Lab Operations Associate

Overview

As Lab Operations Associate at Messenger Bio, you'll help build high-value mRNA-based products for our customers around the world. You'll get hands-on with cutting-edge mRNA and LNP science while building real skills in the operations that keep an early-stage biotech running. It's an ideal role for someone passionate about mRNA technology and eager to explore a career beyond traditional academic research.

About Messenger Bio

Thousands of human diseases still remain unsolved. Scientists need to be empowered with better access to foundational drug discovery technologies so they can get to the point of translation faster.

That's why we exist. At Messenger Bio, we build differentiated, high-value biotechnology product platforms that make it easier for scientists to do their best work — combining deep biological and materials science expertise to industrialise the discovery of RNA medicines. mRNA is our starting point.

Today we offer end-to-end custom and catalogue mRNA, LNP formulation, in vitro and in vivo preclinical testing, and a growing line of proprietary kits — including our Armada™ LNP Transfection Kit and ShipRight™ room-temperature mRNA shipping. From our lab in Melbourne, we've delivered to 100+ leading institutions across 20+ countries, and we're just getting started.

About the role

As our Lab Operations Associate, you'll help us build the high-value products our customers rely on, while contributing to the operations that keep us running. Day to day, you'll manufacture and QC our suite of products — research-grade mRNA, lipid nanoparticles, and mRNA purification kits — and help coordinate order logistics and fulfilment from start to finish.

It's a rare chance to get hands-on with cutting-edge mRNA and lipid nanoparticle science while developing real skills in business operations and building relationships with researchers across the mRNA field.

What you’ll do:

• Own customer orders from start to finish (for an mRNA order, that means: DNA template production and purification → mRNA production, purification, formulation and QC → order fulfilment)

• Engineer DNA plasmid constructs using standard genetic engineering techniques

• Help set up and validate new mRNA manufacturing processes

• Run cell culture–based experiments (e.g., mRNA transfections)

• Develop new products!

• Take the initiative to suggest ideas and solve problems

What to expect

We'll support you in getting up to speed quickly. There's plenty of room to shape the role, but here's a rough map of your first few months:

• Within 1 month: Get to know the team, understand what we do, and become familiar with our SOPs.

• Within 3 months: Take responsibility for fulfilling customer orders from start to finish, with some oversight.

• Within 6 months: Grow confident enough in our operations to start suggesting ideas and launching your own side quests.

This role is ideal for someone passionate about mRNA science and eager to explore a career beyond traditional academic research. You'll work with novel mRNA and lipid nanoparticle technologies and contribute to our customers' research from day one — helping shape the future of biotech innovation in Australia and beyond.

You can also expect:

• A team that genuinely enjoys working together, and sets high expectations of ourselves and of you

• The chance to build skills across every vertical of an early-stage biotech startup — from cutting-edge mRNA and LNP science to order fulfilment and cross-border shipping

• Flexible working hours

What you bring

The Tangibles:

• At least 6 months of wet-lab experience

• Completed a Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree in biomedicine/biochemistry or a related field

• Hands-on experience with core molecular biology techniques (e.g., PCR, cloning, mammalian cell culture) — prior mRNA expertise is not required

The Intangibles:

• Energy, initiative and work ethic

• The ability to balance collaboration with independence — you thrive in a team but don't need to be told what to do at every step

• The ability to execute tasks reliably

• Clear, effective communication, both verbal and written