experience level. The position will require the individual to be on-site full-time at our Berkeley, California headquarters.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis with application review beginning on March 6, 2023. Short-listed candidates will be asked to record and submit a brief scientific talk, and then final candidates will be invited for an on-site visit and interview. The earliest anticipated start date for the Scientist-In-Residence program is June 1, 2023.

Interested candidates should apply using the link below. As part of the application form, include brief responses to the included questions while honoring the word maximums posted for each question.

Note that we also have an open recruitment for a project scientist role that may be appealing to those applying to this opportunity.  While we are able to transfer candidates between opportunities, please only apply to the most fitting open position based on your career goals. The main difference between the project scientist search and this role is that scientists-in-residence will have up to one year to execute on their scientific ideas before moving on to opportunities outside of Arcadia. This allows more scientists to have the opportunity to participate in our organizational experiment. 

For questions about the search, please email: scientist-in-residence@arcadiascience.com

Arcadia Science is an equal opportunity workplace; we welcome people from all backgrounds and communities. We provide competitive compensation and practical benefits to keep you happy and healthy so that you can do your best work.

Please note that an offer of employment from Arcadia is contingent upon the successful clearance of a reference and background check.