---
title: 'Neurodegenerative Disease Senior Scientist at Convergent Research'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/neurodegenerative-disease-senior-scientist-convergent-research-watertown-f1kzzqd23dst'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Neurodegenerative Disease Senior Scientist at Convergent Research

- **Company:** Convergent Research
- **Location:** Watertown, MA
- **Compensation:** $86k–$119k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-07-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/convergentresearch/82540c08-47ab-457a-bc22-f9abf5e0c427

## Job description

Parallel Squared Technology Institute (PTI) is a non-profit research institute developing technologies, reagents, and computational tools to increase the sensitivity and throughput of protein analysis, with a specific focus on single-cell proteomics. We are applying these innovations to societally-relevant areas of biomedical research. As part of these efforts, we are developing new approaches to study protein dysfunctions in Alzheimer’s and related neurodegenerative diseases.

Summary of Position We are seeking scientist and senior scientist candidates to help drive our efforts to use single-cell proteomics to understand the causes of Alzheimer’s and related neurodegenerative diseases.  Ideal candidates will have expertise in the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and direct, hand-on experience in single-cell analysis, computational biology, and brain tissue handling.

Candidates will have the opportunity to work as part of an interdisciplinary team in multiple areas, including on NIH-funded projects, using proteomic technologies developed at PTI to discover new molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s and related disorders.  Day-to-day responsibilities include designing and carrying out experiments to isolate and profile single cells from brain tissue, computationally analyzing large-scale single-cell proteomics datasets, preparing manuscripts and presentations, mentoring junior scientists, and regular meetings with collaborators in and outside of PTI. Candidates will initially work on ongoing projects but will have the opportunity to design and lead their own projects as well.

Candidates with less than 1 year of postdoctoral experience will be considered for the scientist position and those with more than 1 year of experience will be considered for the senior scientist position.

## About PTI

PTI is a nonprofit, focused research organization (FRO) established through Convergent Research.  FROs aim to accelerate progress across science and technology by tackling large-scale problems with the potential to unlock existing bottlenecks in specific research areas.  PTI aims to achieve a 100-1000x increase in the scale of proteomic analysis.  To do so, we are developing new technologies and approaches for mass spectrometric proteomics.  This includes molecular barcodes, termed “mass tags” that enable sample multiplexing, as well as computational approaches for increasing the sensitivity of protein analysis.  We aim to apply these advances in societally-relevant areas, with a specific focus on neurodegenerative disease.  To do so, we are collaborating with leaders in neurodegenerative disease from around the world.  To learn more about PTI’s approach for studying neurodegenerative disease, please visit this page.  To learn more about our technology for increasing the throughput of protein analysis, please visit here.

Researchers at PTI have the opportunity to work within an interdisciplinary team of mass spectrometrists, chemists, computational analysts, and biologists to push the boundaries of protein analysis. PTI supports professional development through educational opportunities such as travel to conferences workshops.

Members of PTI receive industry-level resources to lead research projects and have the opportunity to disseminate their discoveries and innovations through high-visibility publications, presentations, and submissions to public data portals.

Responsibilities:

- Design and execute research projects using single-cell proteomics to understand the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s and related disease.
- Computationally analyze large-scale, single-cell proteomic datasets to identify new molecular mechanisms of disease.
- Collaborate with external laboratories, brain banks, and tissue repositories on sample procurement.
- Prepare human brain tissue samples for proteomic analysis using methods and technologies developed at PTI.
- Help junior scientists gain expertise in experimental techniques used at PTI, analyzing and interpreting experimental results, recording data in laboratory notebooks, and writing up and presenting research results.
- Make regular presentations within PTI and to collaborators.
- Prepare manuscripts related to project outcomes and grant applications for external funding.
- Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness through actions, interactions, and communications with others.
- Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

- PhD Neuroscience or a related field.
- Direct, hands-on experience in preparing human brain tissue for downstream analyses.
- Direct, hands-on experience with single cell analysis.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, record keeping ability, and attention to detail.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience in high throughput or automated tissue sample collection, preparation, and analysis, particularly with human brains.
- Experience with mass spectrometry proteomics.
- Fluency in R or Python, particularly in the context of single-cell analysis.

We offer:

- An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and the most talented experts from different fields.
- Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance with many $0 premium options for you and your family with several national and regional providers. Most employees have more than 20 plan options to choose from.
- Company-paid group life, AD&D, long- and short-term disability insurance
- 15 days PTO + 10 sick days per year
- 18 company holidays + your birthday off
- $5,000 per year educational reimbursement
- Up to 16 weeks paid parental leave

We aim to help fill a structural gap in today's R&D system. We enable fundamental research that requires unusual levels of scale and coordination yet is not rapidly monetizable by industry. We’re bringing together top talent from academia, industry, and startups to build a new model for innovative R&D. As an incubator within the Schmidt Futures Network, we identify high-impact scientific or technical research and development opportunities, ultimately defining and launching these projects as Focused Research Organizations.

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal law or company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.

