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Head of Platform Bioengineering & Assay Development

Parallel Bio· Engineering / Bioengineering
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Hybrid (San Francisco, CA)$203k - $229kFull-timePosted 4w ago

About the role

Senior leadership role leading scientific and assay-development efforts at Parallel Bio's San Francisco site, focusing on organoid-based platforms, assay maturation, technology transfer, and external partner programs to enable scalable, human-first drug discovery.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the scientific team at the San Francisco site, including hiring, mentoring, and setting experimental direction; ensure rigorous experimental design, controls, and reproducibility.
  • Own development and maturation of biological assays and workflows for the Parallel Bio platform; translate early R&D assays into robust, scalable processes.
  • Define and manage technology transfer and platform readiness criteria; ensure documentation, reference data, and controls support reliable execution.
  • Develop scale-up strategies for complex organoid and cell-based assays; collaborate with automation, software, and platform teams to reduce variability and increase throughput.
  • Provide scientific leadership for external partner programs from experimental design to data delivery; personally engage in difficult experiments when needed.
  • Remain hands-on at the bench on the most challenging problems to maintain scientific rigor and practical insight.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Immunology, Cell Biology, Biology, Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Biology, or related discipline
  • Typically 10 to 15+ years of experience in developing complex biological assays, models, and platforms
  • Deep immunology expertise and hands-on experience with human in vitro models, organoids, primary immune cells, or advanced mammalian cell culture
  • Experience leading bench scientists and managing scientific direction, data review, and decision-making
  • Experience building biological systems from concept to automated/high-throughput platforms
  • Experience with technology transfer frameworks or building Process Development functions in an early-stage biotech company
  • Ability to establish controls, reference standards, and system-suitability approaches for biological assays
  • Strong troubleshooting and hypothesis-driven experimental design
  • Equivalent combinations of education and experience accepted

Skills

Required:Leadership and team managementExperimental design and data interpretationAssay development and optimizationTechnology transfer and platform readinessScale-up and robustness
Nice to have:Cross-functional collaboration

Benefits

  • Parallel Bio is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace.
  • Note: Specific benefits are not itemized in the description.
Last updated Sep 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Parallel Bio

Using the immune system to cure disease

Parallel Bio created a human 'immune system in a dish' to discover drugs and immunotherapies more likely to work in patients. Our platform has all of the same elements as a human immune system, meaning you can test drugs and vaccines as if you were testing them in actual patients from the start. The biggest reason why 95% of new drugs fail is that they were tested in mice - but with our human platform, pharma companies will know which drugs will successfully treat patients, speeding up the process and reducing the cost. To date our platform has successfully been used to test 12 drugs, and vaccines against 8 different diseases. The company is founded by Robert DiFazio, a former Stanford R&D director with a PhD in immunology, and Juliana Hilliard, a former System1 Biosciences R&D lead with an MSc in bioengineering, both of whom have led drug discovery programs for years.

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