Research Associate, Global Lab Services Returnship

We are building a future where biology is solvable.
The path to new medicines is currently slow and expensive, with high failure rates, leaving millions of patients waiting for new treatment options. Our story is one of innovation: applying AI, vast datasets, and industrial scale to decode biology and accelerate the development of life-changing treatments.

Recursion’s Returnship Program
Recursion’s Returnship program, sponsored by the Women at Recursion Employee Resource Group, helps professionals who have taken a break of two or more years from the STEM industry return to the workforce. Participants work in a supportive, learning-focused environment with guidance from their teams and mentors.

Our program benefits both sides. You’ll own projects that directly advance our mission to radically decode biology and serve patients, and you’ll build experience with new, cutting-edge tools and technology. In turn, Recursion gains access to an underutilized pool of talent in Utah and benefits from the skills and experience you’ve built through your work and life.

What you’ll get

• A dedicated mentor who meets with you weekly
• Weekly seminars on workplace culture, communication, and technology
• Support from your team as you re-enter the workforce

Our program runs for sixteen weeks, from March 2027 through the end of June 2027. Depending on performance and business needs, it may lead to full-time employment. This position is primarily based at our Salt Lake City, UT headquarters, with some hybrid flexibility.

Research Associate Returnship
The Global Lab Services team keeps Recursion’s laboratories safe, compliant, and running smoothly. Our team covers equipment, facilities, environmental health and safety (EHS), and lab operations, and we work closely with scientific teams across the company, including biologists, chemists, automation and software engineers, assay operations, and data scientists. When an operational problem slows down the science, we find out why and build a lasting fix.
As a Research Associate, you will collaborate closely with the Global Lab Services team and the scientific teams it supports to design and develop programs for lab operations, from understanding the problem through building the structure that keeps a program running day to day. We are seeking an individual who is curious about how labs run, enjoys digging into operational hurdles to find their root cause, and is comfortable planning, organizing, and working across teams to arrive at practical solutions. Experience building SOPs, software tools, or AI interfaces is a plus. A strong desire to learn new skills, tools, and approaches is essential to thrive in our fast-paced environment.

Working alongside Recursion’s Global Lab Services team, you will work on projects such as:

• Develop environmental monitoring and tracking programs: Build a process to respond to, document, and track environmental baseline conditions and contamination events across our labs, including root-cause investigation and trend reporting.
• Write EHS technical documents, including SOPs, safety guidance, and training materials that help teams work safely and stay compliant.
• Design lab operations: Map current workflows, identify operational hurdles, and build programs with clear roles, processes, and measures of success.
• Build program structure with SOPs, tracking tools, and software systems that make programs easy to adopt and sustain.
• Explore AI tools and interfaces that help scientists and lab staff find information, report issues, or follow procedures (a plus, not a requirement).
• Partner cross-functionally with equipment, facilities, EHS, and scientific teams to gather requirements, test solutions, and roll out new programs.
• Learn about lab operations, including equipment management, facilities, safety compliance, and how each one supports high-throughput science.
• The Recursion Community
  Cutting-edge tools matter, but our people are what set us apart. Our structure and culture are built to help you do your best work, not to feed politics or ego. We live by values that give us a real competitive advantage. They help us work better and faster without relying on burnout, and they encourage us to make leaps where others take steps. People in every role and at every level make the bold bets that move us forward.
  The Returnship gives you a front-row seat to this culture. From your first week, you’ll work alongside teams who value collaboration over ego, with a mentor in your corner and real ownership of projects that matter. You won’t be on the sidelines while you ramp up.
  
  The Experience You’ll Need
• 3+ years of working experience in a research laboratory, lab operations, EHS, or a related scientific setting.
• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in a scientific, engineering, or related field.
• 2+ years break from employment
• A strong desire to learn with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Attentive to detail, with the ability to write clear, accurate procedures and documentation.
• Enjoy working both independently and collaboratively with cross-functional teams.
• Experience with SOP development, process improvement, project coordination, or Jira software and AI tools is a plus.