Principal Scientist, Bioinformatics
Not Disclosed•Full-TimeHybrid
location_on467, Railroad Avenue, South San Francisco, San Mateo County, California, 94080, United States
About Us
Nkarta is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: NKTX), clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in South San Francisco. Founded in 2015, our mission is to harness the body's natural killer (NK) cells—the immune system's first responders—to deliver a safe, accessible form of cell therapy for B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.
Our vision is to make cell therapy broadly available by pioneering allogeneic NK cells that can be dosed in outpatient, community health settings. Nkarta's engineering process enhances the natural ability of NK cells to fight disease by identifying and eliminating unhealthy cells, including malfunctioning B cells. Our lead candidate, NKX019, uses NK cells collected from healthy donors rather than burdening the patient with blood collection. This donor-derived approach allows us to develop CAR NK cells off the shelf and on demand.
Nkarta is a people-driven company looking for passionate, collaborative, and determined team members galvanized by a paradigm-shifting opportunity to change the cell therapy landscape.
About the Role
This high-impact, hands-on leadership role sits within the Translational Medicine team. As a Principal Scientist, you will serve as a senior bioinformatics expert driving the strategy for single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Your work will be central to advancing biomarker discovery, mechanism-of-action investigations, and translational data analysis from clinical samples.
You will collaborate cross-functionally to leverage scRNA-seq, spatial, and functional genomics approaches to drive translational insights and clinical decision-making in early development. This position offers direct visibility to senior leadership, where your analyses will influence go/no-go decisions and shape the company's scientific strategy.
Working at Nkarta
Our 100+ team members describe Nkarta as a place where people are open to ideas, and where the leadership team demonstrates genuine care for employees. Colleagues highlight the exceptional talent, kindness, and support within the team, noting that the executive team truly values employees and understands the importance of institutional knowledge.
Key cultural attributes include:
- Transparent and honest leadership with clear expectations.
- A diverse team with accessible executives.
- An emphasis on people as a valuable resource.
- A mission-driven focus on making a difference in patients' lives.
While we are an early-stage startup working to improve work-life balance and cross-group communication, the environment is defined by smart, dedicated colleagues empowered with the tools needed to succeed.
Hiring Process & Application
To learn more about our work and career opportunities, please visit our website at nkartatx.com. We invite you to apply to join a team dedicated to serving patients through innovative cell therapy.
Equal Opportunity
Nkarta is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We value the unique perspectives that different backgrounds bring to our mission.
Similar Job Opportunities
Skills, education and keywords
Skills: Single-Cell Transcriptomics, Spatial Transcriptomics, Scrna-Seq, Functional Genomics, Bulk Rna-Seq, Wes, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Python, R.
Education: PhD in Biological Sciences, Computational Biology, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Genomics, or related field required.
Frequently asked questions about Principal Scientist, Bioinformatics at Nkarta, Inc.
What does a Principal Scientist, Bioinformatics at Nkarta, Inc. do?expand_more
Day-to-day, the Principal Scientist, Bioinformatics at Nkarta, Inc. will lead and execute computational strategies for clinical and biological datasets to support go/no-go decisions; develop and apply computational methods for single-cell and spatial transcriptomics to generate translational insights; establish scalable pipelines for multi-modal data integration across programs; and integrate and analyze functional genomics datasets to generate mechanistic insights for clinical strategies.
What are the requirements for this Principal Scientist, Bioinformatics role?expand_more
Nkarta, Inc. is looking for candidates who meet the following requirements: PhD in Biological Sciences, Computational Biology, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Genomics, or related discipline; 5+ years of industry experience; Deep expertise in single-cell and spatial transcriptomics analysis; Experience with functional genomics and transcriptomic data (e.g., bulk RNA-seq, WES); Proficiency in Python and/or R; and Experience with cloud-based infrastructure (e.g., AWS).