Solution Consultant - R&D

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era. When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we’ve not built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Benchling Solution Consultants (SC) are the primary solution leads with Benchling’s largest customers and prospects. Their solutions are deployed into complex enterprise IT environments, interfacing with other vendor solutions, lab instruments, and legacy applications. This is a highly visible role that partners with both external and internal teams to develop the optimal solutions that drive the most value for our customers. The SC is a pre-sales role, and as such works closely with Benchling sales leadership, account executives, professional services, and product leaders to ensure the best solutions are presented. SCs work with senior scientific and IT leaders from prospects and customers, to establish credibility and confidence from the first meeting, and to create solutions based on cutting‑edge technologies. The SC must be comfortable with Life Sciences R&D processes and scientific concepts, have experience with enterprise SaaS solutions, and be adept at working with internal and external leaders and stakeholders. You must work as a trusted adviser to translate customer objectives into detailed solutions and effectively communicate and demonstrate those solutions to prospects and customers.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Effectively partner with account executives, SC peers, and leadership to create account and deal strategies that lead to selection, planning out customer engagements that lead to compelling solutions.
• Manage organized discoveries to uncover customer needs and requirements that relate to decision criteria and key business issues.
• Craft solutions based on Benchling capabilities, industry best practices and standard R&D functions, with data models and processes that map to the customer or prospects' science and that fit into their current technology landscape.
• Present and demonstrate the solution in a persuasive way based on key messages, decision criteria, and key business issues.
• Manage customer questions and objections and resolve concerns.
• Ensure that the solution is presented competitively, with awareness of alternatives including build in house.
• Engage with product management to provide insight into prospect and customer needs and industry trends.
• Influence the roadmap for market success.
• Ensure that the roadmap is clear to customers as required to influence buying decisions.
• Provide leadership by creating reusable solutions, content, and trainings for key areas.
• Work with the extended team to ensure that they are successful and learn from your expertise.
• Mentor and partner with other SCs to build their success.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s in Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Bioengineering, Chemistry or similar Life Science field, with a minimum of 4 years of work experience, ideally customer facing.
• Experience with scientific/informatics software such as LIMS, ELN, or others preferred.
• Familiarity with antibody engineering software is a plus.
• Experience in demonstrating scientific software in a pre-sales setting highly desired.
• Hands-on experience in antibody discovery and engineering, either as a bench scientist or in a technical role supporting biologics teams.
• Demonstrated capacity to effectively model scientific data, and craft solutions, based on product knowledge and industry best practices.
• Prior experience in demonstrating and supporting research instruments, reagents or software desired.
• Understand research technology generally adopted by biopharma companies.
• Have an agile and adaptable mentality, and can quickly implement new customer engagement processes.
• Ability to establish as a trusted advisor for scientists, and successfully pitch to scientific buyers.
• Must be fluent in English. Fluency in German or French is a plus.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites 25-30%.

COMPANY BENEFITS - EMEA

Benchling takes a market-based approach to pay. The candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and work location. Total Compensation includes the following:

• Competitive salary and equity
• Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits
• Four months of fully paid parental leave
• Home office stipend
• Mental health benefits + wellness stipend
• Learning and development reimbursement
• 25 days vacation days + public holidays
• Company-wide Summer & Winter holiday shutdown
• Sabbaticals for 5-year and 10-year anniversaries
• Remote perks including travel to hubs
• In-office perks (Zurich Only - In Office)
• Commuter benefits (Zurich Only - In Office)

Benchling welcomes everyone. We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences. We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.