Associate Scientist Jobs
Associate Scientist jobs are open across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and contract research organizations, from entry-level to mid-career, with specializations in analytical chemistry, cell biology, and assay development. Find a role that fits from the openings below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 699+ Associate Scientist jobs
Position Summary:
Join Natera's Bio Development team as an Associate Scientist to design, optimize, and validate molecular assays for our market-leading non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) platform. This role bridges molecular biology with high-throughput liquid handling automation to directly impact patient care. The ideal candidate possesses strong experience in assay development, automated workflows, and data analysis, operating with an ownership mindset to convert scientific data into scalable clinical protocols.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Design, plan, and execute complex laboratory experiments autonomously to advance non-invasive prenatal test development
- Analyze experimental data using advanced analytical tools, providing data-driven insights and troubleshooting laboratory processes
- Own and document technical workflows, summarizing findings in research reports and laboratory presentations
- Partner cross-functionally with Clinical Laboratory Operations (CLIA), Quality Assurance (QA), and Automation Engineering to ensure methods meet rigorous quality and regulatory standards
- Write standard operating procedures (SOPs) and technical documentation to seamlessly transfer protocols to manufacturing and operations teams
- Train junior team members and operator teams on newly developed protocols
- Maintain deep professional expertise by staying current with scientific literature relevant to cell-free DNA and nucleic acid technologies
QUALIFICATIONS
- BA/BS with 6+ years of experience OR MS with 3+ years of experience in assay development and automation within the life sciences industry
- Demonstrated track record of developing, optimizing, and validating manual and automated protocols
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
- Strong underlying scientific knowledge of nucleic acid extraction, PCR, NGS library preparation, and hybrid capture technologies
- Hands-on experience in reagent preparation and quality control for NGS-associated assays
- Direct experience implementing, optimizing, and troubleshooting high-throughput automated assays utilizing liquid handler robotics
- Experience designing and executing formal design control studies, including stability, guard banding, reproducibility, repeatability, and validation
- Prior experience operating within a regulated laboratory environment (CLIA, CAP, or FDA)
- Data analysis and scripting proficiency in Python or R, along with liquid handler programming experience, is highly preferred
- Excellent cross-functional collaboration, organizational, and time management skills
OUR OPPORTUNITY
Natera™ is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, dedicated to oncology, women's health, and organ health. Our aim is to make personalized genetic testing and diagnostics part of the standard of care to protect health and enable earlier and more targeted interventions that lead to longer, healthier lives.
The Natera team consists of highly dedicated statisticians, geneticists, doctors, laboratory scientists, business professionals, software engineers and many other professionals from world-class institutions, who care deeply for our work and each other. When you join Natera, you'll work hard and grow quickly. Working alongside the elite of the industry, you'll be stretched and challenged, and take pride in being part of a company that is changing the landscape of genetic disease management.
WHAT WE OFFER
Competitive Benefits - Employee benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and disability plans for eligible employees and their dependents. Additionally, Natera employees and their immediate families receive free testing in addition to fertility care benefits. Other benefits include pregnancy and baby bonding leave, 401k benefits, commuter benefits and much more. We also offer a generous employee referral program!
Natera is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. Inclusive collaboration benefits our employees, our community and our patients, and is critical to our mission of changing the management of disease worldwide.
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable laws.
If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents.
Please be advised that Natera will reach out to candidates with a @natera.com email domain ONLY. Email communications from all other domain names are not from Natera or its employees and are fraudulent. Natera does not request interviews via text messages and does not ask for personal information until a candidate has engaged with the company and has spoken to a recruiter and the hiring team. Natera takes cyber crimes seriously, and will collaborate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute any related cyber crimes.
Position Summary:
Join Natera's Bio Development team as an Associate Scientist to design, optimize, and validate molecular assays for our market-leading non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) platform. This role bridges molecular biology with high-throughput liquid handling automation to directly impact patient care. The ideal candidate possesses strong experience in assay development, automated workflows, and data analysis, operating with an ownership mindset to convert scientific data into scalable clinical protocols.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Design, plan, and execute complex laboratory experiments autonomously to advance non-invasive prenatal test development
- Analyze experimental data using advanced analytical tools, providing data-driven insights and troubleshooting laboratory processes
- Own and document technical workflows, summarizing findings in research reports and laboratory presentations
- Partner cross-functionally with Clinical Laboratory Operations (CLIA), Quality Assurance (QA), and Automation Engineering to ensure methods meet rigorous quality and regulatory standards
- Write standard operating procedures (SOPs) and technical documentation to seamlessly transfer protocols to manufacturing and operations teams
- Train junior team members and operator teams on newly developed protocols
- Maintain deep professional expertise by staying current with scientific literature relevant to cell-free DNA and nucleic acid technologies
QUALIFICATIONS
- BA/BS with 6+ years of experience OR MS with 3+ years of experience in assay development and automation within the life sciences industry
- Demonstrated track record of developing, optimizing, and validating manual and automated protocols
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
- Strong underlying scientific knowledge of nucleic acid extraction, PCR, NGS library preparation, and hybrid capture technologies
- Hands-on experience in reagent preparation and quality control for NGS-associated assays
- Direct experience implementing, optimizing, and troubleshooting high-throughput automated assays utilizing liquid handler robotics
- Experience designing and executing formal design control studies, including stability, guard banding, reproducibility, repeatability, and validation
- Prior experience operating within a regulated laboratory environment (CLIA, CAP, or FDA)
- Data analysis and scripting proficiency in Python or R, along with liquid handler programming experience, is highly preferred
- Excellent cross-functional collaboration, organizational, and time management skills
OUR OPPORTUNITY
Natera™ is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, dedicated to oncology, women's health, and organ health. Our aim is to make personalized genetic testing and diagnostics part of the standard of care to protect health and enable earlier and more targeted interventions that lead to longer, healthier lives.
