Mass Spectrometry Core Manager

About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution conducting curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Funding: Arc fully funds Core Investigators’ (PIs’) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

Arc scaled to nearly 200 people in its first two years. With $650M in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly to several hundred in the coming years.

About the position

Arc seeks an experienced Mass Spectroscopy Scientist to lead and strategically develop Arc's metabolomics and lipidomics research capabilities, defining the Institute's approach to mass spectrometry-enabled discovery. To succeed, you will need to be an enthusiastic team player, detail-oriented, organized and comfortable working on complex problems. The work will involve pursuing breakthrough opportunities in metabolomics / lipidomics that advance Arc's mission, while also enabling high-impact research across our labs and tech centers, working closely with our superusers and making sure all our instruments are in good working order. You will work with many different sample types, optimize and develop sample preparation and data acquisition and analysis methods, and be responsible for managing the Arc Mass Spec core facility. The position will involve driving metabolomics/lipidomics research projects as well as working closely with collaborators across labs at Arc and identifying and working with affiliated cores and outside CROs on MassSpec related collaborations. 

About you

• You thrive on collaboration and enjoy supporting our core labs and tech centers in curiosity-driven research. 
• You care a great deal about getting the highest data quality in metabolomics/lipidomics
• You get excited about the possibilities that new metabolomics/lipidomics methods and equipment bring, and you love thinking about how they can fit into our current and future research. 
• Diving into the technical details to troubleshoot methods and instruments energizes you, and you're always eager to roll up your sleeves and do hands-on work.

In this position you will

• Lead MassSpec method development projects for optimization and validation of protocols and methodologies in collaboration with Core Labs and Tech Centers. Apply standard and non-standard methods for multiple projects.
• Work on both smaller scale projects with individual scientists as well as large-scale data generation with high throughput for our Institute initiatives.
• Explore advances in mass spectrometry/metabolomics/lipidomics – especially in areas of minimizing sample input requirements and increasing throughput=. Run benchmarking of relevant technologies and share insights with the Arc community via demos and presentations. 
• Maintain and troubleshoot mass spectrometers including TripleQ, Orbitrap and similar instruments. You must be comfortable performing hands-on troubleshooting and solving basic instrument problems as they arise. 
• Lead cross-institute initiatives that leverage metabolomics to address fundamental questions in biology.
• Identify emerging opportunities where mass spectrometry can unlock new biological insights aligned with Institute goals.
• Prepare samples from tissues, cells, and biofluids, optimize and develop new sample preparation and LC-MS methods for metabolites, lipids, small molecules and peptide profiling.
• Run data analysis and interpretation of all data generated at the Mass Spec facility.
• Assist and train laboratory personnel with respect to the use of mass spectrometry equipment and safety procedures.
• Act as a shared point of contact with the manufacturer’s technical support and field service engineering teams to coordinate instrument preventative maintenance and repairs as needed.
• Develop and evolve an equipment management program in concert with the Lab Ops team to minimize equipment downtime and maintain equipment service logs.
• Monitor and manage the supply of all commonly required solvents, supplies and consumables.
• Drive scientific discourse through presentations at major conferences, serve as a thought leader in the metabolomics community, and contribute to Arc's reputation as an innovation leader.

Requirements

• PhD in biochemistry/chemistry/biology or related field plus a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience
• 5 years of mass spec experience in an academic environment and/or industry, including direct experience with Agilent TripleQ and  Thermofisher Orbitrap instruments. Additional experience with similar instruments is appreciated
• Strong record of producing very high quality data as well as overall productivity and scientific publications
• Experience in method development for mass spectrometry
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead cross-functional scientific initiatives
• Familiarity with metabolomics/lipidomics analysis software (Compound Discoverer, LipidSearch, Agilent Qualitative/Quantitative Analysis)
• Strong background in bioinformatics tools or platforms for large-scale data analysis (R, Python, Matlab)
• Experience in maintaining and troubleshooting HPLCs and mass spectrometers
• Experience with derivatization techniques for poorly ionized and fragmented targets
• Experience with diverse sample preparation strategies
• Detail-oriented and organized
• Strong teamwork and communication skills
• Being self-motivated with a “can-do” attitude is required for success
• Flexible and able to respond quickly to shifting priorities as well as multitask

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in spatial metabolomics/lipidomics
• Experience in single cell metabolomics/lipidomics

The base salary range for this position is $121,250 to $150,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.