[Hiring] Senior Biology Specialist @TaskUs

Role Description

As a Senior Biology Specialist, you will evaluate complex, high-consequence escalations, separate legitimate scientific work from actionable risk, mentor Junior Specialists, and produce the high-fidelity labels used to validate and train automated safety classifiers at scale.

What You Will Do

• Tackle Complex Escalations:
  • Review and adjudicate nuanced, high-severity cases escalated from automated detection queues and Junior Specialists across priority biosecurity risk vectors:
  • Sourcing and acquisition pathways for Tier 1 select agents, toxins, and high-consequence pathogens
  • Genetic modification aimed at enhancing transmissibility, lethality, or immune evasion
  • Production protocols: scaled culturing, fermentation, purification, and downstream processing
  • Formulation, aerosolization, stabilization, and delivery/dispersion mechanics
• Deep Dual-Use Evaluation:
  • Apply advanced scientific reasoning to distinguish legitimate academic, medical, or diagnostic research from actionable, weaponized biological pathways.
• Review & Mentorship:
  • Perform quality assurance (QA) on casework completed by Junior Specialists, provide constructive technical feedback, and help lead regular calibration sessions to ensure consistency across the pod.
• Appeals & Policy Enforcement:
  • Evaluate customer appeals, document detailed evidence-backed rationales for enforcement actions (warnings, suspensions, bans), and recommend policy determinations.
• Ground-Truth Labeling:
  • Generate precise, defensible case annotations that serve as gold-standard benchmark datasets to measure and fine-tune internal automated safety filters.
• Reporting & Escalations:
  • Synthesize technical findings into clear risk assessments for the Principal Biology Specialist and client safety leads, escalating novel threat patterns or ambiguous boundary cases promptly.

Qualifications

• Advanced Degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) in Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology, Immunology, Synthetic Biology, Biosecurity, or a directly related discipline.
• 5+ years of professional experience in biodefense, biosecurity policy, biosafety oversight (IBC/BSO), public health threat surveillance, or BSL-3 laboratory operations.
• Applied Threat Fluency: Deep technical familiarity with high-consequence human, animal, and plant pathogens, toxin production pathways, and the Federal Select Agent Program guidelines.
• Dual-Use Discretion: Proven ability to discern benign educational or defensive life-science questions from illicit protocol formulation with partial or fragmented user input.
• Mentorship & Quality Standards: Demonstrated capability to peer-review scientific analysis, maintain operational labeling consistency, and mentor junior colleagues.
• Communication: Strong technical writing skills with the ability to summarize complex microbiological mechanisms into concise, actionable risk memos.

Requirements

• Location: Based in the United States with unrestricted work authorization (Texas residency preferred).

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Paid time off including vacation, sick leave, and holidays.

Application Window

This position is expected to remain open until 11-30-2026. We recommend that interested candidates apply within 7 days of the posting date to ensure consideration.

Salary Range

$100,000 - $160,000 per year.

Good to Know

• Sensitivity of Material: Daily responsibilities involve reviewing flagged user prompts, synthetic biology protocols, dangerous pathogen handling instructions, and toxic agent formulation data.
• Security Screening: Selected candidates may be subject to client-directed insider-threat screening, background checks, and academic credential verification prior to and during engagement.
• Work Setup: Remote
• Type: Full time