A Bit About Us

We are Arcadia Science, an evolutionary biology company founded and led by scientists. Our mission is to turn natural innovations into real-world solutions by developing systematic and quantitative approaches to leveraging biology for therapeutics R&D. We share our research as openly as possible to accelerate discovery and make our work broadly useful.

The Opportunity

We're seeking an Executive Operations lead for the Office of the CSO at either the Associate or Director level. They will report directly to our Chief Scientific Officer, Prachee Avasthi, and support her across her full work portfolio. Prachee’s portfolio includes a wide array of efforts, including Arcadia's research and scientific vision, spearheading open science at Astera Institute, as well as broader reform efforts for open science, research infrastructure, and the future of scientific communication.

This is a critical role that is fundamentally about operational support and execution. Your primary job is to make the CSO more effective: protecting her attention, keeping work moving, and shaping complexity into clear frameworks that ease decision-making. In practice, that means starting close to the day-to-day. You will be managing her calendar, handling inbound requests, learning the people and problems that surround her. It also means jumping in wherever there's an operational gap, filling new or temporary needs as the organization or work evolves. These activities build the foundation for additional project management and strategic work that this role is ultimately meant to support.

This is the right role for a scientifically trained person who has deliberately moved away from the bench and is most energized by supportive work that amplifies the science and mission that Prachee leads. Promising candidates should thrive in bringing structure to chaos and see themselves as a force multiplier that is most effective when operating behind the scenes on behalf of the team.

An ideal candidate moves with a sense of urgency, has great attention to detail, and biases towards quantitative thinking. They should be excited to leverage cutting edge AI tools to generate nimble data-driven processes, improve communication, and enhance the quality of concrete deliverables. They will ultimately be responsible for building and managing a suite of agents that constitute the core executive operations team for the CSO.

This role is open at two levels depending on incoming operational and scientific experience:

Associate, Office of the CSO ($135–160K)

Has the ability to own the foundation-building phase (see below) but is newer to this kind of role
Expected to grow into the full scope of the role within 12–18 months. Compensation and title adjustments will be concomitant with scope expansion.

Director, Office of the CSO ($160–200K)

Has direct experience across both foundation-building and strategic operations (see below).
Expected to own the full scope of the role within the first 3 months.

The position is full-time and on-site at our Emeryville, California headquarters.

What You'll Do

Foundation-building Phase

Own the CSO's calendar in partnership with her executive assistant, optimizing for strategic focus and minimizing unnecessary context-switching.

Serve as the primary intake point for inbound requests, issues, and proposals: filter, synthesize, and route appropriately so the right things reach the CSO at the right time.

Handle logistics and first-pass screening for external engagements, candidate interactions, and inbound inquiries, with a clear understanding of scope and representation.

Build situational awareness by engaging with leaders across the CSO's cross-organization network, ensuring they have consistent visibility into collaborative work without important things falling through the cracks.

Increase ease and efficiency of CSO’s executive processes by deploying existing AI agents tools.

Strategic Operations Phase

Help project manage scientific operations on behalf of the CSO: track progress toward goals, surface misalignments, and ensure that decisions turn into outcomes.

Translate ambiguous situations into clear decision prompts, defining the question, mapping the options, and identifying who needs to be involved.

Prepare concise written and visual materials (briefs, slides) that raise the quality of internal and external decision-making.

Lead special strategic and operational projects at the CSO's direction, with scope clearly defined and revisited as needs evolve.

Step into new or temporary gaps as they emerge, serving as a flexible operational resource wherever the organization needs coverage.

Identify targeted process improvements that reduce friction, favoring lightweight and adaptable systems over heavy or bureaucratic processes.

Continuously develop, update, and manage custom agents to assist with executive operations.

Where You Are Empowered

Creatively develop operational frameworks and processes that increase the CSO’s efficiency and ability to leverage her high-level strategic capabilities.

Make operational decisions that keep work moving, with clear alignment on scope and authority.

Act independently on previously scoped matters with transparent follow-up, and escalate high-stakes matters early with clear framing.

Say "no," absorb, or redirect requests to protect the CSO's attention and focus.

Proactively identify gaps or opportunities to improve outputs or workflows.

Required

PhD in the life sciences with direct research experience within the last five years.

Scientific fluency across a broad range of biology, sufficient to engage meaningfully with working scientists.

Demonstrated operational judgment and at least one year of hands-on project management or execution-heavy experience.

Strong written and verbal communication skills.

The maturity to approach high level or sensitive matters with discretion and judgement.

Preferred

Computational experience in machine learning, computational biology, or evolutionary biology.

Comfort in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and matching that with lean, nimble processes.

A genuine passion for open science and some familiarity with the landscape.

An early-riser that, by default, acts with urgency.

Please submit a resume and fully answer all application questions addressing your interest in and qualifications for the position. The review process will involve in-person interviews and a short, practical work test. Employment offers are contingent on reference and background checks.

Executive Operations Associate/Director

Office of the CSO

Arcadia Science

Compensation Overview

What You'll Do

Where You Are Empowered

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