Head of Laboratory Operations – Cell Biology & Genomics

The Mission Build and run Rivercell’s Paris laboratory, with responsibility for recurring experimental delivery, data quality, throughput, and operating costs. You will equip the laboratory, establish operating procedures, and recruit and train three to four biologists. You will regularly perform experiments yourself while managing the team and daily laboratory operations. Working with our CSO, ML scientists, bioinformatics data engineer, and platform development team, you will translate agreed study plans into executable protocols and delivery schedules.

The Challenge Establish a laboratory that produces reliable experimental datasets week after week. You will bring qualified workflows into routine production, organize staffing and instrument capacity, and maintain consistent execution across runs. Success means reliable and predictable throughput, experiments meet agreed acceptance criteria, failures are investigated and resolved, and datasets arrive on schedule with documented QC and complete sample traceability. During your first few months, you will establish the laboratory and recruit and train the biology team.

As operations grow, you will remain directly involved in experimental execution and troubleshooting. Build the laboratory from an empty room: specify and purchase equipment for cell culture, sample preparation, and library preparation; establish safety procedures; and obtain the required authorizations. Bring instruments into operation: lead vendor discussions, site preparation, installation, qualification, and acceptance testing for single-cell multimodal instruments.

Manage external studies: agree protocols, delivery dates, and acceptance criteria; prepare and ship cell populations; and review the completeness and quality of returned data. Establish repeatable experimental workflows: qualify CRISPRi cell lines, pooled guide libraries, lentivirus production, transduction and selection, compound treatment, live-cell staining, on-instrument imaging, and library preparation. Select and manage the external sequencing provider. Own daily and weekly delivery: translate study plans into workloads, staffing requirements, instrument schedules, and consumable needs.

Monitor throughput, turnaround time, run success, and repeat work. Maintain workflow reliability: write and maintain SOPs, train the team, qualify protocol changes, investigate failed runs, and implement corrective actions. Release complete datasets: review run quality and sample traceability with the bioinformatics data engineer, ensuring that required metadata and documented QC accompany each delivery. Extend workflows to additional cell models: qualify primary, iPSC-derived, and patient-derived cells, including sourcing, material-transfer agreements, and consent documentation.

Transfer assays onto Rivercell’s platform: work with the hardware team to test real cells, adapt assays, and introduce workflows into production when they meet agreed performance criteria. Manage the team and laboratory budget: recruit and supervise biologists, manage suppliers and purchasing, maintain inventory and instruments, and track operating expenditure. Improve laboratory performance: evaluate methods, equipment, and automation that can improve consistency, capacity, or cost per successful experiment.

Opportunity to work on a cutting-edge project in techbio Opportunity to join an ambitious team and impactful startup among the first employees Competitive salary and equity package Exciting opportunities for personal and professional growth within the team

personally set up a laboratory or a substantial new laboratory function , taking responsibility for equipment, instrument installation, SOPs, safety, and operational readiness.

• You have owned recurring delivery of cell-based studies or genomics workflows over a sustained period .
• You can describe the delivery cadence, workload, quality criteria, and improvements you managed.
• You have at least seven years of industry experience in a CRO, pharma company, or established biotech, with a record of meeting recurring delivery deadlines.
• You have led scientists or technicians in daily laboratory operations, including workload planning, staffing, training, and troubleshooting.
• You have hands-on experience with mammalian cell culture, lentiviral transduction, pooled CRISPR screening—CRISPRi, CRISPRa, or knockout—and single-cell RNA-seq sample and library preparation.
• You are comfortable regularly performing experiments, maintaining routine workflows, and resolving practical problems at the bench.
• You know the regulatory framework of a class 2 laboratory.
• You have managed external partners such as CROs, core facilities, sequencing providers, and instrument vendors, and have experience managing laboratory expenditure and purchasing.
• You maintain rigorous records through an electronic lab notebook, sample tracking, and protocol versioning.
• You have an MSc or PhD in cell biology, molecular biology, functional genomics, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience.
• You are fluent in English and communicate clearly in writing and discussion.

Professional French is a strong plus.

Please let us know in your application if you specifically have experience with one or several of the following items: Perturb-seq or another single-cell CRISPR screening method Hands-on expertise in combinatorial barcoding for single-cell assays, including barcode design, split-pool workflows, and library preparation Live-cell fluorescence microscopy, high-content imaging, or Cell Painting Microfluidic or other novel single-cell instruments, including as an early-access user Primary cells, iPSC culture and differentiation, or patient-derived models Compound handling and drug-response assays Lab automation or liquid handling Working alongside computational or ML teams Owning a lab budget

1

• Introductory call (up to 30mn, videocall) 2
• Technical interview (up to 90mn) 3
• Performance interview (up to 90mn, in person) 4
• Culture interview (up to 60mn, in person)

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