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Senior Scientist, Ensemble–Function Mapping

Astera Institute· Radial
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Emeryville HQ$200k - $250kFull-timePosted 4d ago

About the role

Senior Scientist leading a computational team to map conformational ensembles to protein function, developing methods to connect ensembles to allosteric coupling, catalytic efficiency, and binding specificity, and building platforms to test which structural data matter.

Responsibilities

  • Lead Prism's research connecting conformational ensembles to function. Direct the scientific vision to predict and explain allosteric coupling, catalytic efficiency, and binding specificity, and drive that work toward high-impact findings.
  • Manage and mentor a team of multiple scientists and recruit additional hires with expertise in machine learning and statistical mechanics.
  • Work with the Scientific Program Director to determine strategy and prioritization of approaches, systems, and science within your team.
  • Partner with Prism's modeling and encoding team, alongside the Scientific Program Director, to ensure cohesion across the project.
  • Build platforms and analysis pipelines that measure how different types of structural data, and the ensemble models derived from them, change functional predictions. Validate them on well-chosen test cases.

Qualifications

  • PhD in a relevant area; at least 4 years of work experience.
  • Experience managing a team of scientists.
  • Background in computational biophysics, with a record of research that connects protein structure or dynamics to function.
  • Experience with machine learning approaches that link protein structure to function.
  • Experience working extensively with at least one type of experimental structural data (X-ray, EM, NMR, HDX-MS).
  • An execution-forward approach. You move from hypothesis to working analysis quickly and let results guide the next step.
  • Clear communication with modelers, experimentalists, and external collaborators, including the ability to explain what a finding means and what it doesn't.
  • Nice to have: working knowledge of multiple experimental structural biology methods.
  • Nice to have: fluency in the mechanistic literature on allostery, conformational selection, and binding specificity.

Skills

Required:Leadership and mentoringComputational biophysicsMachine learning for structure-function linksExperimental structural biology data

Benefits

  • Top-tier health insurance plans with 99% of premiums covered by Astera for employees and dependents
  • Daily lunch that brings the full office together, plus a well-stocked fridge and pantry
  • Licenses for frontier AI tools and software
  • 403(b) retirement plans, flexible paid time off, paid parental leave, commuter benefits, and health and dependent care FSAs
  • Visa sponsorship
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

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