--- title: 'AI Biologist - Cancer Biology (Applications) at LatchBio' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-biologist-cancer-biology-applications-latchbio-san-francisco-vzs1tgmtxc40' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # AI Biologist - Cancer Biology (Applications) at LatchBio - **Company:** LatchBio - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-09-01 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/latchbio/0b3987b2-a0d0-4d55-9576-07e9c5c60668 ## Job description ## AI BIOLOGIST - CANCER BIOLOGY (APPLICATIONS) Latch builds rigorous, scientific benchmarks (benchmarks.bio http://benchmarks.bio) for AI agents across biology. We work with frontier labs and pharma to measure whether agents can handle real biological workflows; the messy, multi-layer reasoning that matters in the field. ## About the Role Our work in Cancer Biology means measuring whether an agent can take a tumor case from raw molecular data to a real clinical decision. You'll identify real cancer-biology datasets and turn them into rigorous, deterministically-graded tasks. Our benchmarks are agentic and cross-domain. Each task hands an agent the artifacts a cancer researcher would actually have and asks for a concrete conclusion. Your job is to establish defensible reference analyses and scoring criteria across conclusion types, the benchmark measures that span basic cancer biology to clinical outcomes. You'll anticipate where agents take plausible but wrong turns and test whether they can handle experimental variability, incomplete data, conflicting evidence, and mechanism-driven tradeoffs. Our team emphasizes cross-domain integration and long-horizon reasoning. ## Requirements - 1+ years personally working in basic, translational, or clinical cancer biology. Experience with hands on analysis of multi-omic tumor data hands-on somatic/germline variant calling and interpretation (WES/WGS/panel; MAF/VCF), copy-number and structural-variant analysis, mutational signatures, bulk and single-cell RNA-seq (cell-state annotation, subtyping), tumor-immune contexture (immune deconvolution, spatial transcriptomics, multiplex imaging), subclonal reconstruction, or functional-genomics screens (CRISPR/RNAi), or clinical research is highly preferred. - Proficiency in Python and/or R: VCF/MAF parsing, single-cell analysis (Scanpy/Seurat), gene-set scoring (GSEA/ssGSEA), immune deconvolution (CIBERSORTx), subclonal reconstruction (PyClone), statistical analysis. - Understanding of cancer-genomics standards: AMP/ASCO/CAP and ACMG/AMP variant tiers, ESCAT and OncoKB actionability levels, PAM50 and Consensus Molecular Subtypes, IFN-γ/T-cell-inflamed signature, consensus Immunoscore. - Recognize experimental variability, and assay limitations; distinguish real biological signal from pipeline or annotation artifact. - Strong written communication on technical decisions, uncertainty, and alternative interpretations. Nice-to-Have - Familiarity with cancer-genomics resources and standards: TCGA/GDC, PCAWG, AACR Project GENIE, cBioPortal, OncoKB/CIViC/VICC, COSMIC signatures, HTAN, Human Cell Atlas, DepMap/Project Score, gnomAD/ClinVar, MSigDB. - Breadth across multiple conclusion types like: diagnosis, mechanism, clonal evolution, immune contexture, target nomination, actionability. - Prior work on benchmarks, task-based assessment, or deterministic grading. Culture @ Latch How we work. Genuinely flexible schedules - we just ask that you communicate when you're coming in later than usual. We care most about hard work and output. We're respectfully opinionated, it will always be us against problems, not each other. Optimize for each other's time and bring solutions, not just problems. You'll join a bench suited to your expertise, but we value cross-domain learning and interoperability across teams. Office & Perks. Waterfront office near Oracle Park, 2x free daily meals, unlimited snacks, company outings most months, and team offsites. Plus a vibrant community: cycling, soccer, figure skating, boxing, run clubs, reading clubs, martial arts, music, game nights. ## Compensation & Logistics - 1099 (or W8-BEN) contract, 40 hrs/week, no end date - Fully performance-based pay - OTE: $120K–$180K, uncapped upside. 2x quota = 2x pay. - 2-4 week paid ramp: full OTE during ramp - Remote (globally), hybrid, or onsite in SF (onsite preferred) - Work authorization: OPT visa holders only (not STEM Extension) - Onsite perks: 2x free meals/day, waterfront office (China Basin), monthly parking (based on availability) - Candidates with all of the above qualifications + proven management skills will be eligible for more senior positions Interview Process Timeline: We move fast: 8 - 12 days from submission to offer. 1. Intro Screen - Technical Recruiter 2. Take-Home Project - HackerRank 3. Technical Interview - Member of Technical Staff 4. Culture Interview - C-Suite 5. Offer ## About LatchBio ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: LatchBio builds and deploys frontier AI agents for biological data analysis, serving over 300 biopharma and R&D labs worldwide. