Business System & Automation Manager

About ZBiotics

At ZBiotics, we make genetically engineered probiotics that improve daily life. As a group of motivated, yet down-to-earth people, we are fueled by two things: a love for science and a commitment to being people-first. GMO products like ours – built to create benefits for people in their daily lives – are the future. As the first to market, we believe it’s our duty to set a high bar for product quality, safety, and transparency for others to follow.

In 2019, ZBiotics launched Pre-Alcohol™ – the world's first genetically engineered probiotic drink – designed to break down acetaldehyde, an unwanted alcohol byproduct. In 2024, we launched Sugar-to-Fiber™ – a genetically engineered probiotic drink mix – that creates fiber from the sugar you already eat, contributing to microbiome health.

With a full line of genetically engineered probiotics in development, our team is growing. We’re looking for people as excited as we are to build this new category of consumer products. ZBiotics is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by venture investors including Y Combinator and Khosla Ventures, among others.

About the Role

Please note that this is a hands-on, individual contributor role. Any changes to scope will be discussed as part of future performance and growth planning conversations. You will have the opportunity to work extremely cross-functionally and with outside service providers.

This is not a traditional internal IT role.

We see this role as an opportunity to help design how a modern, AI-enabled but still human-centered company operates internally. You’ll have significant freedom to experiment, implement new tools, and rethink how work gets done across the company. Leadership is highly supportive of thoughtful experimentation with AI-enabled tooling, automation, and modern operational systems, and this role will have real ownership and buy-in to help shape how ZBiotics operates as we grow.

We’re looking for someone who enjoys building systems more than simply maintaining them. Someone who naturally sees opportunities to simplify complexity, connect tools in smarter ways, and help people work better through thoughtful systems design. The right person for this role is curious, creative, highly practical, and excited about the idea of helping build a modern, human-centered, technology-enabled company.

Why This Role Exists

As our systems ecosystem has grown, ownership of automations, integrations, and operational infrastructure has become increasingly fragmented. Important workflows rely too heavily on manual work, institutional knowledge, and reactive troubleshooting.

This role exists to create centralized ownership and operational rigor across ZBiotics’ internal systems stack while helping the company operate in smarter, more scalable ways.

In addition, the ceiling for what small companies can accomplish has never been higher. AI, automation, and modern tooling are changing how teams operate, and we want ZBiotics to be intentional and ambitious about how we build in this environment.

This role is an opportunity to help shape how work gets done across the company. You’ll design systems and workflows that help a relatively small team operate with greater clarity, leverage, and effectiveness as we grow.

We’re not interested in automating people away. We’re interested in giving our team more space to focus on meaningful work, while reducing friction and improving reliability at the same time.

Your Responsibilities

You’ll initially report to the COO and execute projects across ZBiotics’ internal operations. Your success will be measured by your ability to positively impact the company, reduce internal friction, and help teams work more effectively.

Your key areas of impact will include:

Automations & Integrations

• Build, maintain, and improve workflow automations and systems integrations across core business tools (e.g., Notion, Asana, Shopify, HubSpot, Cin7, Ramp)
• Ensure integrations and data flows remain reliable, well-monitored, and well-documented
• Troubleshoot automation and integration issues quickly, minimizing disruption and preventing repeat failures
• Identify opportunities to reduce manual work, simplify workflows, and improve operational scalability through automation
• Partner cross-functionally on shared systems, integrations, and operational workflows

Business Systems

• Help keep ZBiotics’ systems ecosystem reliable, connected, and easy to operate. 
• Serve as a primary internal resource for systems support, troubleshooting, configuration, and access management
• Maintain clear documentation for core systems, integrations, workflows, and data flows
• Run periodic cleanup cycles on outdated, redundant, or unused workflows, tools, & docs
• Partner with teams to ensure data consistency across systems, resolve sync issues, and maintain strong data hygiene standards
• Identify operational and systems risks introduced by new tools, workflows, or channels
• Partner with HR and external vendors (e.g., Rippling) on hardware provisioning

SaaS Platform Administration

• Manage user provisioning and deprovisioning across all SaaS tools, maintaining appropriate role-based access and security controls.
• Track and manage software licenses and usage; identify opportunities to simplify or consolidate tooling.
• Track and manage AI tool utilization and setup (including MCP connections, token budgeting, etc.).
• Serve as the internal “super-user” for core business operations systems (Notion, Google Workspace, Asana, Dropbox), providing training, documentation, and support to teams.
• Evaluate, recommend, and implement new tools where operational gaps exist, including running trials and ROI assessments.

