About Structura Biotechnology
Structura Biotechnology is a Toronto-based scientific software company with origins at the
University of Toronto. We develop the CryoSPARC software system for cryo-EM data analysis in
drug discovery and life science. CryoSPARC is the most widely used software for cryo-EM image
processing, helping produce thousands of new protein structure discoveries every year. Our
products are part of the cryo-EM workflows of national/regional facilities, academic labs,
pharmaceutical companies, biotechs and CROs globally.
We are a hardworking, energetic and highly focused team, dedicated to helping make cryo-EM a
ubiquitous and accessible technology that can power new advances in biology and medicine.
We are on a mission to deliver powerful, professionally-engineered software, data analysis tools
and educational resources to help drive the use of cryo-EM in drug discovery workflows that can
produce new medicines, while at the same time contributing to cryo-EM in the broader
academic scientific community by providing CryoSPARC free of charge for non-profit research
use.
We are looking for a Cryo-EM Application Scientist to join our team to produce and disseminate
high-value scientific marketing materials with the goal of ensuring that users in academia and
industry can clearly understand the specific ways in which CryoSPARC and CryoSPARC Live can
be useful for their problems and workflows.
You are someone who is passionate about cryo-EM and who understands that telling the story
or narrative of new work is as important as the work itself. You have a strong interest in
scientific communication and marketing, and an aptitude for developing and delivering content
of all kinds - written, verbal, and visual. You want to contribute to life science and drug discovery
by making sure that researchers using cryo-EM clearly understand how existing tools, new
developments and new capabilities can accelerate their work. You are excited about the
evolving frontier of the field and ensuring that scientists can use cryo-EM to deliver impact that
matters.
We take pride in our work and our strong culture of respect, collective goals, teamwork and
shared success. If you are looking for a mission-driven, high-impact role within an excellent
team, you will fit right in. We are excited about the future of cryo-EM for drug discovery and life
science research, especially developments in high-throughput workflows, automation, analysis
of heterogeneity, improvements in resolution, and application to new biological problems. Join
us on our journey towards these exciting frontiers, and leverage your expertise and effort to
achieve a broad positive impact on this amazing field!
What you will do
- Create and collate written, verbal and visual content that draws users to our products
and resources by showing them how these can be useful for their problems. Examples
of content: blog posts, release notes/changelogs, newsletters, surveys, press releases,
whitepapers, product demos, figures/graphics, case studies, videos, social media posts,
website content, webinars, advertisements, posters and conference materials, guides,
etc.
- Understand and clearly articulate the “story” we are trying to tell with each new feature
development, case study, content item or campaign: how can a current or prospective
cryo-EM scientist better understand the tools that are available in CryoSPARC and
CryoSPARC Live, and how these tools can accelerate their use cases and workflows?
- Stay on top of and summarize new applications, frontier workflows, and new discoveries
enabled by cryo-EM from scientific literature, workshops and seminars.
- Stay on top of new computational, software system, user interface, and educational
developments produced by our team, understanding the impact and use case for each in
order to develop effective scientific communication and marketing materials.
- Project management of all marketing activities, campaigns, events, content and assets
throughout their lifecycle, including those to be presented by yourself and other team
members.
- Interact with and develop relationships with users via email correspondence, in person at
conferences, online via the CryoSPARC Discussion Forum, etc., to better understand the
problems they are trying to solve, identify opportunities for product marketing and
educational content, and to obtain feedback.
- Review engagement analytics to identify trends and improve outreach.
- Work closely with our software, application, computational methods, application science
and customer success teams to identify opportunities and propose scientific marketing
ideas based on new developments in CryoSPARC and our educational materials. Support
other team members and users with your cryo-EM and life sciences background,
answering questions from your area of expertise.
- Produce internal communication content to present and share within our team, to
convey cryo-EM news, external developments, and illustrate the outcomes and impact
that users are making with our products
- Process cryo-EM data from publicly available resources and from
partners/collaborators. Experiment with existing and new workflows to create content.
- Assist in user training, collaborations and pilot projects with academic and industry
Cryo-EM labs.
Requirements
- Background in cryo-EM including experience with sample preparation, data collection,
data analysis and model building
- MSc or PhD, or equivalent experience in Structural Biology, Biology, Chemistry,
Biochemistry, Biophysics, Bioengineering or a related area in life sciences
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to translate complex
concepts and explain them clearly to others, keeping in mind both the audience and the
goal of communication
- Comfortable creating visual and video-based content using tools like Illustrator, Affinity
Designer, Figma, Descript, Blender, Pitch, Powerpoint, etc.
- Comfortable with social media and marketing platforms such as LinkedIn, Bluesky,
Mailchimp, etc.
- Experience with delivering scientific presentations in-person and/or virtually
- Comfortable with conducting user feedback interviews, giving presentations, speaking
and answering questions in real time
- Enjoy working with people, open to occasional travel and able to work on multiple
projects/tasks in a fast paced environment while remaining highly organized
- A genuine interest and willingness to learn things you don’t currently know and to share
your knowledge with others within the team
Nice to have
- Experience using CryoSPARC and/or CryoSPARC Live
- Experience with marketing, business development, or other client-facing activities
- Comfortable with the use of high performance computing systems (Linux command line,
basic scripting, file and data management, etc)
- Experience with git, github and/or version control generally (for documentation)
- Experience with project management
Job Details
- Location: Toronto, Canada. We prefer applicants who are already local or willing to
relocate, but will consider remote applicants as well.
- Hybrid Work: We currently operate 2 fixed days in person and 3 days remotely
- Benefits: Competitive health, dental and paramedical benefits
- Travel: Occasional travel to workshops/conferences, head office and user/client sites
Apply
Please email careers@structura.bio with the subject line “Cryo-EM Application Scientist,
Scientific Marketing and Communication” and provide us with
- Your CV
- A few paragraphs explaining why you would be the right fit for this position
- Attachments or links to examples of your scientific writing and/or presentations that
showcase your communication style and skills
If you are interested but are not sure if you meet all the requirements, we encourage you to
contact us for discussion.
