Salary Range: 230000 to 280000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

Retro develops therapies for diseases driven by the biology of aging. We focus on cellular reprogramming and autophagy to rejuvenate cell and tissue function with the ultimate aim of adding 10 years to healthy human lifespan.

We’re building a mission-driven team of accomplished and kind individuals who embrace our startup culture of rapid iteration, transparency, and versatility.

We are currently hiring someone to lead our Quality and Analytical Development team and to continue to shape the quality culture at Retro.

About the role:

In this position, you will work hands-on with the team and bring the experience and perspective of having previously taken cell-therapy programs through GMP manufacturing and into the clinic.

Your primary focus will be preparing our iPSC-derived cell therapy programs for clinical manufacturing. You will lead the continued buildout of our Quality Unit and phase-appropriate GMP Quality systems, ensuring our in-house manufacturing facility, processes, and external partners are ready to support clinical production. You will also guide our Analytical Development and QC team as they take methods from development through qualification and into routine GMP testing, bringing the technical judgment and regulatory perspective needed to establish appropriate controls and make sound Quality decisions.

You will provide Quality and analytical oversight across Retro's broader pipeline, including small-molecule and gene-therapy programs, and report directly to the CEO.

About you:

You’re a first-principles thinker who believes in building the simplest, most effective team and systems for each phase of development. You’ve seen Quality done in different ways and can separate true best practices from unnecessary processes, bringing the right pieces together for Retro while embracing our tenet of Speed × Accuracy.

You know when to flex, when to hold the line, and how to keep patient safety at the center of those decisions. You’re comfortable moving between technical details, Quality decisions, and broader program strategy, while staying directly involved with the work.

You’re optimistic about our ability to positively impact the human condition and extend healthy human lifespan.

In this role you will:

Lead Retro’s Quality & Analytical Development team, setting priorities, coaching and developing the team, and building the group as needs evolve.
Be accountable for the phase-appropriate QMS and independent Quality oversight supporting internal cGMP cell-therapy manufacturing.
Lead GMP manufacturing Quality readiness, including facility and equipment qualification oversight, vendor qualification, audits, and the implementation of critical Quality controls.
Partner with Program teams across R&D, Process Development, and Manufacturing, as well as Regulatory and Clinical, to define CQAs, control strategies, specifications, and critical process parameters.
Guide analytical strategy and the full method lifecycle across our cell-therapy programs, from product characterization and method development through qualification and validation, transfer, QC implementation, and ongoing performance monitoring.
Provide technical leadership in bringing cell-therapy analytical methods into GMP QC, particularly flow cytometry and qPCR/ddPCR, with an understanding of method performance, qualification, sensitivity, precision, and statistically justified acceptance criteria.
Oversee Quality review of GMP records, deviations, CAPAs, change controls, qualification/validation activities, batch documentation, and product disposition/release.
Guide analytical investigations, troubleshooting, robustness, system suitability, critical reagent, and instrument-control strategies.
Support regulatory strategy and submissions across analytical, CMC, Quality, potency, comparability, and control-strategy topics.
Provide or coordinate Quality and analytical oversight for Retro’s small-molecule and gene-therapy programs as needed.
Decide which capabilities should be built internally versus supported by consultants, CROs, CDMOs, or other external specialists.

You might thrive in this role if you:

Have 8+ years of relevant experience, including substantial experience in GMP Quality systems and cell-therapy Analytical Development and/or QC, with the technical and operational breadth to oversee all three functions.
Have taken cell-therapy programs through GMP manufacturing and clinical development.
Have firsthand experience implementing and operating GMP Quality systems, including ownership of Quality processes and decision-making related to deviations, CAPAs, change controls, audits, vendor qualification, or GMP documentation and approvals.
Have led the transition of cell-therapy analytical methods from development into GMP QC, including phase-appropriate qualification or validation, method transfer, and implementation for release and stability testing.
Bring deep hands-on expertise in one or more cell-therapy analytical areas, such as flow cytometry, potency and functional assays, or molecular methods, and enough breadth to coach the team and make sound technical decisions across the broader analytical program.
Have experience with batch review, disposition, or release decisions in a GMP environment.
Have strong working knowledge of cGMP, relevant FDA cell-therapy and CMC guidance, ICH guidelines, 21 CFR Part 11, data integrity, and analytical validation.
Are comfortable operating broadly in a startup environment or lean organization and can work effectively without a separate specialist for every function.

