---
title: 'Scientist, Viral Vector Process Development at Asimov'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-viral-vector-process-development-asimov-boston-1qsqy03f8zyb'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Scientist, Viral Vector Process Development at Asimov

- **Company:** Asimov
- **Location:** Boston, MA
- **Compensation:** $120k–$130k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-10-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/asimov/b1bbdef9-9e01-42c1-b989-e598f8a774ea

## Job description

Our mission at Asimov is to advance humanity's ability to design living systems, enabling biotechnologies with outsized benefit to society. We're developing a mammalian synthetic biology platform––from cells to software––to enable the design and manufacture of next-generation therapeutics.

We are seeking a Scientist I/II, Viral Vector Process Development to join our team in Boston, MA. This role is for a technical expert who will conduct lentiviral (LV Edge) and adeno-associated viral (AAV Edge) vector-based process engineering for gene therapies, design complex experimental approaches to improve our workflows and systems, and coordinate project efforts. While primarily focused on viral vector process engineering, there is a high degree of cross-functionality within the Process Development group that includes working on biologics processes (CHO Edge).

The successful candidate will work closely with Asimov’s Viral Vector and Biologics Cell Line Development teams as well as interfacing with external partners. This role reports to the Head of Process Development and is a unique opportunity to work at a nimble, forward-thinking synthetic biology startup and help build the future of biological engineering.

About the Role:

- Drive execution in projects that include media/feed optimization, bioreactor process development, process scale-up and characterization at Ambr15, Ambr250, and benchtop scale, along with analytical assay development focused primarily on LV/AAV, with overlap into biologics.
- Work together with the Commercial team to technology transfer developed upstream processes to external partners.
- Create and optimize throughput and robustness of workflows for cell line characterization (transient/stable), small scale screening assays, and product quality assessment.
- Work in tandem with our Viral Vector and Biologics Cell Line Development teams to perform clone screening studies in Ambr15/Ambr250 bioreactor systems.
- Author, review, and approve process development reports and technology transfer protocols.
- Support clarifications, downstream processing/purification, and product quality assessment with analytical tools.
- Represent the process development team on cross-functional projects, making decisions for process development activities and effectively communicating results, progress and plans.

About You:

- You have a Bachelors in Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, or a related field with 6-8 years of hands-on industry experience performing viral vector process development in support of gene therapies; alternatively, a MS with 3-4 years or PhD with 0-2 years of this type of experience.
- You’re a creative problem solver and get excited about the opportunity to drive the creation of industry-disruptive technology.
- Mammalian cell culture experience and aseptic technique; HEK293-based viral vector process development is squarely in your wheelhouse. Additional CHO-based experience is not required but preferable.
- You must have experience with Ambr15, Ambr250, and/or benchtop scale viral vector bioreactor processes. Analytical development and downstream purification experience is also highly preferable.
- Being detail-oriented isn’t just a sound bite for you, it’s part of your DNA. Keeping track of a bunch of moving parts is easy for you because you’re highly organized. It’s not your first time following a standardized workflow or pipeline.
- Experience in cell line development, and/or the technology transfer of manufacturing processes in the pharmaceutical industry is desirable.
- You are an expert in spreadsheets such as Google Sheets or Excel and ideally Spotfire, Google Apps Script (JavaScript) and/or BigQuery to facilitate data management and analysis.
- Experienced with using DOE software to develop robust experiments.
- Experience working with electronic laboratory notebooks, good documentation practices.

We're fueled by a vision to transform biological engineering into a fully-fledged engineering discipline. Should you join our team, you will grow with a constantly evolving organization and push the frontiers of synthetic biology. Company culture is key to Asimov, and ours is a culture of recombination; we believe that our mission can only be achieved by bringing together a diverse team with a mixture of backgrounds and perspectives.

## About Asimov

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Asimov builds an integrated platform of cells, genes, and software to program living systems, enabling the design and manufacture of advanced therapies.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, raised $175M in January 2023)
- **Headquarters**: Boston, Massachusetts, USA (with a second office in Boulder, Colorado)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Alec Nielsen (CEO), Chris Voigt, Doug Densmore, Raja Srinivas

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Synthetic biology, biotechnology, therapeutics manufacturing
- **Target customers**: B2B – biotech startups, mid-size biotechs, and large pharmaceutical companies (partnered with over 25 companies)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “To radically advance humanity’s ability to design living systems, enabling biological technologies with outsized societal benefit.”

