Microbiologist food pharma environmental

Work setting:
On-site laboratory position

Vanguard Laboratory is a small, family-owned analytical chemistry and microbiology laboratory located in Olympia, Washington. We test food and beverage products, pharmaceuticals, peptides, agricultural products, drinking water, and environmental samples.

Vanguard Laboratory operates under an ISO/IEC 17025 quality-management system and maintains accreditations through A2LA and Washington State agencies. We are continuing to expand our food, pharmaceutical, water, and molecular microbiology capabilities.

We are seeking a dependable and technically capable Microbiologist with hands‑on laboratory experience. Experience in food microbiology or pharmaceutical microbiology is strongly preferred.

This position includes routine microbiological testing, method implementation and verification, quality-system responsibilities, and development of new laboratory capabilities. The successful candidate must be comfortable performing both routine production testing and more technical method-development work.

This is a good opportunity for someone who wants to have a direct impact on a growing laboratory. You will help improve existing systems, bring new methods online, and expand our accredited testing capabilities.

• Receive, prepare, dilute, and analyze food, water, environmental, pharmaceutical, and related samples.
• Perform microbiological testing using proper aseptic technique and contamination-control practices.
• Prepare media, reagents, standards, controls, and laboratory supplies.
• Perform applicable FDA BAM, USP, Standard Methods, and laboratory-developed procedures.
• Conduct indicator-organism and general microbiology testing, including:
• Aerobic plate count
• Coliform and
  
  E. coli
• Yeast and mold
• Most probable number
• Presence/absence testing
• Pathogen screening and confirmation
• Perform water and environmental testing, including sample preparation, incubation, enumeration, and related workflows.
• Support BOD testing and other microbiology-related water analyses as assigned.
• Accurately document sample preparation, calculations, observations, control results, and final results.

• Perform culture-based testing of food and beverage products using FDA BAM or other recognized methods.
• Support pathogen, indicator-organism, spoilage-organism, and general microbial-quality testing.
• Assist with challenge studies, shelf-life studies, and product-stability programs.
• Prepare study protocols, sampling plans, inoculation schemes, testing schedules, and final reports.
• Trend microbiological results and recognize unexpected patterns, contamination, or product deterioration.
• Work with a variety of food matrices and identify potential method interference or recovery concerns.

• Perform or assist with pharmaceutical microbiology testing, which may include:
• USP microbial enumeration
• USP tests for specified microorganisms
• USP sterility testing
• Bacterial endotoxin testing
• Growth-promotion testing
• Method suitability and inhibition/enhancement studies
• Environmental and surface monitoring
• Follow controlled procedures for aseptic processing, contamination control, incubation, and result interpretation.
• Maintain complete, traceable, and defensible records suitable for regulated laboratory work.
• Investigate positive, atypical, or out-of-specification microbiological results.

• Perform DNA isolation and RNA extraction from a variety of sample types.
• Conduct PCR and qPCR workflows, including sample preparation, amplification, control review, and result interpretation.
• Assist with primer and probe selection, evaluation, or design.
• Troubleshoot amplification failure, inhibition, contamination, nonspecific amplification, and control failures.
• Perform ELISA and other immunological assays as applicable.
• Use microscopy and traditional microbiological techniques when required for investigation or identification.

• Assist with the implementation, verification, and validation of new microbiological methods.
• Review scientific literature, compendial methods, regulatory references, and manufacturer instructions.
• Develop study plans and establish appropriate acceptance criteria.
• Evaluate accuracy, precision, specificity, recovery, robustness, range, detection capability, and method suitability where applicable.
• Document method-development activities, including unsuccessful trials and…