Scientist

Job description

About Pilgrim: Pilgrim develops and deploys advanced biotechnology for defense and national security. Our primary platform, ARGUS, is a fully autonomous system for detecting biological threats in near real time, from naturally occurring pathogens to engineered agents. Pilgrim is not a research institute or academic lab - we engineer hardware for biology, turning breakthrough science into fielded capabilities. Pilgrim is backed by Peter Thiel, Dylan Field, Conviction, Cantos, and Refactor. Located in Redwood City, our team pairs mechanical and electrical engineering with chemistry and biology to bring critical technologies out of the lab and into the hands of operators in the field. About the Role: As a Scientist at Pilgrim, you will develop and validate the biological workflows at the core of our products. You will move between hands-on bench work and system integration, designing experiments, troubleshooting failure modes, and refining protocols. Your work will span genomics, microbiology, and molecular assay development, and you will partner closely with engineers to translate scientific advances into integrated systems that perform reliably in the real world. Responsibilities - Own the development and optimization of nucleic acid-based assays and sample-preparation workflows. - Build and refine methods for lysis, nucleic acid extraction, purification, concentration, amplification, and sequencing preparation, maximizing recovery of low-abundance targets from complex environmental samples. - Design and validate primer and probe sets for sensitive, specific target detection. - Design and run experiments that expose failure modes and improve sensitivity, specificity, recovery, reproducibility, and limit of detection. - Stress-test assays against real-world variation, including sample matrix, temperature, reagent age, contamination, and carryover. - Translate manual bench protocols into automated workflows that run reliably on integrated hardware. - Develop assays under appropriate design-control and quality practices, producing the documentation and traceability required for regulatory submissions, customer review, and audits. Qualifications - Deep understanding of biology, biochemistry, or a related life science, with a demonstrated ability to design, develop, and troubleshoot experiments. An advanced degree (MS, PhD) is a plus, but not required. - Hands-on experience developing nucleic acid-based assays and sample-preparation workflows. - Advanced command of standard wet-lab equipment, instrumentation, and molecular biology techniques. - Strong experimental judgment, attention to detail, and ability to interpret imperfect or conflicting data.