## Products & Services
- **Design Software**: Cloud-based CAD platform to design, simulate, and optimize genetic systems in different cell types.
- **Genetic Parts Library**: Over 1,000 experimentally validated genetic parts (transposases, expression vectors, inducible systems, tissue-specific promoters, etc.).
- **Host Cell Lines**: Engineered, highly characterized GMP host cells for therapeutic production (CHO, HEK293, etc.) with regulatory documentation.
- **LV Edge**: Stable cell lines and software tools for lentiviral titers up to 1E9 TU/mL.
- **AAV Edge**: End-to-end payload design and production achieving titers up to 6E15 vg/L.
- **RNA Edge**: Sequence design through wet-lab validation in weeks.
- **CHO Edge**: Genetic tools and data-driven models delivering titers of 8–12 g/L across modalities.
- **Platform Transfer & Full Service**: Two engagement models – customers use the platform in-house, or Asimov performs cell line development and process development at its Boston lab.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $205M; annual revenue of ~$4.0M (LinkedIn estimate)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz (seed lead), Horizons Ventures (Series A lead), CPP Investments (Series B lead), DARPA (research support). Partners include 25+ biotechs and pharma companies.
- **Growth Signals**: 95 employees (25.8% YoY growth); raised $200M in Series B (Jan 2023); launched AI-driven 4th generation CHO Edge System with increased titer guarantee; expanding into RNA and cell therapy tools.

## Competitive Advantages
- Only company offering an end-to-end platform that integrates mammalian synthetic biology, computer-aided design, and machine learning.
- Proprietary library of 1,000+ well-characterized genetic parts and GMP-banked host cells.
- “We use our own platform every day” – internal R&D teams validate improvements before releasing to customers.
- Strong regulatory support (GMP documentation for host cells) that de-risks therapeutic development.

## Strategic Focus
- Deepen AI/ML integration into genetic design and cell line development.
- Expand platform to cover more therapeutic modalities (cell therapy, RNA therapy, biologics).
- Scale partnerships with large pharma while continuing to support early-stage biotechs.
- Build out the “first CAD platform for biology” to transition genetic engineering into a fully-fledged engineering discipline.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “A culture of recombination” – interdisciplinary team of biologists, engineers, and ML scientists. Values include mission first, urgency, continuous learning, thoughtful communication, and avoiding local optima.
- **Work model**: Hybrid – employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work (Cambridge, MA and Boulder, CO).
- **Perks & growth**: Built In profile highlights career growth, compensation & benefits, work-life balance, and stability. The company is actively hiring across roles (Staff Software Engineer, Principal Scientist, Sr. Scientist, Associate Director).
- **Impact**: Work at the cutting edge of synthetic biology, directly contributing to the design and manufacture of life-saving therapies.

## Sources
1. [asimov.com](https://www.asimov.com/)
2. [asimov.com/about](https://www.asimov.com/about)
3. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/asimov)
4. [Built In](https://builtin.com/company/asimov)
5. [Careers Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/asimov)

## Other roles at Asimov

- [Scientist, Lentiviral Vector Cell Line Development](https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-lentiviral-vector-cell-line-development-asimov-boston-vhtpf4a8bt9m) — Boston, MA
- [Senior Scientist, Analytical Development](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-analytical-development-asimov-boston-9r1y790704fx) — Boston, MA
- [Senior Scientist, Lentiviral Vector Cell Line Development](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-lentiviral-vector-cell-line-development-asimov-boston-fdjvx16748gc) — Boston, MA
- [Senior Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-program-manager-asimov-boston-9pe8sjrfnxdw) — Boston, MA
- [Principal Scientist, Biologics Cell Line Development](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-scientist-biologics-cell-line-development-asimov-boston-zc098zf7xer4) — Boston, MA
- [Senior Scientist, Biologics Cell Line Development](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-biologics-cell-line-development-asimov-boston-5ypxr524ze78) — Boston, MA