It’s a bonus if you:

Have direct experience with iPSC-derived cell therapies.

Have experience supporting cell-therapy programs through late-stage or pivotal clinical development.

Experience working across multiple therapeutic modalities, including direct small-molecule and/or gene-therapy Quality, QC, AD, or CMC experience.

We take pride in cultivating an environment that fosters collaboration, open communication, and authenticity. We believe that great results are best delivered by a highly creative team working in concert. We are an equal opportunity employer; we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We are diverse in background and singular in mission.

About the company

Retro Biosciences develops therapeutics aimed at extending healthy human lifespan by addressing the cellular drivers of aging. The company runs three main programs—cellular reprogramming, plasma-inspired therapeutics, and autophagy—supported by single-cell multi-omics, computational biology, and lab automation to build a pipeline that targets aging mechanisms to prevent multiple age-related diseases. Revenue comes from developing and commercializing these candidates once they prove concept through research and clinical development. The company differentiates itself by focusing on root causes of aging rather than single-disease drugs, using diverse, technology-enabled programs with a balanced pipeline, and leveraging advanced analytics and automation to accelerate discovery. The goal is to extend healthy years of life by ten years and reduce the healthcare burden from aging-related diseases.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Series A

Total Funding

$1.2B

Headquarters

Redwood City, California

Founded

2021

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

May 22, 2026 financing confirmed investor demand and extended runway for 2026-2027 milestones.
August 2026 RTR242 enrollment expanded to 108, signaling tolerability and operational momentum.
Murdoch Children's partnership gives Retro autologous iPSC blood-stem-cell capability other startups lack.

What critics are saying

RTR242 still lacks human efficacy data; August 2026 dosing expansion only measured safety.
May 22, 2026 financing at $1.8 billion locks in enormous expectations before proof.
If first-in-human programs miss biomarker endpoints, Retro becomes a capital-intensive science project, not a company.

What makes Retro Biosciences unique

Retro pairs autophagy, reprogramming, and cell replacement under one aging-disease platform.
OpenAI's GPT-4b micro improved reprogramming marker expression 50-fold in vitro, August 2025.
Retro began Phase I RTR242 dosing in Adelaide, its first human trial, December 2025.

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Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Retirement Plan
401(k) Company Match
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Paid Holidays
Parental Leave
Professional Development Budget

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

1 year growth

2 year growth

-2%

TradeFlock

Oct 16th, 2026

NewLimit raises $435M at $3.1B valuation as tech billionaires pour money into longevity

NewLimit, a longevity biotech co-founded by Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong, closed a $435 million Series C led by Founders Fund at a $3.1 billion valuation. Its first human trial, for alcohol-induced liver disease, is slated for 2027. NewLimit targets a named disease and is taking the FDA's conventional investigational new drug process, rather than selling wellness products. Armstrong is not alone. Sam Altman put $180 million into Retro Biosciences, which has raised more than $1.18 billion in total. Jeff Bezos backed Altos Labs, which leads the field with $5.56 billion in cumulative funding. Not every outsider succeeds. Analyst Sindhya Valloppillil notes that many tech-bred founders lacked clinical compliance depth and relied on wellness branding over solid science.

VARINDIA

May 21st, 2026

Sam Altman invests $180M in ageing reversal startup backed by OpenAI's GPT-4b micro

Sam Altman has invested approximately $180 million (₹1,700 crore) in Retro Biosciences, a startup working to slow ageing and combat diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer. Altman personally funded the company's early development before backing a larger funding round that valued Retro in the billions. Retro is collaborating with OpenAI on a specialised AI model called GPT-4b micro, designed to help redesign proteins involved in cellular reprogramming. The startup focuses on partial cellular reprogramming, attempting to reset ageing cells to a younger biological state without fully converting them into stem cells. Rather than treating age-related diseases individually, Retro aims to address the underlying biological processes that cause ageing itself. The AI model helps design proteins faster and identify solutions scientists might otherwise miss.

