Technical Sales Specialist – Synthetic Biology

Posted yesterday

telesis bioSan Diego (CA)

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology)

SENIORITY

Senior

SALARY

$150,000–$180,000 annually

Apply

About the role

Technical Sales Specialist – Synthetic Biology & Automation

Location: San Diego, CA

Reports to: President & CEO (Commercial Lead)

Base Salary: $150,000–$180,000 annually + annual performance-based incentive (bonus percentage – 20%)

🚨PLEASE NOTE: Candidates must currently be based in San Diego, CA. Due to the urgency of this hire and desired start timeline, we are unable to accommodate relocation. San Francisco Bay Area candidates MAY be considered on an exception basis, and if they are willing and able to travel to San Diego frequently, potentially on a near-weekly basis.🚨About Telesis BioTelesis Bio is transforming how researchers move from digital biological designs to physical DNA. As artificial intelligence and computational biology dramatically accelerate the design of therapeutic candidates, a new challenge is emerging: turning those digital designs into physical biology quickly enough to test, learn, and iterate. Telesis Bio is helping close that gap. Our synthetic biology technologies, including the Gibson SOLA® platform, enable researchers to rapidly access high-quality synthetic DNA and accelerate workflows across antibody discovery, mRNA therapeutics, cell and gene therapy, and other areas of drug discovery. We are looking for a Technical Sales Specialist who can combine scientific credibility with a strong commercial mindset to help researchers understand how Telesis Bio can accelerate the path from digital design to experimental validation.

The Role: The Technical Sales Specialist will serve as a technical commercial partner throughout the customer engagement process, working closely with Business Development to identify, qualify, develop, and advance opportunities across biotech, pharmaceutical, and life sciences organizations. This is a highly customer-facing role for someone who combines strong molecular biology expertise with commercial acumen and enjoys understanding complex scientific workflows, identifying technical requirements and bottlenecks, and translating those needs into solutions using Telesis Bio technologies and platforms. You will engage scientists, research leaders, automation teams, and other technical decision-makers to understand how DNA moves through their workflows and help define how Gibson SOLA can enable faster, more scalable movement from digital sequence design to physical DNA and experimental validation.

What You'll Do:

Partner with Business Development to identify, qualify, develop, and advance new commercial opportunities across biotech, pharmaceutical, and life sciences accounts
Engage scientists, research leaders, automation teams, and other technical stakeholders throughout the sales process, while supporting targeted prospecting and opportunity development
Lead technical discovery to understand customer workflows, construct requirements, throughput and quality needs, downstream applications, and key technical bottlenecks
Position the Gibson SOLA® platform within AI-enabled, computational, high-throughput, and automated drug discovery workflows
Translate complex technical capabilities into clear scientific, operational, and commercial value for both scientific and business audiences
Lead technical presentations, workflow discussions, solution demonstrations, and customer-facing technical meetings
Partner with Business Development, Product/Marketing, Applications, and R&D to develop technically appropriate solutions, proposals, evaluations, and implementation approaches that address customer needs and drive adoption
Help translate customer requirements into appropriate SOLA configurations, including automation, workflow integration, scalability, and implementation considerations
Support customer evaluations, pilots/demos, benchmarking studies, and other technical activities required to advance opportunities
Represent Telesis Bio at conferences, industry events, and customer meetings
Maintain accurate opportunity and customer activity within the company's CRMShare customer feedback, competitive intelligence, and market trends with internal teams

What We're Looking For:

Bachelor's degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioengineering, or a related life sciences field; advanced degree a plus 5+ years of experience in a customer-facing life sciences role, such as technical sales, business development, field applications, or scientific applications
Strong understanding of molecular biology and synthetic biology workflows, including DNA synthesis/assembly, cloning, PCR, sequencing/QC, or related workflows
Hands-on molecular biology laboratory experience strongly preferred
Ability to confidently engage and communicate across scientific, automation, operational, and commercial stakeholders within customer organizations
Strong commercial mindset with the ability to apply technical expertise to advance opportunities and drive customer adoption
Strong presentation, communication, and relationship-building skills
Ability to quickly understand complex customer workflows and translate scientific and operational requirements into clear technical solutions and customer value
Self-motivated, adaptable, and comfortable working in a fast-moving growth environment
Willingness to travel up to approximately 30% for customer meetings, conferences, and industry events
We'd Especially Like to Meet You If You Have
Experience supporting or selling life sciences research tools, instrumentation, reagents, synthetic biology technologies, or synthetic DNA solutions
Experience with laboratory automation, high-throughput biology, liquid handling, or automated molecular biology workflows
Experience supporting antibody discovery, biologics, mRNA, cell and gene therapy, or drug discovery workflows
Familiarity with AI-enabled or computational drug discovery
Experience working with biotech and pharmaceutical R&D organizations

Why Telesis BioAI is changing how quickly scientists can design potential therapeutics. But designing a sequence is only the beginning. Those designs still need to become physical molecules that researchers can build, test, and learn from. At Telesis Bio, you'll help scientists close that gap – connecting increasingly powerful digital discovery tools with the physical biology required to turn promising ideas into real experiments. You'll join a small, collaborative team where your work has direct visibility and where commercial insights can influence how we position, develop, and bring our technologies to market. Benefits / Perks Competitive pay Annual performance bonus eligibility Employee stock options / equity Medical, dental & vision insuranceHSA-eligible health plan with employer contributions 401(k) retirement plan Generous accrued PTO40 additional wellness hours annually13 paid company holidays Monthly company-sponsored lunches Company happy hours, events & team activities

Before you apply

Applying takes about a minute. These four things decide how fast it moves after that.

Your profile is current

It's what we read first. Occupations, seniority and locations matter more than a long history.

Two examples you can talk through

Not a portfolio — just two pieces of work where you can explain the decisions and what you'd change.

A number in mind

What you're on now and what would make you move. We negotiate better when we know both.

Your notice period

Employers plan around it, and it's the question that stalls offers most often.

Once you apply, someone reads it and calls you before anything reaches the employer — usually within two working days.