Director/Sr. Director, Head of Cell Biology

About QuantumCell

At QuantumCell, we are rewriting the rules of drug discovery — and we're just getting started. We are a dynamic tech company in the biology space on a mission to decode and defeat the most complex brain disorders of our time. By converging next-generation sensing technologies, autonomous robotics, and cutting-edge AI, we are building the world's first high-fidelity virtual cell and virtual system model: a mechanistically anchored simulation of human biology that can predict how drugs will behave in a patient before a single trial is run.

Anchored by world-class scientific partnerships and access to elite computational infrastructure, we generate new types of biological data at a scale and resolution that no one has achieved before. This isn't incremental science. It's a fundamental shift from reductionist biology to a true systems-level understanding of the human brain — and we are looking for bold, brilliant people to help us build it!

The Role

As Head of Biology, you will lead and scale QuantumCell’s experimental biology engine — the wet-lab foundation that powers our Virtual Cell platform. You will own the strategy, design, and execution of QCell’s biology operations end-to-end: from patient-derived iPSC differentiation into disease-relevant neuronal subtypes, to high-throughput CRISPR and chemical perturbation campaigns, to the tight integration of these systems with our proprietary analytical readouts.

This is a rare opportunity to build, not maintain. You will architect the biology stack that generates the highest-fidelity human neuronal dynamics dataset ever collected and translate that scale into actionable target and asset decisions across pipeline and our discovery engine. You will partner closely with academic collaborators, our robotics and automation team, and our AI/ML organization, to turn the wet lab into a AI-coupled discovery system.

What You Will Do

• Define and execute the end-to-end biology strategy for QCell’s iPSC-derived neuronal platform, spanning disease modeling, perturbation screens, and label-free biomolecular readouts.
• Lead development and scale-up of patient-derived iPSC differentiation protocols into disease-relevant subtypes, and own QC, banking, and reproducibility at production scale.
• Partner with the automation team to translate manual biology workflows into automated closed-loop pipelines (high-throughput automated iPSC differentiation, CRISPR, chemical, and combinatorial perturbations).
• Co-design experiments with the analytical team to exploit live measurement of biomolecular state, electrophysiology, and kinetics.
• Drive the biological validation strategy for in-licensed clinical-stage assets, generating mechanistic evidence to support repurposing decisions and clinical positioning.
• Partner with the AI/ML organization to define data structures, perturbation libraries, and ground-truth datasets needed to train and validate the AI models.
• Hire, build, and lead a multidisciplinary team of stem cell biologists, neuroscientists, assay developers; establish a culture of scientific rigor, intellectual honesty, and operational excellence.
• Represent QCell in scientific communications, advisory boards, key academic collaborations, and partnership discussions with pharma.

What You Will Bring

• PhD (and ideally postdoctoral training) in neuroscience, stem cell biology, molecular or systems biology, or a closely related discipline.
• 10 years of experience leading experimental biology programs, with demonstrated success in industry settings (biotech or pharma) at the platform or program level.
• Deep expertise in human iPSC biology, directed differentiation of neuronal subtypes, and disease modeling — ideally including CNS or neuropsychiatric indications.
• Hands-on familiarity with high-throughput perturbation modalities (arrayed and pooled CRISPR screens, small-molecule libraries) and with modern cellular readouts (high-content imaging, MEA, single-cell transcriptomics, proteomics).
• Track record of building and leading multidisciplinary teams that integrate biology with automation, instrumentation, and computation.
• Strategic builder’s mindset: you have founded, scaled, or rebuilt a biology function and are excited to do it again in a high-ambition, early-stage environment.
• Experience with PPI / network biology, structural biology, or other systems-level target discovery approaches is a strong plus.
• Outstanding scientific judgment, intellectual honesty, and communication skills to align scientists, engineers, executives, and external partners.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation package (salary, equity, bonus) based on experience.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• Access to world-class scientific collaborators and leading computational infrastructure, including large-scale GPU clusters and proprietary biological datasets of exceptional scale and resolution.
• A unique opportunity to help define how AI learns from biology at one of the most ambitious companies in CNS drug discovery.
• The chance to contribute to a deeply mission-driven organization focused on transforming patient outcomes and advancing treatments for complex diseases.
• Support for conference attendance and active participation in the scientific community.
• A collaborative, inclusive, and fun culture where you’ll play a key role in building the team, shaping the environment, and driving meaningful impact from the ground up.

How to Apply

Send your CV to: careers@qcell.ai

We are an equal opportunity employer.