AI Biologist - Rare and Progressive Disease

Latch builds rigorous scientific benchmarks (benchmarks.bio) for AI agents across biology. We work with frontier labs and pharma to measure whether agents can handle real biological workflows: the messy, multi-layer reasoning that matters in the field.

We are seeking exceptional basic and clinical scientists to join our team working at the frontier of what artificial intelligence can achieve in combatting rare and/or progressive diseases. Of note: this role will not include work on cancer, for which we have a separate role. This is an early team, and you will have a critical role in defining our strategy across multiple benchmarks.

About the Role

You will contribute to our technical approach for evaluating how AI agents can help diagnose, treat, conduct research and perform target discovery in rare and progressive disease. Working with scientists, physician-scientists, software engineers and computational biologists, you'll build ground-truth benchmark datasets, drawn from studies, your experience, and novel work, that rigorously test whether agents can perform the critical analytical and interpretative steps that expert scientists do.

Requirements

• Advanced degree (MS/MD/PhD/PharmD) in biology, genetics, physiology, computational biology, or a related biomedical field
• 3+ years of hands-on research experience in relevant domains, with impact demonstrated through publications or industry experience
• Proficiency in Python and/or R for biological data analysis and visualization or expert-level experience in experimental or methods design
• Deep scientific or clinical expertise in at least one relevant disease area, including but not limited to rare (genetic/autoimmune/infectious/idiopathic) diseases, neurodegeneration, and chronic progressive conditions such as COPD or MASH
• Expertise in designing and troubleshooting relevant wet- or dry-lab experiments OR expertise in clinical diagnosis, treatment, and research

Nice-to-Have

• Strong existing opinions on where agents and LLMs fail in science or clinical practice
• Experience using agentic coding systems

Compensation

$140K–$180K OTE (on-target earnings), with no ceiling.

• Your pay is your OTE times your weekly quota attainment. Hit quota, earn your OTE; double it, earn double. Example: $150K OTE at double quota = $300K.
• Your first 4 weeks (ramp) are paid at full OTE while you learn our workflows.
• You’re paid full OTE whenever quota can’t fairly apply: when a new project is starting, the platform goes down, or we pull you onto a special project.

Benefits & Employment

In the US: full-time W-2

• Guaranteed floor (“base salary”) set by your state, paid on the 15th and last day of every month
• Health, dental, vision: 100% covered for you, 50% for dependents
• 401(k) (no match)
• PTO: 15 days to start, more as you’re promoted

Outside the US: contractor

• Paid on performance. We want our team to have stability, so we pay 60% of your monthly OTE up front as an advance, balanced against your earnings in later paychecks.
• US benefits don’t apply.

Growth

Two tracks, based on output.

• Individual contributor: six levels, so up to five promotions, with OTE rising at each one.
• Management: after your first promotion, you can move into managing a pod or keep growing on the IC track.

Location & Work Authorization

• Location: remote or onsite at our Mission Bay office in San Francisco. Onsite is preferred: working side by side is how we share knowledge and keep our work rigorous. We have a global team, and remote teammates regularly visit the office.
• Work authorization: we sponsor H-1B (new and transfers), O-1, and TN, and support STEM OPT.

Culture @ Latch

We practice radical transparency: you’ll know how the company is doing, what’s working, and what isn’t. It’s always us against the problem, never each other. We’re opinionated but respectful of each other’s time, and we think through possible solutions before bringing a problem to anyone.

We use AI constantly, so we reward original expert judgment, not AI output passed off as your own. You’ll start on the bench that fits your expertise and can move across teams as you build a track record.

Outside of work: company outings most months, team off-sites, and a community that does cycling, soccer, figure skating, boxing, running, martial arts, music, books, and game nights.

Interview Process

1. Apply. If your profile matches, we’ll send you a take-home project.
2. Take-home project (HackerRank). We review it as soon as it arrives.
3. Technical interview with a Member of Technical Staff (pod lead).
4. Culture interview with our C-suite.
5. Offer.
6. Background check, once you accept.