Senior Director of Operations

Senior Director, Scientific Operations (Wet Lab)

COMPANY: Confidential

LOCATION: Berkeley, CA (Hybrid – minimum 3 days/week onsite)

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Full-Time

COMPENSATION: $167k– $265k DOE, with spot bonus eligibility

BENEFITS: 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage; 403(b) program; unlimited PTO

Company Description

Mission-driven biotechnology and translational research organization focused on accelerating the development of personalized therapies for patients with rare and genetic diseases. The organization operates with startup urgency and combines expertise across therapeutic development, clinical research, regulatory strategy, omics, AI-enabled research, and scientific operations to advance patient-specific treatment programs on accelerated timelines.

About the Job

Lead laboratory operations and experimental program execution. This role serves as the operational backbone of the wet lab organization, ensuring teams, studies, vendors, and workflows remain organized, aligned, and accountable. The ideal candidate is a strong people leader and operator who can translate scientific strategy into execution, drive accountability across teams, and build the systems and processes necessary to support a growing research organization.

What You’ll Do

• Manage and develop wet lab staff, including prioritization, coaching, performance management, and accountability
• Translate scientific strategy into clear, actionable experimental plans and operational priorities
• Serve as a bridge between scientific leadership and laboratory teams, ensuring alignment and effective communication
• Own operational coordination of experimental workflows from design through synthesis, assay execution, and data delivery
• Manage CROs, vendors, and external research partners, including timelines, deliverables, quality oversight, and issue resolution
• Establish and improve SOPs, laboratory documentation, sample tracking, and operational processes
• Partner with scientific leaders to coordinate screening campaigns, studies, controls, and experimental execution
• Collaborate with data, bioinformatics, regulatory, and program teams to support successful program execution
• Drive continuous improvement across laboratory operations and cross-functional workflows

First 90 Days

• Assess current wet lab operations and identify key opportunities to improve execution and efficiency
• Implement or refine SOPs, documentation standards, and workflow tracking processes
• Establish clear ownership and accountability for critical experimental handoffs and deliverables
• Evaluate CRO and vendor workflows and recommend improvements where needed
• Strengthen communication between scientific leadership and laboratory teams
• Identify and resolve high-impact operational bottlenecks that improve team productivity and execution

Qualifications

Required:

• 8 years of experience in drug discovery, translational research, preclinical development, scientific operations, or related biotechnology environments
• Direct people management experience within a laboratory, scientific, or research setting
• Experience supporting oligonucleotide, RNA therapeutic, gene therapy, genetic medicine, or related development programs
• Proven ability to build and improve operational systems, workflows, and processes
• Experience managing CROs, vendors, and external research partners
• Strong project management, organizational, and communication skills
• Ability to influence and coordinate cross-functional scientific teams in a fast-paced environment
• Demonstrated bias toward execution, accountability, and problem solving

Preferred:

• MS or PhD in a life sciences discipline
• Experience in a startup, small biotechnology company, nonprofit research organization, or founder-led environment
• Familiarity with ASOs, siRNA, gene therapy, or related therapeutic modalities
• Experience with qPCR, ddPCR, nucleic acid quantification, or related molecular biology techniques
• Familiarity with ELNs, LIMS, laboratory informatics, or scientific data management systems
• Exposure to computational biology, bioinformatics, or data-driven research environments