Soil Biogeochemist Senior Scientist

Ginkgo Introduction 

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Ginkgo's platform enables partners to explore biological design space to discover and optimize their targets and processes in mammalian and microbial cells, with applications in cell, gene, RNA, microbiome and biologic therapeutic modalities.

Team Introduction

As a successful candidate you will be a member of Ginkgo’s AgBio Division and will be located in West Sacramento, CA.  Ginkgo is seeking an accomplished soil biogeochemist with extensive experience studying soil carbon sequestration and the microbial ecophysiological functions that contribute to soil carbon cycling.  Experience studying soil nutrient cycles, microbial community dynamics and their influence on crop health is preferred.  You’ll work collaboratively on cross-functional teams to design, develop and test microbial strains with capabilities to enhance soil carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling.  You will be responsible for developing experimental models to assess and quantify the effects of microbial strains on soil nutrient cycling and carbon accumulation.  In the lab and controlled environment settings, you will be responsible for developing and implementing assays to evaluate soil microbial functions, quantify soil carbon and measure soil nutrient fluctuations.  You will also contribute to translating lead microbial strains from the lab and controlled environment to field evaluation studies.            

As a member of Ginkgo’s AgBio Division, you’ll leverage your strategic thinking and analytical skills to help drive projects to key decision-making points and ensure that the team’s short, medium, and long-term goals are achieved. With your passion for Ginkgo’s mission and building something that matters, along with your ability to adapt and thrive in fast-paced environments, you’ll be a critical contributor to the success of Ginkgo as a whole.

#LI-JH1

Responsibilites

• In collaboration with team members, develop experimental models to assess and quantify the effect of microbes on soil nutrient cycling and accumulation 
• Apply models to explore the role of plant and soil components on microbial community dynamics and stability of sequestered carbon
• Develop techniques for rapid soil carbon quantification, researching microbial mechanisms involved in soil carbon stabilization/cycling
• Through collaboration with the Data Science department, develop the experimental design, analyze data, and short-list the microbial candidates for the field trials 
• Monitor and keep track of all microbial leads identified via facilitation of the decision-making meetings with stakeholders and Project Scientist
• Closely work with the Field Trial team to assess translation of lab, controlled environment and greenhouse studies to open field environment
• Continuously identify new technologies and experimental methods for in house work or collaboration. Build and maintain relationships with external experts and service providers  

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Soil Science, Soil Biogeochemistry, Soil Chemistry, Microbiology, Terrestrial Ecology, Earth Sciences, Agroecology, Agronomy, or related disciplines with minimum 4 years of relevant experience
• MS with minimum of 8 years relevant experience
• BS with minimum of 10 years relevant experience
• Required relevant experience is defined as: Hands on experience and scientific background in soil carbon sequestration and soil nutrient cycling 
• Must be highly experienced with development of soil/plant laboratory and greenhouse models to analyze soil chemistry and microbial physiology using quantitative analytical methods 
• Strong data analytic skills and experience with translation of laboratory studies to the field environment is highly desirable
• Creative, collaborative and excellent communication skills 

Preferred Capabilites and Experience

• Experience working on cross-disciplinary project teams is preferred
• Experience studying microbial physiological processes related to carbon use efficiencies and soil nutrient cycling 
• Experience studying soil or plant microbial community dynamics across spatial and temporal scales is a plus

The position will be part of the Plant Science Function in Ginkgo’s AgBio Department. This position will be based at our West Sacramento, CA site and will require 10-15% travel.

To learn more about Ginkgo, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com/press/ or check out some curated press below:

What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)

Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)

Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: ‘If we try, we can win’ (CNBC)

Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)

Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)

Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)

The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)

Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)

Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)

Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)

We also feel that it’s important to point out the obvious here – there’s a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.  

We’re developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it’s something we’ll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it’s critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.

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