Operations Manager at High-growth Series A Biotech Startup

High-growth biotech data infrastructure company is looking for an Operations Manager. This is an exciting time to join a collaborative, fast-moving team and take on diverse, high-impact work from day one. In this role, you'll act as a force multiplier alongside the COO and Chief of Staff, independently scoping and running operational projects end-to-end across special projects, finance, and HR/people operations. You'll evaluate and implement new systems, flag risks in customer contracts, project-manage compliance initiatives, tighten financial and operational processes, and plan company events and off-sites, bringing structure to ambiguity and driving work to completion without waiting for direction. Someone with a do-whatever-it-takes attitude who is highly autonomous, resourceful, and thrives where priorities shift quickly. Previous experience in operations, strategy, or a similar role at a high-growth startup is preferred, and there's significant room to grow as the company scales. This is an in-office role based in San Francisco's Mission Bay. 160-200K DOE equity, full benefits, 401k, unlimited PTO, daily meals, on-site gym, and team off-sites.

Responsibilities:

• Partner closely with senior leadership to identify operational bottlenecks, bring structure to complex and ambiguous problems, and drive solutions through completion.
• Independently scope and run high-impact projects from initial research and planning through execution, delivering a strong end result.
• Build, improve, and scale operational systems, processes, and documentation across core functions including finance, hiring, legal, compliance, and vendor management, designing solutions that people will actually use.
• Own day-to-day financial operations by tracking budgets, spend, burn, and runway, pressure-testing trade-offs, evaluating areas like variable compensation design, and providing clear, timely reporting to support decisions.
• Review operational, legal, and commercial documents such as customer contracts, statements of work, and data protection agreements, flagging risks and surfacing the key considerations leadership needs to weigh.
• Research, evaluate, and implement core operational tools such as applicant tracking and expense management systems, and project-manage compliance initiatives, audits, and cross-functional rollouts from start to finish.
• Plan and execute company events and team off-sites, owning logistics, vendors, budgets, and coordination across a globally distributed team.
• Support hiring by conducting screening calls and coordinating recruiting across technical and non-technical roles, and help keep people and immigration operations organized as the team grows.
• Coordinate across technical, product, commercial, scientific, and operational stakeholders to keep priorities aligned, communicate progress proactively, and close loops on your own.
• Assess quickly when work should be handled internally or through outside partners, and manage vendors or resources to deliver high-quality outcomes efficiently.

Qualifications:

• Experience in an Operations, Strategy, Chief of Staff, or similarly broad role within a fast-paced startup, technology, AI, SaaS, data, or high-growth environment.
• Demonstrated ability to independently solve complex, unstructured problems, make sound decisions with incomplete information, and take ownership from initial assessment through final execution.
• Familiarity with contracts, compliance requirements, vendor management, and risk assessment, with the ability to organize information clearly and escalate issues appropriately.
• Ability to design and improve scalable operational systems that balance speed, clarity, accountability, and flexibility as an organization grows.
• Strong technical literacy and the ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including executives, engineers, product teams, sales teams, operations professionals, and external partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a concise, clear, and action-oriented approach.
• Highly organized, adaptable, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple high-priority projects in a rapidly changing environment.
• A proactive, resourceful, and high-integrity working style, with a strong bias toward action, iteration, and continuous improvement.
• Fluent with tools like Google Workspace, Notion, and Slack, and ideally use AI tools to make your own work faster and better.