The Natera team consists of highly dedicated statisticians, geneticists, doctors, laboratory scientists, business professionals, software engineers and many other professionals from world-class institutions, who care deeply for our work and each other. When you join Natera, you'll work hard and grow quickly. Working alongside the elite of the industry, you'll be stretched and challenged, and take pride in being part of a company that is changing the landscape of genetic disease management.
WHAT WE OFFER
Competitive Benefits - Employee benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and disability plans for eligible employees and their dependents. Additionally, Natera employees and their immediate families receive free testing in addition to fertility care benefits. Other benefits include pregnancy and baby bonding leave, 401k benefits, commuter benefits and much more. We also offer a generous employee referral program!
Natera is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. Inclusive collaboration benefits our employees, our community and our patients, and is critical to our mission of changing the management of disease worldwide.
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable laws.
If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents.
Please be advised that Natera will reach out to candidates with a @natera.com email domain ONLY. Email communications from all other domain names are not from Natera or its employees and are fraudulent. Natera does not request interviews via text messages and does not ask for personal information until a candidate has engaged with the company and has spoken to a recruiter and the hiring team. Natera takes cyber crimes seriously, and will collaborate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute any related cyber crimes.
See All 699+ Associate Scientist Jobs
Jump back to the full list of openings and apply to any associate scientist role that fits.
Find Associate Scientist JobsAssociate Scientist Job Market
A snapshot from current openings nationwide, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Quest Diagnostics34
- Capital One26
- The University of Texas at Austin22
- SSM Health16
- Artech14
Top Industries Hiring
- Healthcare & Medical Services195
- Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals153
- Science & Research82
- Technology & Software58
- Consulting & Professional Services57
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in associate scientist jobs.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or a related life science field
- Hands-on experience with standard laboratory techniques such as PCR, ELISA, or cell culture
- Proficiency in data analysis tools including GraphPad Prism, Excel, or Python
- Familiarity with GLP or GMP compliance and laboratory documentation standards
- Experience writing or following standard operating procedures and lab notebooks
- Strong written and verbal communication skills for cross-functional team collaboration
Tips for Your Associate Scientist Job Search
Tailor your resume to lab techniques
List every instrument and method you've used, including HPLC, PCR, flow cytometry, or ELISA, with the context you used them in. Hiring managers for associate scientist roles screen resumes for specific techniques before they read anything else.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists associate scientist openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Highlight protocol writing in your resume
Many candidates skip this, but associate scientist job postings frequently call out written communication as a core requirement. Note any SOPs, lab reports, or study summaries you've authored, even from academic or internship settings.
Filter openings by therapeutic area
Oncology, rare disease, and infectious disease teams hire associate scientists with very different backgrounds. Narrow your search by therapeutic area so your application matches the science the team is actually running, not just the title.
Prepare a data walk-through for interviews
Associate scientist interviews often include a data review or presentation component. Practice walking an interviewer through a real dataset or experiment result, explaining what you measured, what it meant, and what you would do next.
Negotiate start date around notice periods
Biotech and pharma teams often need someone in the lab quickly. If you're finishing a contract or a degree, name your exact available date in your cover note so recruiters can plan around it rather than moving on to candidates who can start sooner.
Associate Scientist Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most associate scientists?
The companies hiring the most associate scientists right now include Quest Diagnostics, Capital One, and The University of Texas at Austin, with the largest share of openings in California, New Jersey, and New York, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of June 2026. Demand is concentrated in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and contract research organizations.
How many associate scientist jobs are remote?
About 14% of associate scientist openings are fully remote or hybrid as of June 2026, reflecting how lab-dependent the role typically is. Positions with the highest remote share tend to be in bioinformatics, data science, and computational biology, where bench work is not required.
How do you become an associate scientist?
Earn a bachelor's or master's degree in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or a closely related field. Build hands-on lab experience through undergraduate research, internships, or co-op programs. Develop proficiency in at least one analytical platform and one data analysis tool. Then apply to entry-level associate scientist roles at biotech, pharma, or contract research organizations where your techniques match the team's work.
Can you get an associate scientist job with little experience?
Yes, many associate scientist roles are explicitly designed for candidates who are early in their careers. Employers often prioritize demonstrated lab technique over years of experience, so strong undergraduate research, a thesis project, or a relevant internship can substitute for professional tenure. Applying to roles at contract research organizations can also be a practical entry point, as they tend to hire more frequently and train on the job.
What does the associate scientist interview process look like?
The process typically starts with a phone screen with a recruiter, followed by a technical interview with the hiring manager or a senior scientist who will ask about your hands-on lab experience and methods. Many teams then invite finalists on-site for a panel interview and sometimes a short presentation or data walk-through. The full process usually takes several rounds and includes questions about collaboration, troubleshooting, and scientific judgment.
Where can I find and apply to associate scientist jobs?
You can find and apply to associate scientist jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search the listings to find roles that match your background and specialization, then apply directly to each one that fits.
See All 699+ Associate Scientist Jobs
Jump back to the full list of openings and apply to any associate scientist role that fits.
Find Associate Scientist Jobs