Field Applications Scientist

About the role

You will own the end-to-end customer journey in the Mid-Atlantic Region by driving successful adoption of Element Biosciences instruments and workflows. You will act as the primary scientific interface, translating deep technical expertise into tangible customer outcomes and confidence. This role demands ownership of complex problem solving where your decisions directly impact customer research velocity and data quality. You will champion scientific integrity, collegiality, honesty, objectivity, and openness in every interaction. Ultimately, you will be responsible for turning technical capabilities into measurable customer success and competitive wins for the company.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Frequently traveling to the customer site to deliver hands-on support and build strong in-person relationships.
• Troubleshooting issues related to the user's technical skills, biochemistry or assay design, experimental design, software, and instruments to resolve critical blockers.
• Supporting the commercial team and customers in their technical applications while delivering targeted product training sessions.
• Displaying professionalism, understanding, tact, fairness, and technical knowledge in all customer interactions to maintain trust.
• Providing strategic and competitive feedback to marketing and product development teams, and independently leading or managing beta tests at customer sites.
• Working independently on significant and unique issues that require collaboration with key decision-makers and senior managers across the organization, which may impact future products, concepts, and technologies.
• Assisting sales and marketing on pre and post strategic sales activities that require both deep technical knowledge and market awareness.
• Delivering customer training and workshops, both in-person and remote, to ensure proficiency and confidence in workflows.
• Utilizing service CRM software to accurately identify, document, and track customer opportunities and support cases.
• Collaborating with internal partners to resolve customer issues and improve internal processes, documentation, and product experience.
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of NGS instrument trends, sequencing technologies, and emerging multiomics applications to advise customers effectively.
• Managing multiple customer engagements simultaneously, prioritizing tasks to meet deadlines and service level expectations.
• Acting as a technical consultant during project scoping to ensure experimental design aligns with instrument capabilities and data quality goals.
• Contributing to the creation of technical collateral, standard operating procedures, and best practice guides based on field insights.

Requirements

• Bachelors degree with 4+ years, Masters degree with 2+ years or PhD with experience in NGS library construction (a combination of experience and education may be considered).
• Experience with NGS sequencing instrument and sequencing run set up along with NGS sample and library prep workflows is preferred.
• Experience with cell biology, microscopy, and multiomics is preferred.
• Must be highly motivated and have strong problem-solving ability to navigate ambiguous technical challenges.
• Excellent communication and strong relationship building skills to engage with diverse stakeholders at all levels.
• Highly collaborative and adaptable; able to work well within multidisciplinary teams and manage shifting priorities.
• Skilled in nucleic acids and protein analytical methods to support method validation and troubleshooting.
• Generate high quality and reproducible wet-lab data from established protocols during on-site visits or validations.
• High degree of comfort navigating technical project discussions with scientists, engineers, and executive sponsors.
• Must be able to work independently and as a team player, balancing self-direction with cross-functional collaboration.
• Demonstrated account management skills to steward customer portfolios and identify growth opportunities.
• Must be physically located within the Mid-Atlantic Region and willing to travel domestically up to 80% or as needed.
• Must be eligible for full-time employment in the role as an exempt position.

Nice to have

• Prior experience with service CRM software used for opportunity tracking and case management.
• Previous involvement in beta testing or early access programs for new sequencing technologies.
• Familiarity with sales and marketing support activities in a high-growth life sciences environment.
• Demonstrated success managing complex customer projects from initial scoping through closure.
• Experience delivering training or workshops for scientific audiences in academic or commercial settings.

Practical notes

This is a remote position based in the Mid-Atlantic Region with domestic travel required up to 80% or as needed. The role is full-time and exempt. Travel must be feasible within the specified domestic range and comply with company policies.