Member of Research Staff (Req 0011)

Job Description

Job Description

About Episteme

Episteme is a new kind of R&D company built for people who want their work to matter in the world. We support exceptional researchers pursuing ambitious, translational science; work that often struggles to find the right home within traditional academic or corporate institutions. At Episteme, we provide the financial, infrastructural and operational support that allows researchers to focus on the problems that genuinely deserve their attention. We work closely with them to move ideas from early insight to real-world application. Translation is part of the work, not an afterthought. When breakthroughs are ready, we help bring them into the world responsibly, including through commercialization when appropriate.

Working at Episteme means joining a company that is intentionally different. We are building something new, and that requires comfort with ambiguity, intellectual honesty, and a bias toward thoughtful execution. You will work alongside people from many disciplines who care deeply about rigor, impact and follow-through. We value clarity over complexity, ownership over passivity and collaboration without micromanagement. Roles evolve through contribution and trust rather than rigid job descriptions, and ideas are tested quickly, decisions are made explicitly, and learning is shared openly so the system improves faster than any individual.

We are looking for a biologist or bioengineer who is eager to learn, driven to solve problems, and motivated by women's health research. Beyond having deep expertise in disease biology, you are able to quickly adapt emerging science in pursuit of changing how endometriosis and other immune mediated diseases are diagnosed and treated. You will work alongside interdisciplinary scientists and external collaborators, drawing on Episteme's operations, partnerships, and decision processes to move findings from early insight toward diagnostics and therapies.

You will turn broad objectives into experiments with clear controls and decision points. Knowing when to bring others in comes naturally, and the work is reproducible and ready to build on. Above all, you are drawn to hard, overlooked problems and want your work to move beyond what is currently possible.

This role is strategically important because every part of the program depends on credible disease biology. Imaging readouts and immune interventions can only be interpreted against well-characterized models and tissue data. The person in this role sets the experimental foundation the program builds on and helps establish Episteme's capability in disease models.

• Preclinical models of endometriosis and related inflammatory disease
• Immune signaling in the lesion microenvironment
• Biological validation of novel imaging readouts
• Readouts of disease activity and therapeutic response

• Establish, characterize, and maintain preclinical disease models; document reproducibility and variability
• Design and run in vivo studies of immune-targeted interventions with appropriate controls
• Profile immune populations and inflammatory state using flow cytometry, histology, and molecular assays
• Generate tissue-level data that validate imaging measurements
• Analyze data with appropriate statistics
• Maintain protocols, lab records, and data in formats others can reuse
• Contribute to milestone reviews, manuscripts, and grant or partner materials
• Follow a structured research plan with defined tasks and milestones

Success is a validated biological foundation that the program, and Episteme, can build on.

Near term, the team has well-characterized disease models with documented reproducibility and variability that allow tissue and immune data to run alongside imaging and intervention studies. 

Longer term, Episteme has a durable women's health biology capability: shared models, assays, and datasets that new projects and partners can use. Your data appear in manuscripts, partner discussions, go/no-go decisions on the program, and set the foundation for new therapeutics.

Failed experiments produce specific, documented learning that changes the next design. Collaborators trust your data because the controls, statistics, and limitations are explicit.

You meet biological ambiguity with curiosity and a desire to solve real-world problems.

You are rigorous at the bench. You plan experiments with controls and statistics in mind, track sources of variability, and report what the data show rather than what the hypothesis predicted. 

You think in systems. You see how a disease model, an assay, and an imaging readout fit together, and you design experiments that serve the whole program, not just your piece. 

You are comfortable with ambiguity. When the path is unclear, you break the problem into testable steps, propose a way forward, and adjust as data come in. 

You are intellectually honest. You own tasks end to end, ask for feedback early, and seek continuous improvement.

We care more about technical judgment, systems thinking and learning velocity than credentials.

• Expertise in reproductive biology, immunology, biomedical sciences, or a related field
• Research in endometriosis or an adjacent area 
• Tissue analysis: histology, immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescence, and quantitative image analysis
• A track record of judgment and ownership: experiments designed and analyzed end to end, projects you proposed, methods you brought into a lab, or problems you solved without a playbook
• Experience running multi-step studies that depend on others (core facilities, collaborators, cross-disciplinary teams) and keeping them on schedule

• Innate or adaptive immune biology, multicolor flow cytometry, cytokine profiling
• In vivo preclinical imaging (MRI, EPR, optical, PET/SPECT) and exposure to imaging probes

• Organoids or other 3D culture models, including co-culture with immune cells
• Data analysis in Python or R

Exceptional candidates may come from different paths. What matters most is the ability to build systems that materially improve how scientific organizations learn, reason and operate over time.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including:

• Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO), plus 9 company holidays
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 100% company-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, basic life insurance, and AD&D insurance
• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance for qualifying relocations

Salary Range: $120.000 - $140,000

Episteme does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, family status, ancestry, citizenship, U.S. military (state and federal) and veteran status, or any other legally protected status. It is our intention that all applicants be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions are based on job related factors. We are an equal opportunity employer.

San Francisco pay range

$120,000—$140,000 USD