Senior Manager, Large Format Spatial Biology

The mission of the Allen Institute is to unlock the complexities of bioscience and advance our knowledge to improve human health. Using an open science, multi-scale, team-oriented approach, the Allen Institute focuses on accelerating foundational research, developing standards and models, and cultivating new ideas to make a broad, transformational impact on science.

The Allen Institute is launching a new moonshot initiative on human brain health and disease. This initiative aims to dramatically accelerate our understanding of human brain structure and function, identify the molecular, cellular and circuit basis of disease progression, and pioneer new therapeutic strategies targeting vulnerable and affected cell types. Our mission focuses on taking a human-centric approach to understanding and treating disease, combining a large-scale open science discovery approach across multiple diseases, AI-based disease modeling, and translational programs in specific diseases to move from discovery to clinical application. We aim to make transformational change in understanding and treating brain disorders, the biggest health challenge of our time.

Recent advances in spatial molecular analyses of brain tissues with high information content transcriptomic, proteomic and connectomic methods are rapidly transforming how we can understand brain structure and function in health and disease, accelerated by the recent commercialization of spatial platforms. Application to important areas of human neurobiology and neurobiology of disease is now possible, albeit with the need for technical innovation to scale to large format needed to understand brain-wide phenotypes of human brain structure and function. We are seeking an outstanding individual to lead a large format spatial biology core, to collaborate with internal and external partners to bring in new technologies, optimize them for application to human brain tissues, and manage a core facility to deliver high-throughput datasets as part of coordinated large scale projects. This individual should have experience in imaging core management, and is highly motivated to support creation of an imaging core to take on the specific challenges of large-format imaging of large human brain specimens. This role will also foster innovation on new assays and technologies and actively participate in scientific programs to accelerate discovery and translation in brain disorders. The successful candidate will have direct expertise in spatial methods and experience running core facilities.

The Senior Manager, Spatial Biology, will be responsible for supervising, directing and at times executing a wide variety of tasks provided by the core that are necessary for advancing our scientific goals focused on understanding the human brain in the healthy and the disease states.

The Allen Institute offers exceptional working conditions, and nurtures team science in an intellectually rich and stimulating setting. We provide a highly collaborative research environment offering the opportunity to interface closely with our molecular and cell biologists, bioinformaticians, and partner Institutions. We believe that science is for everyone – and should be open to everyone. We are dedicated to combating biases and reducing barriers to STEM careers more broadly.

At the Allen Institute, we believe that science is for everyone – and should be open to everyone. We are dedicated to combating biases and reducing barriers to STEM careers more broadly.

We also believe that science is better when it includes different perspectives and voices. We strive to make the Allen Institute a place where everyone feels like they belong and are empowered to do their best work in a supportive environment.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for our open positions.

Essential Functions

• Develop, implement and maintain custom and commercially-available solutions to assess gene expression in large format tissue sections, especially but not limited to human brain
• Daily, direct supervision and management of a team responsible for generating high quality spatial transcriptomic data and/or building the processes for data acquisition, quality control and transfer to the cloud
• Participate in complex, multi-team collaborative projects on human brain healthy and diseased brain spatial analyses
• Manage a high throughput core, including day-to-day operations, staffing, scheduling, budgeting, and financial governance
• Seek and evaluate new cutting-edge techniques in related areas
• Participate in new technology development efforts
• Support and drive multiple projects in parallel, focusing on both exploratory technology development projects as well as large scale data generation for established projects and collaborations with the scientific community
• Collaborate across teams within the Allen Institute to ensure accuracy and efficiency in the relevant data generation pipelines, including advising teams on upstream specimen generation, handling and processing, and downstream data analysis
• Present at internal scientific meetings and scientific conferences
• Contribute to manuscripts and grant applications

*Note: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; it does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.*

Required Education and Experience

• Ph.D. or equivalent in neuroscience or life sciences
• Minimum of 8 years of related work experience and/or training
• Deep knowledge of spatial transcriptomics and related methods to quantify gene expression in situ
• Expertise in large format imaging and microscopy, fluidics and sample handling necessary to scale technology platforms to handle high throughput data generation pipelines
• Excellent judgement and problem-solving skills
• Strong technical ability to work across multiple software tools to ensure that data is processed and tracked in an accurate and transparent manner

Preferred Education and Experience

• Ph.D. in neuroscience or life sciences
• Knowledge of human and non-human primate neuroanatomy
• Familiarity with cell type classification in mammalian brains
• Expertise in the MERFISH or similar spatial transcriptomics platforms
• Experience in technological and scientific innovation with high information content spatial molecular technologies and methods
• Familiarity with and willingness to learn cutting edge spatial proteomics methods and techniques
• Willingness to utilize advanced computational approaches (including machine learning and AI) to improve and accelerate work products
• Proven track record of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals related to spatial transcriptomics and associated fields
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Collaborative, innovative and team-science focused mindset and experience

Work Environment

• Laboratory environment - possible chemical, biological, or other hazardous substances exposure
• This may include wearing personnel protective equipment (PPE)

Physical Demands

• Fine motor movements for operating computers and lab equipment

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• This role is currently working onsite and is expected to work onsite for the majority of working hours. The primary work location for this role is 615 Westlake Ave N.

Annualized Salary Range

$156,850 - $196,050*

*Final salary depends on the required education for the role, experience, level of skills relevant to the role, and work location, where applicable.

Benefits

• Employees (and their families) are eligible to enroll in benefits per eligibility rules outlined in the Allen Institute’s Benefits Guide. These benefits include medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees are also eligible to enroll in the Allen Institute’s 401k plan. Paid time off is also available as outlined in the Allen Institutes Benefits Guide. Details on the Allen Institute’s benefits offering are located at the following link to the Benefits Guide: https://alleninstitute.org/careers/benefits.

It is the policy of the Allen Institute to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the Allen Institute will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.