Andrew G. York

(DEPRECATED) Want to join the Calico microscopy core?

NOTE: This position has been filled; I'm leaving the page up for the record, for now.

After three years, the workload from Calico's microscopy core has finally exceeded the York lab's capacity, so we're hiring! I'd rather describe our problem, and let you (the candidate) decide how you're the solution. I don't want limits of my imagination to rule out awesome candidates.

The Calico microscopy team isn't a traditional core facility. We're all inventors and technique developers: three physicists, an electrical engineer, and a biochemist. None of us worked in a core facility before Calico; two of us didn't work with microscopes at all. All of us can code, build, and invent. When Calico biologists tackle easy research questions, we train them on commercial microscopes and leave them alone. When Calico biologists tackle hard research questions, we invent new microscopes, custom fluorescent proteins, and novel techniques as needed. When we're not working in the core, we dig into our research program: inventing, designing, and building hardware, software, fluorophores, and methods to push and explore the limits of optical imaging. Example publications: [1 2 3 4 5 6]

Core work sorts organically to our team members: Automation software debugging goes to our best coder. Hardware problems go to our mechanical/optical engineer. Sample prep, experimental design, and general microscope usage questions go to our biochemist. As Calico has grown, demand for this last category has grown the fastest, and we need another person: you! You would be the first point of contact for Calico biologists with microscopy needs, backed up by the rest of our team. Your role would be to solve their problems if you can, and know which of us to recruit when you can't.

We're very flexible on experience and education. Early-career/low experience is ok; you'd have a lot to learn from each of us, and we'd be eager to teach. Late-career/high experience is obviously great too! Our highest priority is passion, "people skills", and a desire to learn and grow. We want someone who will be genuinely psyched to attack hard, important problems alongside brilliant people, using cutting-edge microscopy techniques.

We'd prefer someone with a biology research background, especially if you've used fluorescence microscopy. I'd love to hire a coder, but we'd happily teach coding to an eager learner. The same goes for CAD, optics, math, "maker" skills, etc. We're always interested in recruiting awesome folks from underrepresented backgrounds. We also value resilience: if you've encountered adversity in pursuit of your dreams, we'd like to hear about it, and we'll take that into account in our hiring decision.

You will have spare time; we’re flexible how you spend it, as long as it involves microscopy. Maybe your hobby is reading papers about hot new microscopy techniques, trying them out, and teaching them to the rest of us? Maybe you attach yourself to a sufficiently interesting problem that comes through the core? Maybe you're a biologist conceiving and conducting your own microscopy-heavy experiments? Maybe you're an artist who finds beauty in the microworld? Regardless, the more time you spend USING our expensive, brand-new microscopes for your own passions, the more skilled you'll be at advising our colleagues.

Calico is a research and development company focused on understanding the biology of aging. In our experience, Calico combines the best aspects of academia (intellectual freedom, brilliant colleagues, inspiring curiosity-driven goals) with all the perks of an Alphabet company (stable funding, job security, competitive salary, awesome perks). Previously, our team has worked a range of academic, government, and industry jobs, and this is the nicest place any of us has ever worked, by a substantial margin. You'd really like it here.

Follow this link to apply!

If you know one of us, drop us a line personally to make sure we don't miss your CV.