Scientist, Cell-Based & Functional Assays

Adaptyv seeks a mid-level Scientist for Cell-Based & Functional Assays in Lausanne. The role focuses on developing, productizing, and integrating functional assays into an automated, AI-driven wet lab environment.

Adaptyv is constructing an automated laboratory where AI agents conduct biological experiments, marking a shift toward agentic science. In this capacity, AI models will design novel proteins, formulate hypotheses, and refine experimental outcomes. The company, recognized as one of the fastest-growing biotech firms, collaborates with major biopharmaceuticals, AI research labs, and tech-bio enterprises. This position serves as the most interdisciplinary scientist role within the organization, emphasizing the practical setup and operation of functional assays rather than administrative oversight, while supporting the company's rapid expansion to meet high demand for AI-driven wet lab experimentation.

Responsibilities

• Design, validate, and execute cell-based functional assays, such as cell activation, signaling pathways, reporter-gene assays, potency tests, and antibody functional readouts.
• Transform custom functional assays into standardized, orderable services with consistent and reproducible performance metrics.
• Collaborate with the biology team to embed assays into production workflows and partner with lab automation specialists to scale these assays onto automated systems.
• Work alongside the software team to structure and model functional data, ensuring it is interpretable and comparable across different experimental runs.
• Ensure assay robustness by managing controls, reference standards, troubleshooting, and maintaining high quality standards for reported results.
• Provide guidance to customers and internal teams on assay design and the interpretation of functional data.

Requirements

• Extensive hands-on experience in developing and running cell-based and functional/potency assays, including reporter cell lines, primary cells, and flow cytometry.
• Industry experience in building and executing these assays in production, development, or commercial environments where throughput and reliability are critical.
• Strong understanding of antibody and protein function to design appropriate assays for specific research questions.
• Ability to work quickly and establish new assay capabilities, transitioning them into productized services.
• An interdisciplinary mindset, enthusiastic about working across biology, automation, and software domains.

Nice to have

• Proficiency in scripting and analyzing dose-response and potency data.

About the company

Adaptyv is a rapidly growing biotech company trusted by leading biopharmaceuticals, frontier AI labs, and tech-bio firms. The company is building an automated lab powered by a deep software and hardware stack, including API-controllable hardware, orchestrated devices, full observability, processing pipelines, and AI systems. Adaptyv is entering the era of agentic science, where AI models can design novel proteins, propose hypotheses, and iterate on experimental results. The company is hiring to scale and support massive demand for AI-driven wet lab experimentation.

• The role is the most interdisciplinary of the scientist roles at Adaptyv.
• The role focuses on setting up real, working assays rather than managing.
• The company is growing rapidly and hiring to scale and support massive demand for AI-driven wet lab experimentation.