About the Role
We are an early-stage startup working at the intersection of AI and wet labs, operating within the aerospace and defense sector. This is a rare founding-level opportunity for a senior scientist who wants to shape both scientific strategy and company direction from day one. You will combine hands-on biological expertise with computational thinking to build core technology, define research direction, and bridge laboratory work with AI-driven workflows to accelerate discovery.
Work arrangement: On-site | Visa sponsorship: Not available — candidates must be eligible to work in the UK without sponsorship.
What You'll Do
Define and lead the scientific vision and research roadmap for early-stage AI + wet-lab products.
Design and execute key molecular biology, biochemistry, or genomics experiments to validate models and assays.
Collaborate closely with engineers and ML researchers to translate experimental needs into computational requirements.
Implement and oversee lab automation and data pipelines to scale experiments and improve reproducibility.
Prototype computational tools and analyses; contribute code or notebooks to integrate wet-lab data with models.
Mentor and recruit early scientific hires; establish laboratory best practices and safety standards.
Apply AI/ML methods to biological data within aerospace and defense sector constraints.
What We're Looking For
Required:
PhD in Biotechnology, Genomics, Biology, or a closely related field.
Senior-level research experience in molecular biology, biochemistry, genomics, biotech, or a related discipline.
Demonstrated experience applying AI/ML to biological data (computational biology or bioinformatics).
Experience in aerospace or defense domains and understanding of sector-specific constraints.
Comfortable with computational thinking and coding; ML experience is a plus but not required.
Training or research background at leading research institutions or universities.
Nice to Have:
Prior experience at AI-for-biology companies, biotech startups, or similar industry environments.
Lab automation experience and enthusiasm for integrating AI with wet-lab workflows.
Prior founder experience or direct experience scaling early-stage teams and operations.
Strong cross-functional communication and collaboration skills.
Entrepreneurial mindset and comfort with ambiguity in a fast-paced startup environment.
Location
This is a full-time, on-site role based in London, United Kingdom. Candidates must have the right to work in the UK — visa sponsorship is not available.
Compensation & Benefits
Compensation details have not been specified for this role. As a founding-level position, equity participation is expected to be a meaningful component of the overall package. Details will be discussed directly with candidates during the interview process.
Clera is building autonomous AI agents that handle end-to-end recruiting operations. The company's AI agents find candidates, write personalized outreach, handle conversations, qualify fit, and schedule interviews without human intervention. Clera has raised pre-seed funding from top investors and has grown to marketplace scale with 40,000+ talents and hundreds of top startup customers. The company is now scaling its AI-native recruiting platform by hiring operators who supervise the agents, handle high-judgment moments, and close candidates that require human touch.
