Scientist, Analytical Characterization (HPLC & Mass Spec)

Job description

Adaptyv is building an automated lab that lets AI agents run biology experiments. We're entering the era of agentic science where AI models can now design novel proteins, propose hypotheses, and iterate on experimental results. But they can't run the experiments themselves - that's still a manual, months-long process. We're building the infrastructure that gives AI agents access to the physical world. We are one of the fastest growing biotech companies, trusted by leading biopharmas, frontier AI labs, and the techbio companies pushing the field forward. This is a rare chance to help advance some of the most important work happening in biotech today. Our automated lab is powered by a deep software + hardware stack: lab instruments worth millions of USD reverse-engineered into API-controllable hardware, dozens of devices orchestrated through complex workflows, full observability on everything that happens in the lab, processing pipelines for messy physical-world data, and AI systems that troubleshoot production results and accelerate assay development. We’re growing rapidly and are hiring for talented people to scale and support the massive demand for AI-driven wet lab experimentation. ABOUT THE ROLE You'll build out analytical characterization at Adaptyv — the forensic layer that tells a customer the truth about their molecule: its identity, purity, integrity, aggregation state, and modifications. HPLC and mass spectrometry are the core of this, applied across the full antibody stack and beyond. This is a build role, not a service-desk role. Today these methods are bespoke; your job is to turn them into automated, high-throughput, productized characterization that any customer can order and trust. You'll develop the methods hands-on, then work across teams to make them a reliable part of the platform — with the biology team to fit them into workflows, with lab automation to scale and automate them, and with software to capture, process, and interpret the data. You'll lead the science without retreating into management. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Develop, validate, and run analytical methods hands-on: HPLC (SEC, IEX/CEX, RP, HILIC) and LC-MS — intact and subunit mass, peptide mapping, PTM and glycan analysis, purity and identity. - Build the analytical characterization menu for the full antibody stack (and other biologics) into a productized, orderable capability. - Partner with lab automation to bring methods onto automated, high-throughput systems with reproducible turnaround. - Work with the software team to structure the data, build analysis and QC pipelines, and turn spectra and chromatograms into clean, interpretable results. - Set the quality bar: troubleshoot instruments and methods, define acceptance criteria, and own the integrity of what we report. - Advise customers and internal teams on what the data actually means. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Deep, hands-on expertise in HPLC and mass spectrometry for proteins/biologics — method development and validation, not just running fixed SOPs. - Applied industry experience. You've delivered analytical characterization in a production, manufacturing, QC, or commercial CRO setting — where results had to be right, fast, and reproducible at volume. This is the core requirement: we're not looking for a primarily academic profile who did this in a single research project. - Strong on the antibody / biologics analytical stack — you know what "good" looks like for identity, purity, aggregation, and PTMs. - Builder who moves fast. You like setting up new capabilities and getting them running, not maintaining the status quo. - Interdisciplinary. You're comfortable working shoulder-to-shoulder with automation engineers and software people, and you see data and automation as part of your job, not someone else's. - Comfort turning method data into pipelines (some scripting / data fluency) is a strong plus. DETAILS - Location: Lausanne, Switzerland (on-site) - Type: Full time - Start date: ASAP Application deadline We are reviewing applicants on a rolling basis.