Principal Biology Specialist

About TaskUs:

TaskUs is a provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to fast-growing technology companies, helping its clients represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fastest-growing sectors, including social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery, ride-sharing, HiTech, FinTech, and HealthTech.

The People First culture at TaskUs has enabled the company to expand its workforce to approximately 60,000 employees globally. Presently, we have a presence in twenty-three locations across twelve countries, which include the Philippines, India, and the United States.

It started with one ridiculously good idea to create a different breed of Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO)! We at TaskUs understand that achieving growth for our partners requires a culture of constant motion, exploring new technologies, being ready to handle any challenge at a moment’s notice, and mastering consistency in an ever-changing world.

What We Offer:

At TaskUs, we prioritize our employees' well-being by offering competitive industry salaries and comprehensive benefits packages. Our commitment to a People First culture is reflected in the various departments we have established, including Total Rewards, Wellness, HR, and Diversity. We take pride in our inclusive environment and positive impact on the community. Moreover, we actively encourage internal mobility and professional growth at all stages of an employee's career within TaskUs. Join our team today and experience firsthand our dedication to supporting People First.

Salary Range:

Pay Transparency Statement:

The base salary range represents the low and high end of the anticipated salary range for this position across our US locations. The "pay scale" provided is a good faith estimate of the range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position at the time of hire. Actual salary will be determined based on various factors including, but not limited to, the candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and specific geographic location.

Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) with company match; and paid time off including vacation, sick leave, and holidays.

Application Window:

Job Description:

Principal Biology Specialist

TaskUs partners with pioneering technology companies to build the safety, intelligence, and human-in-the-loop operations powering next-generation artificial intelligence.

In this role, you will lead a specialized domain pod supporting one of the world’s foremost frontier AI research and safety companies. Their Safeguards mission is paramount: prevent state-of-the-art AI systems from lowering technical barriers to the creation or proliferation of biological weapons and catastrophic risks.

Because legitimate life-science research (academic, clinical, synthetic biology) frequently uses the same terminology as biological threat vectors, automated detection systems flag cases for mandatory human triage. As human reviewers provide the definitive ground truth, specialist labels validate and train the automated safety classifiers operating at scale.

As the Principal Biology Specialist, you will serve as the pod’s senior subject matter authority and technical lead. You will oversee a tiered team of specialists, establish nuanced adjudication frameworks, resolve the most ambiguous dual-use escalations, and provide executive briefings to client safety leads on emerging biological risk vectors.

What you will do:

• Senior Technical Authority: Act as the final escalation authority on the pod for ambiguous, high-consequence cases, complex customer appeals, and potential high-severity biological threat activity.
• Dual-Use & CBRN Adjudication: Set the standard for distinguishing benign, legitimate scientific inquiry (e.g., vaccine research, epidemiology, protein design, academic virology) from catastrophic misuse:
  • Sourcing and acquisition of select agents and toxins (BSAT)
  • Genetic modification or enhancement of transmissibility, virulence, or immune evasion
  • Scaled culturing, synthesis, down-stream processing, and purification
  • Formulation, weaponization, and aerosolization/dispersion mechanics
• Classifier Training & Labeling: Deliver high-fidelity, peer-reviewed ground-truth labels that directly validate, evaluate, and fine-tune automated AI safety and refusal classifiers.
• Risk Playbooks & Policy Feedback: Refine investigative playbooks and labeling taxonomies in alignment with international biological conventions (e.g., BWC, Australia Group) and US Select Agent regulations; advise client policy leadership on evolving biotechnology capabilities.
• Lead & Mentor a Pod: Technically direct and mentor Senior and Junior Biology Specialists; manage review calibration and quality assurance protocols to maintain rigorous, defensible determinations across the pod.
• Client Briefings & Threat Advisory: Synthesize technical findings into clear, actionable risk memos for client biosecurity leads, advising on emergent frontier model capabilities and dual-use boundaries.

What you bring:

• Advanced Degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) in Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology, Immunology, Synthetic Biology, Biosecurity, or a directly related life-sciences discipline.
• 9+ years of professional experience in biodefense, biosecurity policy, public health threat surveillance, biosafety (BSL-3/BSL-4 operations), or specialized CBRN analysis.
• Deep Dual-Use Expertise: Exceptional fluency in life-science research protocols, enabling you to immediately distinguish legitimate academic workflows from illicit, actionable step-by-step weaponization pathways.
• Regulatory & Treaties Fluency: Deep familiarity with national and international biosecurity frameworks, including the Federal Select Agent Program, GDM (Gene Drive / DNA Synthesis screening guidelines), BWC, and export control regimes.
• Technical Leadership: Proven track record of technically leading a team of scientists, analysts, or intelligence specialists in high-stakes environments.
• Communication: Exceptional ability to communicate complex microbiological principles and risk assessments to technical engineers, policy teams, and client executives.
• Location & Authorization: Based in the United States with unrestricted work authorization.

Nice to have:

• Prior experience with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD/DTRA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/ASPR/BARDA), CDC, USAMRIID, or the Intelligence Community (IC).
• Active or recent U.S. Government Security Clearance (Secret / Top Secret).
• Direct experience evaluating computational biology misuse, AI safety red-teaming, or automated bio-classifier benchmarking.
• Practical experience working in high-containment laboratories (BSL-3 or BSL-4) or with DNA synthesis screening providers.

Good to know:

• Sensitivity of Material: Daily responsibilities involve reviewing flagged interactions involving dangerous pathogens, toxic agents, dual-use protocols, and synthetic biology instructions.
• Screening Requirements: Selected candidates may be subject to client-directed insider-threat screening, background checks, and credential verification prior to and during engagement.

Location: US (Texas preferred)

Work Setup: Remote

Type: Full time

Salary Range: $150,000 - $220,000

How We Partner To Protect You: TaskUs will neither solicit money from you during your application process nor require any form of payment in order to proceed with your application. Kindly ensure that you are always in communication with only authorized recruiters of TaskUs.

DEI:

In TaskUs we believe that innovation and higher performance are brought by people from all walks of life. We welcome applicants of different backgrounds, demographics, and circumstances. Inclusive and equitable practices are our responsibility as a business. TaskUs is committed to providing equal access to opportunities. If you need reasonable accommodations in any part of the hiring process, please let us know.

EEO:

TaskUs is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We celebrate and support diversity; we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. TaskUs people first culture thrives on it for the benefit of our employees, our clients, our services, and our community.

We invite you to explore all TaskUs career opportunities and apply through the provided URL https://www.taskus.com/careers/.