Full-Time

Lab Network Lead

Posted on 9/12/2026

Monarch

Monarch

Develops non-toxic spatial repellent for crops

No salary listed

Emeryville, CA, USA

In Person

Full-time, in-office in Emeryville; travel to partner laboratories may be required.

Category
Biology & Biotech

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Requirements
  • Significant experience in multi-site research operations, laboratory operations, scientific program management, or a comparable life-sciences network.
  • Demonstrated ability to turn a technical protocol into repeatable execution across organizations with different constraints.
  • Strong project management, written communication, data discipline, and relationship-building skills.
  • Comfort coordinating research materials, documentation, timelines, and quality issues across countries and time zones.
  • Willingness to travel to partner laboratories when remote support is not enough.
Responsibilities
  • Recruit, assess, onboard, and support laboratories capable of running the standardized mosquito-behavior protocol and standardized spotted wing drosophila behavior protocol.
  • Coordinate assay equipment, compound shipments, training, schedules, data submissions, troubleshooting, and follow-up experiments across the network.
  • Track capacity, turnaround time, protocol adherence, control performance, inter-lab agreement, missing data, and required repeat runs.
  • Build practical onboarding materials, support systems, escalation paths, and operating reviews that help laboratories succeed independently.
  • Preserve chain of custody, assay provenance, permissions, and clear ownership of every experimental record.
  • Bring recurring laboratory observations back to science, product, and operations teams so protocols and tools improve without breaking comparability.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with entomology, vector biology, behavioral assays, or global health research.
  • Experience managing research consortia, contract laboratories, open-science collaborations, or distributed quality systems.
  • Familiarity with chemical-shipment coordination, laboratory safety, and cross-border research logistics.
  • Ability to be exacting about evidence while remaining a trusted partner to laboratories.

Monarch Crops develops non-toxic spatial repellents to protect crops from insect damage. The product works by emitting signals that cause insects to avoid landing on treated crops, leveraging natural olfactory cues rather than killing insects. Monarch combines a comprehensive dataset that includes genomic, molecular, and behavioral information with computational chemistry and machine learning to identify natural compounds that trigger an avoidance response in insects. This data-driven discovery aims to formulate repellent products that safeguard crops while keeping humans and the environment safe. Unlike traditional insecticides, Monarch focuses on prevention through odor-based avoidance and seeks sustainable pest management solutions to reduce crop losses and health risks associated with toxic chemicals. The company’s goal is to enable crop protection that is effective, environmentally friendly, and economically viable for farmers.

Company Size

N/A

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Oakland, California

Founded

2024

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Monarch's August 2026 website says it is developing a product that works.
  • Four open R&D roles in February 2026 show active experimentation and team building.
  • Lead Entomologist hiring cited machine-learning-predicted compounds, validating the core discovery approach.

What critics are saying

  • No public field trials, customer contracts, or revenue prove the repellent works commercially.
  • Hiring remains research-heavy in Alameda and Oakland, signaling product risk and long development timelines.
  • If efficacy misses broad-spectrum insects, Monarch becomes another biotech platform with no defensible market.

What makes Monarch unique

  • Monarch builds a spatial repellent, not a conventional insecticide, targeting crop protection.
  • Its data engine combines genomics, behavioral assays, and computational chemistry for compound discovery.
  • Open roles in formulation chemistry and computational entomology show a deep wet-lab plus ML moat.

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Benefits

Company Equity