Scientist

About the Role

We are a vibrant and intensely mission-driven team in San Francisco, comprising members from MIT, Harvard Medical School, Roche, ETH, and Dana-Farber.
We value speed and rigor, coupled with excitement, drive, and a strong work ethic. In an early-stage environment, we value people who can bring clarity to open-ended problems, take ownership of the next steps, and follow through with energy.

Capable Labs is a place for ambitious, high-integrity people who want to become dramatically better. You will be surrounded by people who care intensely about the work, get close feedback from the people making scientific and company-defining decisions, and have room to own increasingly important problems.

We believe excellent work should be met with meaningful reward, ownership, and trust. Responsibility is earned through contribution, not title alone: anyone who demonstrates the judgment, rigor, and follow-through to move important work forward can earn meaningful scope.

What You’ll Do

• Design, run, and interpret mouse studies to evaluate therapeutic candidates across efficacy and safety.

• Dose mice using routes including IP, IV, SC, PO, intranasal, and other relevant delivery methods depending on tissue, mechanism, exposure goals, and study design.

• Collect blood, plasma, serum, and tissues including liver, kidney, spleen, lung, brain, muscle, heart, tumor, and disease-relevant organs.

• Perform surgeries and specialized in vivo procedures as needed, with training from the Capable Labs team where appropriate.

• Analyze PK/PD, efficacy, and tolerability data to decide what dose, route, schedule, tissue, timepoint, or candidate to test next.

• Work with EEG mice, including performing EEG-related surgeries, electrode placement, monitoring, and processing electrophysiological data as required by study protocols.

Who You Are

• You do not need to have experience with every route, procedure, or assay listed here.

• You have hands-on experience running mouse studies in biotech, pharma, academia, or a closely related setting.

• You are comfortable dosing mice by multiple routes, including IP and IV, and ideally have experience with more specialized routes such as intranasal delivery.

• You know how to design studies that answer the core translational question: did the drug reach the right tissue, engage the target, move the pathway, improve the phenotype, and remain tolerable?

• You are comfortable with in-life execution, necropsy, tissue collection, blood collection, sample tracking, and coordination with downstream molecular, histology, and biomarker assays.

• You move quickly without lowering the scientific bar. You can turn the last dataset into the next well-controlled mouse study, with explicit hypotheses, dose rationale, endpoints, controls, and go/no-go criteria.

Pay & Benefits

• $105,000-$155,000 salary, plus equity options with an implied current value of approximately $50,000-$200,000 before exercise cost, taxes, dilution, and liquidity risk.

• Compensation will depend on the skills, experience, and scope of impact you bring. If your background, experience, or compensation needs fall outside this range, we are still open to a conversation based on the scope and impact you could bring.

• $500+ monthly wellness budget for training, supplements, coaching, recovery, or other tools that help you perform at your best.

• Healthcare: We offer a broad range of medical, dental, and vision coverage options, with Capable covering 100% of the base policy.

• You will also have access to HSA, FSA, and 401K plans.

• Healthy dinners with the team are provided daily.

• We support visa sponsorship where appropriate, including O-1, H-1B, J-1, TN, and other employment-based pathways. Our team is already international, with members from Canada, Pakistan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, India, and the United States.

Application Process

Our process is fast, transparent, and personal. We care about getting to know the person behind the application.

• Initial application

• First phone screen

• Second phone screen

• In-person work trial in San Francisco: designed to give both sides a realistic sense of working together. Get to know the founding team!

Apply Today

Curious but not sure? Apply anyway. It takes 5 minutes, and you do not need to be actively job searching to start a conversation.

Some of the best people do not map perfectly to a job description. If this sounds like a place where you could do important work, we would like to hear from you.

And if someone exceptional comes to mind, send them our way here. We read every referral carefully, and if your referral joins Capable, we’ll send you a thank-you bonus.