FL97: VP/SVP, Platform Biology

The Company

Flagship Labs 97 Inc. (FL97) is a privately held, early-stage technology company pioneering the application of artificial intelligence to transform every aspect of the scientific method. FL97 is backed by Flagship Pioneering, which brings the courage, long-term vision, and resources needed to realize unreasonable results. Join our mission-driven team and contribute to the future of science.

The Role:

Responsibilities

Define strategy and build Autonomous Science Technology for biology

• Define clear strategy and vision for Autonomous Science being applied to the design, build, and testing of nucleic acids, proteins, and cells
• Develop roadmap for the most generalizable and scalable platform to cover 90%+ of capability requirements in nucleic acids, proteins, and cells for drug discovery
• Continually explore and integrate the frontier of biological technologies for building and testing of nucleic acids, proteins, and cells
• Lead the development of novel or unorthodox instrumentation to tailor method development to AI technologies
• Drive the design and implementation of autonomous lab and workflows to support high-throughput build and test capabilities in molecular biology, protein engineering, and cell-based assays

Measure and drive continual improvement for Autonomous Science Technology

• Define the time and cost for every datapoint collected within each Autonomous Laboratory for biology and mastermind a plan to drive that cost down over time
• Own a master plan for continually achieving an order of magnitude-level improvements in the generalizability, scalability, cost, speed, quality, and reliability of biology workflows.
• In the first year, show progress towards an exponential increase in decision making and production capabilities in Autonomous Science for biology

Collaborate with autonomous science and AI teams to integrate AI into the lab

• Create automated protein engineering pipelines, incorporating machine learning for directed evolution and AI-assisted rational design approaches
• Ensure the Autonomous Science biology platform is capable of operating 24/7 and allowing AI to make decisions in the loop at 10X the pace of conventional biotech workflows
• Work with autonomous science and AI teams to innovate and integrate AI-decision making and optimization into all parts of scientific and technical workflows

Build a work class team obsessed with redefining the future of science

• Build a team that is obsessed with a combination of continually "shipping" capabilities and developing the advances that will radically enhance the performance of the next generation of AI x Biology
• Build a team that operates in a radically different, API and code-centric paradigm of biology where AI can interchange with scientists and operators in the lab

Qualifications

• PhD with ~10 years industry experience or
• BS/MS with equivalent experience

Competencies

• Entrepreneurial; able to serve as the leading voice to direct the future of Scientific Superintelligence toward value in life sciences
• Relentlessly output-focused. Driven by impact, not tasks
• High degree of comfort with ambiguity
• Has a future-back mindset. Able to create small, achievable units of work from large, complex, and ambiguous goals
• Naturally able to approach problems from both bottom-up and top-down approach
• Excellent communicator and storyteller
• Customer and patient-focused and empathetic
• Incredible collaborator
• Sees the pace of AI progress and believes deeply that AI will be the best scientist in the world
• Willing to get in the trenches and do the work

More About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering is a company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $90 billion in aggregate value. Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity's most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture. Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE's "Change the World" list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been twice named to Fast Company's annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies. Learn more about Flagship at www.flagshippioneering.com.

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, "FSP") do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering's internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.