Epium

Mar 14th, 2026

Sam Altman backed Retro Biosciences tests longevity pill targeting brain aging

Sam Altman backed Retro Biosciences tests longevity pill targeting brain aging. Retro Biosciences, funded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, is preparing its first human trial of a pill that aims to clear damaged proteins in the brain by rebooting cellular recycling linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Retro Biosciences, a longevity startup backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, is preparing to launch its first human clinical trial by the end of 2025 for an experimental small molecule pill called RTR242. The company was founded in 2021 with an initial 180 million investment from Altman and is led by chief executive Joe Betts-LaCroix, a scientist and entrepreneur who previously helped build what was described as the world's smallest computer. Retro's overarching ambition is to decouple aging from decline and disease by developing therapies that reset key aspects of human biology to a more youthful state and add 10 extra, healthy years to human lifespan. RTR242 is intended to treat Alzheimer's by reviving autophagy, the cellular recycling process that is activated by fasting and is widely believed to have broad antiaging effects. Betts-LaCroix described how "old, misfolded, mutated, broken, undigestible proteins inside cells" accumulate over time as "the normal cellular recycling system gets messed up." The pill is designed to clear "gunk in the cells" associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and, if effective, could restart stalled autophagy pathways and clean up damage "especially in the brain cells." In contrast to newer Alzheimer's drugs such as Eisai's Leqembi and Eli Lilly's Kisunla, which slow cognitive decline by flushing out amyloid plaques, Retro is focused on therapeutics that aim to reverse aspects of aging rather than simply slow them. The company is in "hardcore preclinical mode" and has chosen Australia for its Phase 1 safety trial because it is faster and easier to initiate such studies there, with a trial site and lab vendors already selected and first participant enrollment expected toward the end of the year. Retro is also advancing two other major programs: RTR890, a treatment for blood diseases like leukemia that would generate fresh blood stem cells from a patient's own cells, and RTR888, a stem cell derived therapy targeting diseases of the central nervous system. To fund large scale clinical development, Retro aims to raise 1 billion in a Series A round, which would place it closer to rivals like Jeff Bezos backed Altos Labs, reported to have raised more than 3 billion from prominent tech investors. While some in the field, such as Gero founder Peter Fedichev, question whether a 10 year gain in healthy lifespan can be achieved through lifestyle alone, Betts-LaCroix argues that "curing cancer would add about three years to life expectancy, and curing heart disease about four," and that adding 10 healthy years "will be an even greater impact." Alongside its drug pipeline, Retro is exploring more radical longevity approaches through a partnership with OpenAI on protein design. In August, OpenAI described a custom "GPT-4b micro" protein designing Artificial Intelligence model developed with Retro, stating that GPT-4b micro improved the expression of stem cell reprogramming markers 50-fold compared with natural reprogramming factors. Cellular reprogramming, which seeks to reverse cellular aging and engineer new tissues for older bodies, is seen as one of Silicon Valley's most ambitious longevity bets. Betts-LaCroix says Retro aims to balance a traditional pharmaceutical strategy, focused on single diseases and acquirable drug programs like RTR242, with bolder attempts to "reset some aspect of our biology back to essentially a younger age." For now, Retro is moving cautiously with its first clinical trial while keeping options open for more transformative technologies powered by advances in Artificial Intelligence driven protein engineering. 55. March 14, 2026 New research comparing 178 countries finds Europe far ahead in comprehensive Artificial Intelligence regulation, while the United Kingdom and United States trail not only the European Union but also Kazakhstan. March 13, 2026 Yann LeCun is backing a world model approach to Artificial Intelligence with a $1.03B seed round, while Nvidia commits at least a gigawatt of compute to Mira Murati's Thinking Machines in a multiyear deal. March 13, 2026 The United States Central Command is using advanced artificial intelligence systems to rapidly process battlefield data in the joint US-Israeli campaign in Iran, while insisting that humans retain final authority over targeting decisions. March 13, 2026 A new optical compute interconnect consortium led by major chip and cloud companies aims to define an open specification for scale-up links in modern artificial intelligence infrastructure, shifting away from copper limitations. March 13, 2026 Nvidia and Dassault Systèmes are combining accelerated computing, physics-based world models and virtual twins to speed up design, simulation and deployment across sectors from automotive to life sciences and aerospace.

AZoM.com Limited

May 19th, 2025

New partnership aims to advance treatments for blood disorders and leukemia

MCRI, a flagship member of the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct and the Melbourne arm of the international research consortium, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW, has today announced a significant research and commercial licensing agreement with Retro Biosciences.

Bioengineer.org