---
title: 'Member of Technical Staff - Computational Biologist at Valthos'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-computational-biologist-valthos-new-york-ffq3qxx60872'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Member of Technical Staff - Computational Biologist at Valthos

- **Company:** Valthos
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-08-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/valthos/dd6c0d36-e5ae-4ff5-9d5a-34b562a5e694

## Job description

Computational Biologist Valthos Inc.

Valthos is an applied biological intelligence company. We build and deploy software and biological AI systems to safeguard humanity. The same AI architectures that enable self-driving cars, land rockets with precision, and deliver expert-level reasoning are beginning to be deployed in biological design. To stay ahead, we must advance our arsenal of tools to capture and design against real-time sensitivities in nature’s evolving mutational landscape. We are a group of mission-driven software engineers from Palantir and applied biological ML engineers from MIT’s Broad Institute and DeepMind making the latest advances in computational biology accessible in the real-world for federal and commercial use.

We are seeking a highly skilled Computational Biologist to bridge machine learning and biology by building robust data and evaluation frameworks for assessing and responding to biological threats, and for rapidly designing precision biologics.

## The Role

- Contribute to shaping and executing the Valthos-wide research and development roadmap
- Identify large-scale biological datasets appropriate for training frontier biological models, and build workflows and infrastructure for processing these datasets
- Design, build, and apply evaluation frameworks for rigorously assessing model performance on real-world problems in biological security
- Design wet-lab experiments to evaluate the efficacy and real-world utility of designed biologics
- Collaborate closely with AI engineers to design and train models tailored to tasks in biological security and precision biologics
- Collaborate closely with software engineers to build and deploy tools for data analysis, including proper documentation and testing
- Visualize and communicate results clearly within Valthos and externally
- Work with customers and external collaborators to understand their needs and effectively represent Valthos
- Embrace continuous learning in both technical and non-technical areas across Valthos
- Stay up-to-date on state-of-the-art methods at the intersection of AI and biology

## Qualifications (required)

- Experience analyzing biological datasets, ideally sequence-based modalities (e.g., genomic, protein, metagenomic)
- Experience planning and running in silico computational biology experiments
- High proficiency in Python and its scientific package ecosystem
- Experience with bioinformatics sequence analysis tools (e.g., aligners)
- Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS)

## Qualifications (preferred)

- Proven ability to design, implement, and evaluate novel methods in computational biology
- Experience working with experimental biologists to plan and interpret the results of wet-lab experiments
- Experience with ML-centric bioinformatics and structure-based tools (e.g., AlphaFold)
- Knowledge of biological databases (e.g., NCBI)
- Experience with machine learning model training and evaluation
- Contributions to open-source projects

If there is a fit, we'll schedule two technical interviews. The final step is an onsite in our office, where you'll work on a small project, discuss ideas, and work with the wider team.

## About Valthos

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Valthos builds frontier AI systems that identify biological threats and design medical countermeasures in real time, strengthening biodefense for government and life sciences stakeholders.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage – $30M raised)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Kathleen McMahon (Co-Founder & CEO) and Tess van Stekelenburg (Co-Founder & President)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Biodefense, Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology
- **Target customers**: Government agencies (biodefense, national security) and life sciences organizations (pharma, biotech, public health)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To build next-generation biodefense by developing AI systems that can rapidly characterize biological sequences and design adaptive medical countermeasures, ensuring threats are neutralized as fast as they emerge.

## Products & Services
- **Frontier AI Biodefense Platform**: A software infrastructure that harnesses computational methods to characterize biological sequences and compress the time to design medical countermeasures. The platform is designed for experts in government and life sciences to detect and mitigate biological threats with speed and precision. Type: AI/Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for defense and biosecurity.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (Private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – $30 million (Seed round, announced October 29, 2025)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, Founders Fund. Additional support from investors including OpenAI, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and more.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Raised $30M seed financing from top-tier investors (OpenAI, Lux, Founders Fund) signaling strong institutional confidence.
  - Founding team drawn from Palantir, DeepMind, Broad Institute, and Arc Institute.
  - Actively hiring across 12+ open positions (Applied AI, Software Engineering, Computational Biology, Operations) as of mid-2025.
  - LinkedIn follower growth of +10.7% monthly, indicating increasing brand awareness.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unique positioning at the intersection of AI and biodefense**: Addresses a critical, high-stakes niche that few startups target.
- **World-class founding team**: CEO Kathleen McMahon previously led Palantir’s Life Sciences division; President Tess van Stekelenburg is a partner at Lux Capital. Technical leads come from DeepMind, Broad Institute, and Arc Institute.
- **Backing from AI and defense leaders**: OpenAI, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund provide both capital and strategic credibility.
- **First-mover in adaptive countermeasure design**: The platform aims to update medical countermeasures in real time, solving the asymmetry problem where pathogens can be created faster than cures.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale software infrastructure** for government and commercial biodefense stakeholders.
- **Expand engineering and research teams** – currently hiring for applied AI, forward deployed engineers, computational biologists, and operations roles.
- **Deepen partnerships** with government agencies and life sciences organizations to deploy the platform against emerging biological threats.
- **Lay groundwork for adaptive, precision therapeutics** beyond immediate biodefense applications.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven work**: Directly contribute to protecting humanity from biological threats – a high-impact, urgent problem.
- **Elite team environment**: Work alongside engineers and scientists from Palantir, DeepMind, Broad Institute, and Arc Institute.
- **Strong backing and resources**: $30M seed funding from top-tier investors provides runway and stability.
- **In-office culture**: Valthos operates from a physical office in New York, NY, with an in-office expectation (as per Built In profile).
- **Growth opportunities**: Early-stage company with 8–10 employees and 12+ open roles – new hires will shape the company’s technical and operational direction.
- **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but typical early-stage startup benefits (equity, competitive comp) likely apply. Emphasis on engineering and biotech talent.

## Sources
1. [valthos.com](https://valthos.com/)
2. [valthos.com/blog/intro](https://valthos.com/blog/intro)
3. [LinkedIn – Valthos](https://www.linkedin.com/company/valthos)
4. [PRNewswire – Valthos Raises $30M](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/valthos-raises-30m-from-openai-lux-capital-founders-fund-to-build-next-generation-biodefense-302598583.html)
5. [Built In – Valthos Careers](https://builtin.com/company/valthos)

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