Intern, Chemistry
Sound Agriculture
Berkeley, CA, USA
Posted on Feb 6, 2025
Why you should join us:
At Sound Agriculture, we are revolutionizing the way the world grows food. Our innovative technology and solutions empower farmers to maximize nutrient efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and feed the world sustainably. Through a deeper understanding of plant and microbial biology, we are leveraging the natural power of plants to make agriculture more agile and resilient. If you’re passionate about cutting-edge science, making a real-world impact, and being part of a team that’s dedicated to transforming agriculture, we want you on our team!
Sound is a Series D startup funded by leading investors in food and agriculture including Leaps by Bayer, Syngenta Group Ventures, S2G Ventures, BMO Impact Investment Fund, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Fall Line Capital, Cavallo Ventures, FootPrint Coalition and Northpond Ventures.
What we're seeking:
The Intern, Chemistry utilizes organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and biochemistry techniques to discover and characterize the chemical species responsible for triggering beneficial behaviors of soil microbes, whether from natural chemical signals exchanged in the root zone or agrochemical mimics thereof. Duties include preparatory and analytical separations of mixtures, chemical characterization of isolates, preparing samples for in vitro and in vivo assays, and data collection and analysis. In this role, the Intern, Chemistry gains experience in analytical chemistry techniques widely used in industry, the isolation of synthetic and natural products, and high-throughput screening of bioactive substances.
This position reports to a Research Scientist on the Chemistry team. This role is based on-site, working in our Berkeley, California laboratory.
Compensation Target:
$20.00 per hour
Interns are not eligible for company provided benefits or equity.
Responsibilities:
- Safely execute small scale organic chemistry procedures with limited supervision
- Conduct chemical and chromatographic separations of complex mixtures
- Utilize analytical chemistry techniques such as HPLC, LCMS, UV spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, and titrimetric analyses to characterize samples
- Assist the execution of in vitro assays to evaluate biological activity of samples
- Data analysis and presentation
Targeted Skills/Experience:
- An undergraduate student interested in organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, environmental science and/or agrochemistry
- At least one semester of Organic Chemistry lab and one semester Analytical Chemistry/Instrumentation lab experience (or equivalent in quarters and/or summers)
- Hands-on experience with liquid-liquid extractions and the principles of chromatography
- Self-motivated with a growth mindset
- A team player with strong communication skills
This role demonstrates our core values by:
- Boldness: being willing to fail fast, taking a risk on new things that just might work
- Ownership: taking responsibility for their experiment’s entire lifecycle, from lab setup to data analysis to presenting their findings to followup experiments
- Tenacity: focusing on finding the tools and support they need to keep making progress when experimental challenges arise
- Creativity: using their knowledge and unique experience to generate ideas, approaches, and processes to try off of the well-trodden path
What we offer:
- Opportunity to work in an incredible team with a drive to build alternative solutions to age old practices that increase farmer ROI
- Competitive total rewards package including base compensation, performance bonus structure or uncapped commission plan for sales positions, and above market equity
- Comprehensive health care plans including Medical, Dental and Vision coverage
- Flex Spending Account (Healthcare, Dependent Care & Commuter Benefit)
- Health Savings Account with monthly employer contribution (for employees on qualifying health plans)
- 401(k) with 3% company match
- Flexible vacation policy empowering employees to use time how they need, when they need
- Mental health and wellbeing benefits - including dedicated monthly meeting free Focus Days
- Paid parental leave
- Pet insurance
- Regular events and engagement activities (we actually like hanging out with each other!)
Sound Agriculture does not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third party recruiting agencies responding to job postings. We will not respond to unsolicited requests to submit candidates.
Equal Employment Opportunity
We seek a diverse pool of applicants and consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, ancestry, color, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, citizenship, disability, Veteran status, marital status, or any other protected status.
Sound participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the United States. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, Sound is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before Sound takes any action, including terminating your employment.