## About Convergent Research

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Convergent Research is a nonprofit organization that launches and supports Focused Research Organizations (FROs) to build foundational technologies that unblock scientific progress.
- **Entity Type**: Private Nonprofit (501(c)(3))
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Adam Marblestone, Anastasia Gamick

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Scientific Research and Development Services (NAICS 5417)
- **Target customers**: B2B — scientific researchers, universities, government agencies, and philanthropic funders; operates as a "mission control" launching public-good R&D projects.
- **Mission statement**: “Spectacularly good futures are within reach, but only if we mind the gaps. Scientists need essential technologies to do the groundbreaking research all of us depend on.”

## Products & Services
Convergent Research does not sell commercial products. Instead, it incubates **Focused Research Organizations (FROs)** – time-bound, technically ambitious nonprofit efforts designed to produce high-impact public goods. Current and past FROs/projects include:

- **Cultivarium**: Developing tools for studying novel (previously unculturable) microorganisms.
- **E11 Bio (EVE Bio)**: Brain circuit mapping technologies.
- **Forest Neurotech**: Neural technology and biosensing platforms.
- **Ocean CDR Atlas**: Open-access tool for ocean-based carbon dioxide removal measurement.
- **Fundamental Development Gap Map (v1.0)**: A public web portal identifying bottlenecks holding back science.

Convergent Research provides shared operational support (legal, finance, HR, communications) across all FROs.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (nonprofit).
- **Annual Revenue (FY2024)**: **$72.4 million** (ProPublica IRS filing). Total revenue for FY2024 was $100.1 million.
- **Total Grant Funding Received**: At least $25.1 million from Vanguard Charitable, $9.5 million from Probabilistic Computing Foundation, $8 million from The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation (latest filings).
- **Total Funding Raised**: ~$2 million in disclosed grants (led by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2023); the vast majority comes from additional major philanthropic gifts not categorized as single-investor rounds.
- **Notable Partners/Funders**: Advanced Research and Intervention Agency (ARIA, UK), Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, Vanguard Charitable, Probabilistic Computing Foundation.
- **Growth Signals**: 164 employees (as of latest CauseIQ data, up from ~23 on LinkedIn); headquarter presence in Palo Alto, Cambridge (MA), and Boulder (CO); expanded into the UK via a collaboration with ARIA (“FROST UK”); 15 active job postings with 25% month-over-month posting growth.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Novel institutional model**: Focused Research Organizations (FROs) fill a gap between traditional academia and for-profit startups — targeted, time-boxed, public-good missions.
- **Lean central infrastructure**: Shared operational support lets FRO scientists focus purely on technical breakthroughs, avoiding administrative overhead.
- **High-caliber scientific network**: Leaders include senior scientists from MIT, Caltech, King’s College London, and CMU as grantees/collaborators.
- **Access to major philanthropic capital**: Partners with some of the largest climate and science foundations globally.

## Strategic Focus
- **Geographic expansion**: Formal partnership with ARIA in the UK to launch FROs abroad (“FROST UK”).
- **Gap mapping**: Releasing and refining the Fundamental Development Gap Map to systematically identify the biggest bottlenecks in science.
- **Scaling the FRO model**: Adding new FROs in ocean CDR, neuroscience, and molecular engineering; hiring Founders in Residence to spin up new efforts.
- **Public data as product**: Committed to releasing open datasets and protocols (e.g., drug–target assay data, Lean proof library) as public goods.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Direct, hands-on impact on solving foundational scientific bottlenecks rather than incremental product improvements.
- **Culture**: Described as “mission control” — fast-paced, collaborative, technical. Leadership emphasizes pushing high-risk, high-reward projects.
- **Locations**: On-site positions in Palo Alto (CA), Cambridge/Boston (MA), and Boulder (CO). Some roles are US- or UK-based.
- **Team composition**: Small, senior-heavy centralized team (~20 core staff in Palo Alto) plus larger distributed FRO project teams (~164 total organization-wide). Significant cross-functional work across legal, finance, operations, and science.
- **Typical roles**: Postdoctoral Research Scientists, Research Associates, Biosensing Engineers, Finance/Operations Managers, General Counsel.
- **Compensation transparency (IRS filing)**: CEO Adam Marblestone — $431,025; President Anastasia Gamick — $360,495; competitive nonprofit scientific salaries.
- **Notable perks**: Working with world-class scientists and funders; contributions to genuinely public-good science; tax-deductible donation eligible organization.
- **Remote/hybrid**: Mostly on-site (Boulder, Palo Alto, Cambridge); limited remote possibilities depending on role.

## Sources
1. [convergentresearch.org](https://www.convergentresearch.org/)
2. [jobs.lever.co/convergentresearch](https://jobs.lever.co/convergentresearch)
3. [linkedin.com/company/convergent-research](https://linkedin.com/company/convergent-research)
4. [causeiq.com – Convergent Research](https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/convergent-research,883013217/)
5. [projects.propublica.org – Convergent Research Inc](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/883013217)

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