Cybersecurity

• Help evolve and maintain ZBiotics’ cybersecurity practices (policies, training, etc.)
• Ensure adoption of core security practices (e.g., 2FA, device security, access controls)
• Lead security onboarding for new hires and enforce secure offboarding practices
• Monitor for security risks and contribute to incident response and process improvements

Internal Technology Enablement and AI Deployment

• Identify ways in which technology (including standalone AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude) can improve how we operate, then go make it happen
• Partner closely with teams to identify operational pain points and repetitive manual work
• Continuously explore emerging AI tools and modern operational technologies that could improve how ZBiotics works

As-needed Operations Support

• Provide operational support where additional capacity or rapid execution is needed

The Kind of Person Who Will Thrive In This Role

• You like building systems, but you also care about maintaining them
• You naturally experiment with new tools, workflows, and AI products
• You enjoy simplifying messy operational problems
• You think of internal operations as a design problem, not just a support function
• You care about designing systems that are both scalable and human-friendly
• You’re highly practical and comfortable balancing speed with reliability
• You’re excited by the idea of helping shape how a modern company operates internally

We don’t expect any candidate to come in with deep experience across every area listed below. If this role excites you and you’ve built strong experience in a meaningful subset of these areas, we encourage you to apply.

Desired Qualifications

• Hands-on experience creating workflow automations and managing systems integrations
• Deep experience with automation platforms such as Zapier, Shopify Flow, Alloy, etc.
• Experience with middleware, APIs, and SaaS integrations.
• Strong systems-thinking and troubleshooting instincts
• Comfort owning SaaS administration, provisioning, permissions, and operational tooling
• Exposure to cybersecurity programs, operational security practices, and IT compliance
• Demonstrated ability to document systems, processes, and operational workflows clearly
• Experience operating cross-functionally as a trusted systems and tooling resource
• Ability to balance speed, pragmatism, reliability, and security
• Experience implementing AI-enabled operational workflows and tools
• Good judgment about where AI-enabled workflows are appropriate and where deterministic systems are more reliable.
• Strong curiosity about emerging AI tooling and the future of operational workflows

Additional Helpful Experience

• Experience working with MCPs, CRMs, ERPs/MRPs, and finance/accounting systems
• Experience in operations, IT, business systems, or marketing operations within a DTC or CPG environment
• Experience supporting high-growth startups that evolve rapidly
• Familiarity with identity and access management (SSO, RBAC, lifecycle provisioning)

Your Impact

• By the end of your first 90 days, you’ll have a solid understanding of how ZBiotics’ systems, tools, and workflows fit together across the company. You’ll take ownership of core onboarding, provisioning, and software administration workflows, while starting to improve a handful of important automations and systems processes. You’ll also build visibility into where things are working well, where things are messy, and where manual work or system gaps are slowing teams down.
• By the end of your first 6 months, you’ll become a trusted partner for systems, tooling, automations, and integrations across ZBiotics. You’ll own day-to-day reliability for key operational workflows while also helping rethink and improve how work gets done across the company. You’ll have spent time interviewing every department, understanding the tools they use in their day-to-day work, and will have identified areas where automation could improve the team’s experience. You’ll have real freedom to experiment with AI-enabled tooling, automation, and new workflows. You’ll also put better structure in place around documentation, monitoring, permissions, and security practices so the company can scale more smoothly.
• By the end of your first year, you’ll have made a noticeable impact on how ZBiotics operates internally. You’ll have built systems, automations, and workflows that make the company more scalable, more reliable, and easier to operate. Teams across the company will spend less time fighting tooling, dealing with broken workflows, or doing repetitive manual work – and more time focused on meaningful, high-impact work. You’ll also have helped shape how a modern, human-centered, technology-enabled company operates as it grows.

Benefits & Compensation

We believe in a life well-lived. ZBiotics offers competitive benefits for a life outside of work, including: health / dental, 401(k) matching, a flexible, unlimited paid time off policy, 16 weeks fully paid parental leave, a home office stipend, transit benefits for those in the San Francisco Bay Area, and access to co-working office space if located in or visiting San Francisco.

The base salary range for this position is $155,000 -  $175,000 annually, and will include additional equity.  

Employment at ZBiotics is at-will.

We Encourage You to Apply…

At ZBiotics, we value our differences, and we encourage all—especially those whose identities are traditionally underrepresented in tech organizations—to apply.

ZBiotics is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

ZBiotics will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in the application and employment process. If you need assistance or accommodation, please contact ZBiotics HR.