Bioinformatics Engineer - Refusal
About the role
We are building intelligent, high-performance agents for biological data analysis, empowering over 5,000 scientists across 150+ R&D labs to handle data from instrument-to-insights. We are seeking a Bioinformatics Engineer to join our Refusal team, working at the frontier of what artificial intelligence can achieve in biology.
Responsibilities
- Contribute to our technical approach to teaching agents where the boundary lies between legitimate biological research and work that raises meaningful biosecurity concerns, working from real protocols, datasets, and literature to establish ground truth for evaluations.
- Work as part of a team of software engineers and biologists building datasets to teach these agents to reason better across:
- Distinguishing legitimate research from high-risk requests
- Pathogen engineering & gain-of-function concerns
- Immune evasion & enhanced transmissibility
- Countermeasure & antiviral resistance
- Dual-use protocol & method assessment
Requirements
- 5+ years hands-on experience with virology, microbiology, immunology, synthetic biology, bioengineering or a related field
- Hands-on experience working with sequencing data, molecular cloning, and reverse genetics, and reasoning through wet-lab protocols
- Proficiency in Python and/or R
Culture @ Latch
How we work. Genuinely flexible schedules - we just ask that you communicate 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, not each other. Optimize for each other's time and bring solutions, not just problems.
Compensation & Logistics
- 1099 (or W8-BEN) contract, 40 hrs/week, no end date
- Fully performance-based pay: $120K–$180K, uncapped upside
- 2x quota = 2x pay
- 2x free daily meals from day one
- Remote (globally), hybrid, or onsite in SF (onsite preferred)
- Work authorization: OPT visa holders only (not STEM Extension)
- Onsite perks: 2x free meals/day, waterfront office (China Basin), monthly parking (based on availability)
Candidates
Candidates with all of the above qualifications + proven management skills will be eligible for more senior positions.
Interview Process Timeline
We move fast: 8–12 days from submission to offer. Intro Screen - Techcnical RecruiterTake-Home Project - HackerRankTechnical Interview - Member of Technical StaffCulture Interview - C-Suite (If applicable)