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series A; total funding $33.2M) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2021 - **Founders**: Alfredo Andere (CEO) and Kenny Workman (CTO) ## Core Business - Primary industry: Biotechnology Research / AI for biology - Target customers: B2B – biopharma companies, academic R&D labs, and solution providers (kits, assays, instrument vendors) - Mission: Deploy AI agents into real scientific work to accelerate data analysis and drug discovery ## Products & Services - **Latch Platform**: A unified, serverless bioinformatics platform that lets scientists run, track, and debug pipelines via an SDK-generated no-code interface. Supports FastQ, CSV, H5AD, TIFF, and other formats. Agents can analyze messy real-world data. - **Latch SDK**: Python toolchain to define serverless workflows and dynamically generate no-code UIs, removing cloud-infrastructure overhead. - **agent.bio**: Public, interactive sandbox where frontier AI agents (e.g., Claude 4.8 Opus) analyze biological data. Supports 40+ solution providers. - **benchmarks.bio**: Open, reproducible benchmarks measuring AI agent performance on spatial, single-cell, epigenomics, and preclinical pharmacology data. Includes papers like scBench-Long, TxBench-PP, etc. - **White-labeled data analysis**: Solution providers can offer a branded, simpler analysis experience for their kits and services. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Annual revenue of ~$1.0M (LinkedIn estimate); total funding $33.2M - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Coatue, Lux Capital, Fifty Years, Haystack, Gelt, Backend Capital; individual investors include George Church, Jeff Dean, Hemant Taneja, Laura Deming, Alec Nielsen - **Growth Signals**: 140% YoY headcount growth (from ~11 to 26 employees); 300+ biopharma and academic teams served; 40+ solution providers onboarded; recent publication of multiple benchmark papers (2025–2026) ## Competitive Advantages - **First-mover in AI agents for biology**: Combines frontier LLMs with rigorous, verifiable benchmarks tailored to biological data (spatial, single-cell, epigenomics, pharmacology). - **Open benchmarks & reproducibility**: All benchmarks (e.g., scBench-Long) are published openly, building trust and attracting top talent. - **White-labeling for solution providers**: Allows kit and instrument vendors to offer AI-powered data analysis under their own brand, creating a network effect. - **Tight integration with real lab workflows**: Supports common file formats and interfaces with existing pipelines, reducing friction for scientists. ## Strategic Focus - Continue research and deployment of AI agents for biology, with emphasis on long-horizon tasks and messy real-world data. - Expand the agent.bio sandbox to more solution providers and biopharma customers. - Publish additional benchmarks (spatial, preclinical) to establish Latch as the standard evaluator of AI in biology. - Grow engineering and bioinformatics teams to accelerate platform development. ## Why Work Here - **Engineering culture**: Small, high-autonomy team where engineers own features end-to-end and see their code impact thousands of scientists the same day. Reading groups on category theory, immunology, and more. - **Remote/hybrid policy**: Not explicitly stated, but headquarters in San Francisco; office parking subsidized. Likely in-office with flexibility. - **Notable perks**: Unlimited PTO, 100%-subsidized platinum health plan (Cigna) + 75% for dependents, dental/vision, 401(k), ambitious equity, 12+ meals weekly, annual tech stipend, signing bonus, O-1 visa sponsorship, professional development. - **Team size**: ~26 employees, with 65% in technical roles (engineering, bioinformatics, research). Flat structure with direct access to founders. - **Growth trajectory**: Rapid headcount growth and expanding customer base offer career acceleration opportunities. ## Sources 1. [latch.bio](https://latch.bio/) 2. [latch.bio/about](https://latch.bio/about) 3. [linkedin.com/company/latchbio](https://www.linkedin.com/company/latchbio) 4. [cbinsights.com/company/latch-bio](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/latch-bio) 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/latchbio](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/latchbio) ## Other roles at LatchBio - [AI Biologist - SpatialBench-Long](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-biologist-spatialbench-long-latchbio-san-francisco-fq6pfdtd50gh) — San Francisco, CA - [Research Partnerships Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/research-partnerships-lead-latchbio-san-francisco-w3cn8phxd4p6) — San Francisco, CA - [Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/design-engineer-latchbio-san-francisco-8x1p6p2tc58a) — San Francisco, CA - [AI Biologist - Metagenomics](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-biologist-metagenomics-latchbio-san-francisco-gwgartjr88ym) — San Francisco, CA - [Member of Technical Staff, Translational Medicine](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-translational-medicine-latchbio-san-francisco-285vtn4ndp1z) — San Francisco, CA - [Member of Technical Staff, Virology](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-virology-latchbio-san-francisco-024n38fr9e7n) — San Francisco, CA - [AI Biologist - Oligonucleotide Drug Discovery](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-biologist-oligonucleotide-drug-discovery-latchbio-san-francisco-70tmvnpejcfb) — San Francisco, CA - [Member of Technical Staff](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-latchbio-san-francisco-avna2aphbqbh) — San Francisco, CA - [Member of Technical Staff, Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-infrastructure-latchbio-san-francisco-31msmk59eg6s) — San Francisco, CA - [AI Biologist - Function](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-biologist-function-latchbio-san-francisco-hh6bvz3w6nsm) — San Francisco, CA