About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution that conducts curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Funding: Arc will fully fund Core Investigator's (PI's) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators.
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

Arc scaled to nearly 100 people in its first year. With $650M+ in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly to several hundred in the coming years.

About the position

The Arc Institute is looking for an experienced scientific leader to oversee the Institute's Scientific Operations organization. Our Head of Scientific Operations will build the Institute's Scientific Cores and manage our Lab Operations team, with the goal of enabling cutting edge science in a collaborative environment. This position reports to the COO and works closely with the Founders and the Leadership Team on Arc's scientific strategy.

In this position you will

• Lead Arc's Scientific Operations function. Hire and manage a high-performing team of Scientific Core scientists, Lab Operations professionals, and research support staff to support the successful execution of Arc's scientific priorities.
• Partner with the Leadership Team on Arc's scientific strategy to tackle complex human diseases at the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and functional genomics, including the planning, staffing, and oversight of Arc's Scientific Cores (e.g. proteomics, microscopy, flow cytometry); development and management of highly efficient research workflows across the Institute's Scientific Cores and Technology Centers; evaluation of major capital equipment purchases; and management of external CROs
• Act as the primary point of contact for all cross-functional interactions between the Scientific Operations team and other Arc organizations including University Relations, IT and Systems, People, Finance, and Legal
• Ensure high standards of execution in scientific and lab operations. Help improve and automate workflows.
• Support the transition of new labs from partner universities to Arc by managing their moves and supporting their onboarding into Arc's lab space
• Collaborate with Finance for quarterly budgeting, annual forecasting, headcount planning, and reviewing monthly actuals to budget
• Evaluate Procurement at Arc to meet the needs of research focus areas and negotiate vendor contracts as needed
• Collaborate with the legal function of Research Compliance

Requirements

• 10+ years of complex strategic support in a wet and dry laboratory scientific setting with 100+ research personnel
• 5+ years of people management experience, hiring and supporting high performing teams
• Required: PhD in life sciences or related field
• Significant experience overseeing diverse aspects of a life sciences research organization including capital equipment, research support functions and workflows, budgeting, and hiring
• Experience building and maintaining infrastructure and systems to support research activities
• Highly organized and detail oriented, with a drive to actively improve process and workflows
• Goal oriented with passion for independently working through defined goals and metrics
• Excellent communication skills with strong influence and negotiation skills
• Highly collaborative with great enthusiasm for working across cross-functional teams
• Able to calmly and positively navigate shifting priorities and rapid change in a growing organization

The base salary range for this position is $181,000 to $237,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.