Field Application Scientist Full Time NEW

Department: Technical Sales & Support

Employment Type: Full-Time, Salaried

Location: San Diego, CA

Reports To: Support Team Manager

Salary Range: $90,000 – $110,000, commensurate with experience

Travel Requirement: Approximately 25%, domestic and occasional international

Role Overview

MBF Bioscience is seeking a Field Application Scientist (FAS) to serve as a technical expert and customer-facing resource supporting the sales and implementation of our fiber photometry product line. Based on the West Coast and reporting to the Support Team Manager, this role is a hybrid of scientific credibility, hands-on application support, and commercial partnership, working closely with the sales team to close deals and with customers to ensure successful adoption of MBF’s solutions.

The primary focus of this role is fiber photometry: serving as the point person for support questions, conducting demos and installations, troubleshooting, and serving as the technical voice during the sales cycle. The FAS will also serve as a secondary technical resource for other microscope products – such as light sheet, or even multiphoton. This is not a purely reactive support role. The expectation is that this person actively contributes to pipeline development, builds relationships with researchers, and helps translate customer needs into product feedback.

Key Responsibilities

This position spans pre-sales technical support, post-sales onboarding, customer success, and ongoing field engagement. Day-to-day decisions related to application support and customer communication are handled independently. Escalation to the Support Team Manager is reserved for complex technical issues, commercial concerns, or situations involving significant customer risk.

Fiber Photometry – Primary Focus

• Serve as the primary technical resource for MBF’s fiber photometry product line, supporting prospects and customers across the full lifecycle from initial inquiry through post-installation follow-up.
• Conduct live product demonstrations (remote and on-site) tailored to the research objectives of individual labs; translate technical specifications into real world, scientific applications.
• Lead the sales cycle by providing application expertise, responding to technical questions, and participating in calls and meetings with prospective customers.
• Provide hands-on training to new users, covering system operation, experimental design considerations, data acquisition best practices, troubleshooting, and data analysis.
• Troubleshoot and resolve customer issues in the field and remotely; escalate hardware or software defects to the appropriate internal teams with thorough documentation.
• Maintain proactive post-installation contact with customers to assess satisfaction, identify additional needs, and flag renewal or expansion opportunities to the sales team.
• When appropriate, aide customers in their data analysis. This will involve custom code scripting (MatLab) based on experimental parameters.

Light Sheet Microscopy – Secondary Focus

• Serve as a secondary technical resource for light sheet microscopy products, supporting the primary application team on demos, installations, and customer inquiries as capacity allows.
• Develop and maintain working knowledge of MBF’s light sheet product line and relevant customer workflows; participate in product training as new features or systems are released.
• Assist with trade show demonstrations and scientific conference support for light sheet products as needed.

Sales Partnership & Commercial Contribution

• Work in close coordination with the sales team to identify, qualify, and advance opportunities in the fiber photometry space; provide technical credibility during the commercial process.
• Represent MBF Bioscience at scientific conferences, trade shows, and academic events; use those engagements to build pipeline, identify new prospects, and gather competitive intelligence.
• Provide structured feedback to the sales team and Sales Director on customer objections, competitive comparisons, and market trends observed in the field.
• Support the generation of application notes, demo scripts, and other technical content that can be used by the broader sales and marketing organization.

Product Feedback & Market Intelligence

• Systematically collect and document customer feedback on product performance, usability, feature gaps, and competitive alternatives; route this input to Product Managers in a structured, actionable format.
• Distinguish between individual user complaints and patterns that represent genuine product or market signals; filter and prioritize before escalating.
• Contribute to beta testing and early access programs for new features and product releases, providing scientifically grounded evaluation from an end-user perspective.
• Relay competitive intelligence encountered in the field, on pricing, capabilities, and positioning, to the Support Team Manager and commercial leadership on a regular basis.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in neuroscience, biology, biomedical engineering, or a closely related life science discipline; advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) strongly preferred.
• Deep, end-to-end understanding of fiber photometry experiments: from the optical principles underlying light delivery and fluorescence collection, through surgical implantation, to the biological interpretation of photometric signals in the context of neural circuit function and behavior.
• Strong foundation in neuroscience experimental design, specifically in the context of brain research: able to advise researchers on study design, appropriate controls, behavioral considerations, interpretation of results, and to engage substantively with PIs on the scientific merit and technical feasibility of their proposed experiments.
• Proficiency in MATLAB and Bonsai; experience applying these in the context of data acquisition, signal processing, hardware interfacing, or analysis pipeline development for neuroscience instrumentation.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to a scientific audience, including graduate students, postdocs, principal investigators, and lab directors.
• Comfortable operating in a hybrid sales-support role: able to transition between hands-on troubleshooting in a lab and credible participation in a commercial conversation with a prospective customer.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple customer engagements, travel commitments, and internal deliverables simultaneously without loss of follow-through.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; responsive and professional in all customer-facing interactions.
• Based on the West Coast of the United States; authorized to work in the U.S.; willing and able to travel approximately 25% of the time, including occasional domestic air travel and potential international travel.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with light sheet microscopy, including sample preparation, system alignment, and image acquisition workflows.
• Prior exposure to multiphoton (two-photon) imaging techniques; familiarity with the research applications and customer base in this space.
• Familiarity with Python
• Previous experience in a Field Application Scientist, Applications Engineer, or Scientific Sales Specialist role at a life science instrumentation or software company.
• Familiarity with MBF Bioscience products or competitive neuroscience imaging platforms.
• Experience using CRM tools to track customer interactions and manage follow-up activities.
• Publication record or demonstrated research experience in systems neuroscience, in vivo physiology, or related fields.
• Comfort working in a small company environment (under 100 employees) where cross-functional flexibility and self-direction are required.

Competencies

• Scientific credibility: speaks the language of the researcher; engages with PIs and lab members as a knowledgeable peer, not a product vendor.
• Customer ownership: takes responsibility for customer outcomes from first demo through successful installation and beyond; does not hand off and disappear.
• Commercial awareness: understands their role in the revenue process and actively supports pipeline development without losing sight of the customer’s scientific goals.
• Clear communicator: delivers concise, accurate information to customers, sales colleagues, and internal teams; escalates problems early with sufficient context.
• Field-ready: comfortable traveling on short notice, adapting to new lab environments, and troubleshooting under pressure with limited on-site resources.
• Product translator: converts what customers experience in the field into structured, useful input that product and development teams can act on.
• Self-directed: manages their own schedule and priorities across a distributed territory without requiring close supervision; surfaces issues proactively rather than waiting to be asked.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance package
• 401(k) with company matching
• Paid vacation and paid holidays
• Additional competitive benefits

MBF Bioscience is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind: MBF Bioscience is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at MBF Bioscience are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. MBF Bioscience will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.