Assay Development Scientist
What this job does:
Designs, optimizes, and validates assays for research, diagnostics, or screening. Establishes performance characteristics, robustness, and reproducibility and writes methods documentation.
This job is similar to these lab/research tasks:
Develop new assays from concept to validation; optimize sensitivity and reproducibility; define controls and acceptance criteria; run robustness and stability testing; document protocols; troubleshoot sources of variability.
Typical starting salary range
$91k to $147k
Salary estimate represented as 25th to 75th percentile. Gathered from recent job postings, Glassdoor.com, and Salary.com
Daily task breakdown
- Assay concepting, design, and optimization (35%)
- Qualification/validation and transfer to other teams or external partners (25%)
- Data analysis, modeling, and reporting (20%)
- Documentation: SOPs, protocols, QC plans (10%)
- Other: cross-functional alignment and vendor/CRO coordination (10%)
Skills you'll use in this job:
Assay design and optimization; robustness and reproducibility studies; qualification/validation and transfer; data analysis and modeling; SOP/protocol/QC plan authoring; cross-functional alignment; vendor/CRO coordination when relevant
Talk about these PhD skills in your resume and interview:
Use examples of building assays from scratch, optimizing conditions, establishing QC criteria, troubleshooting signal issues, and writing protocols others can follow.
Alternative job titles to search:
Assay Scientist; Bioassay Scientist; Assay Development & Validation Scientist; Method Development Scientist; Analytical Development Scientist; Assay Development Specialist; Assay Optimization Scientist; Detection Scientist; Immunoassay Scientist; Molecular Assay Scientist
*Note:
-Job titles are inconsistent between companies. Try various keywords.
-PhDs tend to undershoot seniority level. Target higher than you think.
