Molecular Biologist at Pilgrims in Redwood City, CA
- Company: Pilgrims
- Location: Redwood City, CA
- Posted: Sep 24, 2026
- Type: Full-time
- Experience: 4+ years
Overview
Application As a Molecular Biologist at Pilgrim, you’ll develop sample preparation, qPCR, and sequencing methods for ARGUS. You’ll design and run experiments to improve nucleic acid recovery, assay performance, and sequencing quality in complex environmental and low-input samples. You’ll turn those …
Job description
- Application
- As a Molecular Biologist at Pilgrim, you’ll develop sample preparation, qPCR, and sequencing methods for ARGUS. You’ll design and run experiments to improve nucleic acid recovery, assay performance, and sequencing quality in complex environmental and low-input samples. You’ll turn those findings into validated protocols for reliable biological detection in the field.
Responsibilities
- Develop and optimize sample preparation methods, including lysis, nucleic acid extraction, purification, and concentration of environmental samples.
- Develop qPCR assays, including primer and probe selection, assay controls, and tests for inhibition and contamination.
- Optimize sequencing workflows, including library preparation, sequencing, and quality control for low-input and complex samples.
- Design and run controlled experiments to measure recovery, detection limits, specificity, and repeatability across sample types and input levels.
- Investigate unexpected findings with Bioinformatics, including contamination, preparation bias, and discrepancies between qPCR and sequencing results.
- Define reagent and handling requirements for validated methods and support their transfer to ARGUS with Systems Integration.
- Write and maintain protocols and experimental records, including method changes, reagent details, and results.
Requirements
- Strong foundation in molecular biology, microbiology, genomics, or a related field. MS or PhD is a plus, not required.
- Hands-on experience with nucleic acid extraction, qPCR, sequencing library preparation, and sequencing quality control.
- Advanced command of standard wet-lab equipment, instrumentation, and molecular biology techniques.
- Experience writing reproducible protocols and transferring methods to other researchers or laboratory teams.
- Experience with low-input or environmental samples, bioaerosols, metagenomics, or nanopore sequencing.
Skills
Required
- Molecular biology
- Microbiology
- Genomics
- Nucleic acid extraction
- qPCR
- Sequencing library preparation
- Sequencing quality control
- Wet-lab equipment and instrumentation
- Protocol writing and method transfer
Preferred
- Low-input or environmental samples
- Bioaerosols
- Metagenomics
- Nanopore sequencing
About Pilgrims
Pilgrim is building America’s biology prime - engineering, manufacturing, and deploying advanced biotechnology for defense and national security. Our primary platform, ARGUS, is a fully autonomous system for detecting biological threats in near real time, from naturally occurring pathogens to engineered agents. We engineer hardware for biology, turning breakthrough science into fielded capabilities. Based in Redwood City, our team brings together mechanical and electrical engineering, chemistry, and biology under one roof to deliver critical technologies to the people who need them. Pilgrim has raised over $30 million to date and is backed by Peter Thiel, Brian Armstrong, Fred Ehrsam, Dylan Field, and Bryan Johnson, alongside Buckley Ventures, Conviction, Cantos, and others.