R&D Analytics Lead

Nature’s Fynd is a groundbreaking food tech company born out of NASA-supported research on extremophiles in the geothermal pools of Yellowstone National Park. Our novel fermentation technology produces a sustainable source of complete protein using only a fraction of the resources required by traditional agriculture. As the challenge to feed the world’s expanding population grows, our mission is to create amazing foods and materials that provide sustainable choices and nurture the planet.
We’re looking for passionate, driven, and ambitious people to join our fast-growing team.
The R&D Analytics Lead will work with our corporate Data Science & IT team to lead the analysis, presentation and management of R&D data company-wide. This individual will play a critical role in enabling enhanced R&D productivity and greater insight into results and trends for a broad array of business stakeholders. They will support experimental design, reporting, and analysis across all R&D projects, facilitate collaboration via good data management practices, and help build high-value informatics infrastructure. The successful candidate will have a background in biotech R&D and strong statistical and analytical skills, including Design of Experiment methodology. Additionally, they will have experience automating data collection, analysis and reporting workflows, preferably in Python; this could include design and implementation of sensors and other process metrology. They will have strong familiarity with spreadsheet development, analysis/visualization tools such as JMP or Tableau, and experience leveraging open source scientific software. Previous experience in bioinformatics and with enterprise R&D platforms is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Support planning and analysis of R&D projects, including experimental design and cross-cutting historical analysis
• Construct and automate R&D analytics infrastructure, including tools for data collection, analysis and reporting
• Collaborate with R&D researchers to leverage bioinformatics tools and software
• Perform analysis to support tech transfer activities; help standardize analysis between manufacturing and R&D
• Develop and enforce data governance standards for R&D data management
• Collaborate with process engineers and scientists to design and implement custom sensors and other process metrology
• Act as liaison with our Managed Service Provider to address R&D IT needs, such as cloud computing resources for high-performance computing
• Participate in the selection roll-out of enterprise R&D software such as LIMS or other knowledge management solutions

Required Skills

• Previous experience in a biotech R&D environment
• Strong analytical skills; previous experience analyzing and reporting on R&D results
• Experience building structured data collection forms and information-rich data visualizations
• Experience with Design of Experiment methodology
• Experience with advanced analytics software or environments such as JMP, R, Tableau etc.
• Strong coding skills; experience in Python and pandas strongly preferred, as well as some UNIX command line expertise
• Strong experience in Google Sheets and Excel
• Strong attention to detail in data management and formatting
• Product management experience; ability to create value-oriented tech product roadmaps based on user requirements and feedback

Preferred Skills

• Experience building custom software tools for R&D users, particularly in Python
• Experience leveraging cloud computing resources, particularly on GCP
• Working knowledge of enterprise R&D software such as LIMS, ELN and knowledge management tools; experience selecting and deploying said tools
• Experience working with and automating sensor data collection for benchtop and/or pilot-scale experiments
• Background in bioinformatics is a plus

Education

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in biotech-related field: biology, bioengineering, biochemistry, chemical engineering, or other
• Coursework or demonstrated proficiency in data-driven programming, statistical analysis and tool development
• Preferred: Master’s or PhD with a biotech focus, particularly fermentation processes

Special Position Requirements

• Comfortable working in a startup environment, embrace entrepreneurship, and have enthusiasm for innovation
• Emphasize personal transparency and accountability
• Self-motivated with the ability to work independently & with a team
• Ability to manage workflow for multiple projects and tasks
• Detail-oriented, organized, and capacity to meet deadlines
• Excellent analytical thinking, interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills
• Exhibit a strong sense of professional and personal integrity
• Inherent curiosity and creativity in solving problems to understand how things work
• Ability to handle and maintain the confidentiality of highly sensitive information
• Versatility, flexibility, and willingness to work enthusiastically within changing priorities