Member of Technical Staff, Virology

Department: Research

Location: San Francisco, USA

Employment Type: FullTime

Member of Technical Staff - Virology

Latch builds rigorous scientific benchmarks (benchmarks.bio) that measure how well AI agents perform real biology. Frontier AI labs and pharma use them to answer one question: can an agent handle the messy, multi-layer reasoning that real biological work demands?

Every benchmark is grounded in real experimental and clinical work, including designing experiments, interpreting data, reading clinical endpoints, and advancing compounds. Each is built by scientists who've done that work themselves.

We're roughly 100 people in San Francisco, backed by Lux Capital, Coatue, Fifty Years, Haystack, Jeff Dean, Alec Nielsen, and George Church.

We're seeking a Member of Technical Staff for Virology to lead our Virology benchmark and define how the field measures AI in Virology.

About the Role

You will design our technical approach to understand how agents could be misused for biological harm, and measure where current safety guardrails fall short.

You will work with research engineers and biologists to build benchmarks that measure whether AI systems can meaningfully assist with:

• Designing and assessing virology experiments

• Troubleshooting protocols and identifying where an AI-generated recommendation would fail in the wet lab

• Interpreting viral genomes, proteins, mutations, and phenotypic data

• Selecting, using, and evaluating bioinformatics and biological design tools

• Planning iterative experimental workflows

• Evaluating experimental feasibility across conditions

• Identifying when AI systems provide inaccurate, unsafe, or incomplete guidance in dual-use contexts

Requirements

• PhD in virology or a closely related field, with doctoral or postdoctoral research centered on viruses

• Substantial hands-on wet-lab virology experience, including experimental design, execution, and troubleshooting

• Experience working in BSL-3 or high-containment BSL-2 laboratories

• Have used used or evaluated Large Language Models, biological foundation models, or AI-enabled biological design tools

• Proficiency in Python and/or R

Culture @ Latch

How we work. Genuinely flexible schedules— we only ask that you are extra communicative when you're coming in later than usual. We care most about hard work and output. We're respectfully opinionated, it will always be us against problems, never each other. We optimize for each other's time and bring solutions, not just problems.

Office & Perks. Waterfront office near Oracle Park, 2x free daily meals, unlimited snacks, company outings most months, and team offsites. Plus a vibrant Latch community: cycling, soccer, figure skating, boxing, run clubs, reading clubs, martial arts, music, game nights.

Compensation & Logistics

• Full-time, in-person

• Unlimited PTO (truly)

• Work Visa sponsorship

• Flexible Spending Account

• 401 contribution (no match)

• Profit Share + Ambitious Equity

• Team-wide science reading groups

• 100% covered Health, dental, vision

• Relocation Assistance (if applicable)

• Lunch and dinner provided every workday

• Waterfront office in China Basin, San Francisco

• Company-sponsored professional development

• Flexible working hours, so long as you maintain an onsite presence

• Best office dog: Nix

Interview Process

1. Intro Screen (30m): Recruitment Team

2. Intro Technical Screen (30m): Member of Technical Staff/CTO

3. Deeper Technical Screen (1hr): Member of Technical Staff/CTO

4. Onsite Work Trial: 2-3 days (we will take care of all accommodations)

5. Decision: 1-3 days after your interview