Science Editor, Publishing

We are Arcadia Science. Arcadia is a science company founded and led by scientists. Our mission is to transform evolutionary innovations into real-world solutions by openly developing more efficient, replicable, and sustainable ways to leverage the biology of diverse organisms. Scientists at Arcadia share as much of their research as possible to gather community feedback and accelerate scientific progress.

Publishing At Arcadia

We’re experimenting with new ways of sharing science , hoping to maximize speed, utility, and rigor in publishing. We share research in the form of modular “pubs” on our own platform (powered by PubPub), without journals. The Publishing Team supports our scientists in adopting and pushing the boundaries of this new approach. Now that we’ve established a robust internal process for this, we’ve identified key ways to improve and we’re expanding the team.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Science Editor to help us release pubs faster and make what we share as clear, complete, and well-crafted as possible. The ideal candidate will have editorial experience, which can come in many flavors, and a keen eye for detail. You should have a PhD or equivalent experience in the life sciences — enough to understand our research, which covers a broad range of topics and scientific fields. You might be a bit of a perfectionist, but you can adapt and move quickly. Most importantly, you should be eager to experiment with new forms of research sharing and excited to work in a role that is collaborative in every way.

We strive to make our pubs understandable by fellow scientists but not to require deep expertise in a given field. We shoot for a more casual tone, active voice, and transparency in explaining our thinking. To accomplish this, the Science Editor will be involved at the outset of pub planning, and will edit the scientist’s first draft once it’s ready. You’ll engage in discussion with multiple scientists, members of the Publishing Team, and our general counsel during this process and will likely revisit the draft several times. Once things are finalized, you’ll get everything set up on our publishing platform and coordinate the release.

Your job is to nail the details AND keep the big picture in focus. You’ll need to catch all the errors and proactively suggest broader improvements. Some pubs are short and straightforward, and you’ll provide quick feedback and copyediting. Sometimes you’ll have to jump in and reorganize an entire draft, write sections of the pub, do a few hours of research into a topic to understand it, or deal with new, unforeseen challenges that only emerge as we experiment.

Responsibilities

Work directly with scientists to bring their pubs up to our high standards, helping them plan out their drafts and providing high-level feedback on structure and organization
Copyedit to ensure grammatical accuracy and adherence to house style
Edit for clarity while taking care to ensure scientific accuracy, checking with scientist(s) for more background as needed
Provide feedback on figures, working with the Publishing Team to ensure that the chosen format is the best way to present the data to readers
Flag issues such as a lack of replicates, claims not supported by data, missing information that could affect reproducibility, IP concerns, etc.
Manage content within our publishing platform, generate DOIs, and help ensure that all associated code, data, and additional assets are connected

Education/Experience

A PhD or equivalent experience in the life sciences
A minimum of three years of experience in science communication, specifically writing or editing

The expected salary range is $100,000–$130,000 per year with generous equity and benefits, depending on experience level. The Editor is part of the Publishing team and reports to the Director of Publishing. The position will require the individual to be on-site, full-time at our Berkeley, California headquarters.

Arcadia Science is an equal opportunity workplace; we welcome people from all backgrounds and communities. We provide competitive compensation and practical benefits to keep you happy and healthy so that you can do your best work. Please note that an offer of employment from Arcadia is contingent upon the successful clearance of a reference and background check.