Senior Research Associate, Viral Production (Fixed-Term Contract)

Arc Institute is seeking a highly skilled Senior Research Associate, Viral Production to join the Molecular Engineering team within the Genome Engineering Technology Center. This 18-month fixed-term position involves serving as a dedicated producer of lentivirus, supplying high-quality viral preps that power perturbation screening and cell engineering efforts across Arc's wet lab Tech Centers.

Responsibilities:

• Execute staggered rounds of lentivirus production using suspension and/or adherent systems.
• Concentrate, filter, and aliquot virus into single-use aliquots, and perform quality control on each lot.
• Help coordinate cross-functionally to forecast demand in advance, scaling and scheduling each round of production accordingly.
• Maintain rigorous, organized documentation of production runs, titer/QC outcomes, and viral inventory and distribution.
• Perform troubleshooting on failed productions, escalate and reschedule as needed.
• Maintain inventory of key reagents, media, and consumables to ensure uninterrupted production.
• Help establish, refine, and run an efficient end-to-end viral production platform.
• Contribute to process optimization aimed at improving the scale, quality, and lot-to-lot consistency of production.

Requirements:

• BS degree in relevant field with 4+ years of relevant experience, or MS degree in relevant field with 2+ years of relevant postgraduate experience.
• Proficiency in mammalian cell culture procedures and associated aseptic techniques.
• Direct hands-on experience producing lentivirus at scale using suspension and/or adherent systems.
• Demonstrated ability to execute reproducible, multi-step production protocols consistently across repeated rounds.
• Experience with viral titration and QC methods.
• Experience with filtering, single-use aliquoting, cryopreservation, and inventory management of viral stocks.
• Meticulous documentation and record-keeping; comfort working to a production schedule.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to coordinate effectively across teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience developing or leveraging automation for viral production and/or titration at scale.
• Prior experience independently optimizing processes and workflows to improve viral yield, quality, and consistency.
• Hands-on experience with multiple viral production systems and protocols.
• Experience producing lentivirus in arrayed formats as well as large-scale pooled-library formats.
• Experience managing external vendor relationships for cloning and plasmid preps.

The base salary range for this position is $84,250 to $106,000.