Role Description We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Senior Scientist to lead our Strain Engineering team. The role combines scientific leadership with active bench science: defining strain and platform strategy, designing and executing experiments, scoping development programs, and translating product opportunities into technically rigorous strain-development plans. The candidate will work closely with fermentation, downstream, regulatory, leadership, and external collaborators to advance programs from concept through scale-up readiness.

Key Responsibilities
Strain Engineering Leadership & Hands-on Science
- Lead the design, construction, screening, and optimization of microbial production strains using hosts such as E. coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris/Komagataella phaffii, Bacillus, Corynebacterium, filamentous fungi, and other relevant organisms.
- Remain hands-on at the bench as needed across cloning, DNA assembly, CRISPR/Cas engineering, transformation, strain verification, pathway engineering, expression optimization, and strain screening.




- Develop engineering strategies to improve titer, productivity, yield, robustness, genetic stability, secretion/folding, tolerance, and other product-specific attributes.
- Ensure rigorous strain lineage, construct, sequence, and performance documentation to support reproducibility, technology transfer, regulatory needs, and future IP protection.

Scientific Strategy, Platform Decisions & Program Scoping
- Lead early technical assessment of recent product opportunities and select appropriate hosts, chassis, expression systems, pathway architectures, screening approaches, and development sequences.
- Make and document strategic platform recommendations, including build-versus-license decisions.
- Translate business or product objectives into detailed scientific proposals.
- Define clear success criteria for proof-of-concept, strain optimization, fermentation handoff, pilot readiness, and technology transfer.

📌 Senior Scientist (Hyderabad)
🏢 PreferCo
📍 Hyderabad