{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"ae4bcc78fa5cb9c1db437f24","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/ae4bcc78fa5cb9c1db437f24","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/ae4bcc78fa5cb9c1db437f24","title":"Bioinformatics Engineer - RefusalBench","description":"About the Role\nAt LatchBio, we build the benchmarks that frontier AI labs use to evaluate and train models on biological reasoning. RefusalBench tests whether AI systems can distinguish legitimate biological research from requests that present meaningful biosecurity risks.\n\nWe're looking for scientists with deep expertise in areas such as biosecurity, biosafety, pathogen genomics, infectious disease research, synthetic biology, biodefense, and public health. Your role will be to apply that expertise to determine where the boundary lies between routine scientific work and potentially dangerous biological capabilities.\n\nYou will review real-world biological analyses, protocols, datasets, and research papers to establish ground truth for AI evaluations. Some tasks should clearly be allowed. Others should clearly be refused. Many sit in the gray area. Your job is to identify the relevant risks, justify the correct decision, and convert those examples into structured evaluations that test whether AI systems reach the same conclusion.\n\nWhat You'll Do\n\nReview biological tasks, datasets, protocols, and research workflows to determine whether they should be accepted or refused from a biosecurity perspective\n\nIdentify the specific risk categories involved, including pathogen engineering, immune evasion, enhanced transmissibility, countermeasure resistance, and other dual‑use concern\n\nSource real‑world examples from the scientific literature and convert them into evaluation tasks with clear ground truth and supporting rationale\n\nDocument the reasoning and evidence supporting each decision so that evaluations are scientifically defensible and consistently graded\n\nReview agent outputs to determine whether models correctly identify risks, over‑refuse legitimate research, or fail to recognize dangerous capabilities\n\nHelp build a high‑quality corpus of biosecurity evaluations grounded in real biological research and real‑world risk assessment\n\nIdeal Backgrounds\n\nBiosecurity & biodefense programs\n\nBiosafety and risk assessment organizations\n\nPublic health agencies (CDC, WHO, state health departments)\n\nPathogen genomics and molecular epidemiology groups\n\nSynthetic biology and biotechnology governance\n\nPandemic preparedness and emerging infectious disease programs\n\nInfectious disease surveillance and outbreak response\n\nCompensation & Logistics\n\nSalary: $120k–$180k (base + performance pay that scales with output)\n\nProduce 50 evals/week at baseline — exceed that and performance pay scales linearly\n\nFast‑track promotion for strong performers\n\nFully remote or onsite\n\nEquity\n\nUnlimited PTO\n\nVisa sponsorship available\n\nHiring Process\n\nIntro call with Saúl (Technical Recruiter)\n\nTechnical interview with Harmon (Pod Lead)\n\nCultural interview with Jordan (Chief of Staff)\n\nOffer\n\nLocation\nSan Francisco, CA. In‑person.\n\n#J-18808-Ljbffr","company":"Latchbio","rawCompany":"latchbio","city":"Millbrae","state":"CA","isRemote":false,"isActive":true,"createdAt":"2026-06-28T04:08:42.222Z","occupations":[{"code":"19-1029.01","title":"Bioinformatics Scientists","slug":"bioinformatics-scientists"},{"code":"15-2099.01","title":"Bioinformatics Technicians","slug":"bioinformatics-technicians"},{"code":"17-2031.00","title":"Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers","slug":"bioengineers-and-biomedical-engineers"}],"industries":[{"code":"541714","title":"Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology)","slug":"research-and-development-in-biotechnology-except-nanobiotechnology"},{"code":"541690","title":"Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services","slug":"other-scientific-and-technical-consulting-services"},{"code":"541715","title":"Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)","slug":"research-and-development-in-the-physical-engineering-and-life-sciences-except-nanotechnology-and-biotechnology"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Bioinformatics Engineer - RefusalBench","description":"About the Role\nAt LatchBio, we build the benchmarks that frontier AI labs use to evaluate and train models on biological reasoning. RefusalBench tests whether AI systems can distinguish legitimate biological research from requests that present meaningful biosecurity risks.\n\nWe're looking for scientists with deep expertise in areas such as biosecurity, biosafety, pathogen genomics, infectious disease research, synthetic biology, biodefense, and public health. Your role will be to apply that expertise to determine where the boundary lies between routine scientific work and potentially dangerous biological capabilities.\n\nYou will review real-world biological analyses, protocols, datasets, and research papers to establish ground truth for AI evaluations. Some tasks should clearly be allowed. Others should clearly be refused. Many sit in the gray area. Your job is to identify the relevant risks, justify the correct decision, and convert those examples into structured evaluations that test whether AI systems reach the same conclusion.\n\nWhat You'll Do\n\nReview biological tasks, datasets, protocols, and research workflows to determine whether they should be accepted or refused from a biosecurity perspective\n\nIdentify the specific risk categories involved, including pathogen engineering, immune evasion, enhanced transmissibility, countermeasure resistance, and other dual‑use concern\n\nSource real‑world examples from the scientific literature and convert them into evaluation tasks with clear ground truth and supporting rationale\n\nDocument the reasoning and evidence supporting each decision so that evaluations are scientifically defensible and consistently graded\n\nReview agent outputs to determine whether models correctly identify risks, over‑refuse legitimate research, or fail to recognize dangerous capabilities\n\nHelp build a high‑quality corpus of biosecurity evaluations grounded in real biological research and real‑world risk assessment\n\nIdeal Backgrounds\n\nBiosecurity & biodefense programs\n\nBiosafety and risk assessment organizations\n\nPublic health agencies (CDC, WHO, state health departments)\n\nPathogen genomics and molecular epidemiology groups\n\nSynthetic biology and biotechnology governance\n\nPandemic preparedness and emerging infectious disease programs\n\nInfectious disease surveillance and outbreak response\n\nCompensation & Logistics\n\nSalary: $120k–$180k (base + performance pay that scales with output)\n\nProduce 50 evals/week at baseline — exceed that and performance pay scales linearly\n\nFast‑track promotion for strong performers\n\nFully remote or onsite\n\nEquity\n\nUnlimited PTO\n\nVisa sponsorship available\n\nHiring Process\n\nIntro call with Saúl (Technical Recruiter)\n\nTechnical interview with Harmon (Pod Lead)\n\nCultural interview with Jordan (Chief of Staff)\n\nOffer\n\nLocation\nSan Francisco, CA. In‑person.\n\n#J-18808-Ljbffr","datePosted":"2026-06-28T04:08:42.222Z","dateModified":"2026-06-28T04:08:42.222Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Latchbio","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Millbrae","addressRegion":"CA","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"ae4bcc78fa5cb9c1db437f24"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/ae4bcc78fa5cb9c1db437f24"}}