KenkoTech Futures · 1 week ago
Founding Scientist, Population Genetics (Platform Lead)
San Francisco Bay Area
Full-time
Onsite
Senior LevelKenkoTech Futures is a well-funded, stealth-stage biotech company focused on leveraging human genetics for disease prevention. They are seeking a Founding Scientist in Population Genetics to lead the development of a genetics-first platform that identifies protective and loss-of-function alleles for gene-editing interventions.
Staffing & Recruiting
Responsibilities
Own and build the company’s human genetics and computational genomics engine from first principles
Design and run large-scale analyses across biobanks and cohorts (GWAS, rare variant, burden testing, founder populations)
Reason carefully about population structure, penetrance, confounding, and causality to determine what is truly actionable
Use human genetics to prioritize, de-prioritize, or kill biological hypotheses before downstream investment
Develop internal standards for genetic evidence that guide gene editing and functional validation efforts
Operate hands-on early, then help shape and scale a small, elite technical team over time
Work closely with experimental and gene-editing scientists to ensure genetics remains the decision anchor
Qualification
Required
Deep, hands-on experience in population-scale human genetics and statistical genetics
Strong applied statistics instincts; comfortable making irreversible analytical decisions
Experience working with rare variants, loss-of-function alleles, and/or human knockouts
Ability to operate end-to-end: raw data → analysis → interpretation → strategic decision
Builder mindset - comfortable in ambiguous, early-stage environments with minimal existing infrastructure
Preference for rigor over hype; first-principles thinking over buzzwords
Preferred
Founder or ancestry-specific population studies
Experience setting evidence standards used by downstream biology or drug programs
Exposure to functional genomics, CRISPR, or gene-editing workflows
Prior work at high-bar genetics organizations (industry or academic) known for depth, not flash
Company
KenkoTech Futures
健康 (kenko) – The balance of vitality and harmony in body and mind.
2-10 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageCompany data provided by crunchbase