Chief of Staff

Chief of Staff | AI & Frontier Enzyme Design Startup | San Francisco,CA(In-Person) | Full-Time | Up to $120K + Equity

About the Company

Our client builds next-generation tooling to manipulate chemistry and biology, starting with programmable enzyme design. They operate on the conviction that as general intelligence scales, scientific progress will be bottlenecked by the specialised interfaces that allow agents to explore, perturb, and understand the physical world.

By treating enzymes as the programmable machinery of biology and coupling generative structural modelling with rapid experimental feedback loops, they are building computational systems that deliberately search enzyme space to design new biological catalysts and interventions on a weekly basis.

They are a lean, interdisciplinary team of researchers and builders spanning biology, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science, united by the belief that scientific discovery is approaching a major step change.

About the Role

Reporting directly to the CEO, the Chief of Staff will serve as the core operational engine and primary force multiplier across the business. Working across an interdisciplinary team bridging machine learning, structural biology, and wet-lab operations, you will own the operational cadence and execute critical zero-to-one initiatives that translate technical breakthroughs into organisational momentum.

This is a high-leverage role for an autonomous generalist operator who thrives in fast-moving, high-conviction environments. You will remove operational bottlenecks, structure team-wide execution, lead cross-functional strategic projects, and maintain the operational rigor required to design and test new biological systems continuously.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the founders to establish internal operating systems, track cross-team deliverables, resolve bottlenecks, and ensure company-wide alignment.

• Bridge communication, workflows, and timelines between computational modelling, data engineering, and wet-lab experimental feedback loops.

• Own and incubate high-priority initiatives that do not yet have an organisational home - including hiring workflows, external partnerships, vendor operations, and operational scaling.

• Support investor relations, external partner communications, and the preparation of high-signal presentations, research updates, and board materials.

• Manage day-to-day corporate operations, facilities, procurement, and team tooling to ensure a lean research team maintains uninterrupted focus on technical execution.

Skills & Competencies

• Proven ability to synthesise complex, ambiguous challenges into concrete plans and drive them to completion with minimal direction.

• Strong intellectual curiosity and comfort engaging with technical concepts across biological systems, machine learning, and computational science.

• Clear, structured written and verbal communication, capable of distilling complex research ideas into concise operational priorities and executive summaries.

• A proactive builder mindset that seeks out friction, streamlines processes, and executes with high attention to detail.

• Strong judgment in managing competing priorities, high-stakes external relationships, and sensitive company information.

Qualifications & Experience

• Prior experience in early-stage tech/deeptech operations, management consulting, venture capital, or a similar fast-paced analytical environment.

• Demonstrated track record of independently leading cross-functional projects from problem definition to measurable outcome.

• Professional exposure to or strong academic interest in biotechnology, AI/ML, computational science, or engineering disciplines.

• Experience working directly alongside founders or executive leadership to scale workflows and infrastructure.