About Us

What if…you could join an organization thats building life science bioplatform companies that are transforming human health and sustainability?

Flagship Pioneering is a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies that change the world. We bring together the greatest scientific minds with entrepreneurial company builders and assemble the capital to allow them to take courageous leaps. Those big leaps in human health and sustainability exponentially accelerate scientific progress in areas ranging from cancer detection and treatment to nature-positive agriculture.   

 What sets Flagship apart is our ability to advance biotechnology by uniting life science innovation, company creation, and capital investment under one roof in a way that is largely without precedent. Our scientific founders, entrepreneurial leaders, and professional capital managers are each aligned around an institutionalized process that enables us to innovate and transform for the benefit of people and planet.   

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 has 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. 

 

The Role

This is an outstanding career opportunity for an experienced executive to provide highly strategic and operational leadership to Flagship General Partner and Pioneering Business Unit (PBU) Head, Geoffrey von Maltzahn. Within Flagship Pioneering, a Pioneering Business Unit (PBU) is comprised of scientific and operational teams reporting to the PBU Head responsible for the ideation of new platform technologies, and the development of those technologies into first-in-class platform companies that will change the world. In addition to being a thought partner to Geoff, you will also collaborate closely with the PBU teams to support portfolio company growth.

We are looking for a dynamic and highly experienced leader to join Flagship Pioneering to serve in two distinct capacities:

• Act as the Operational Leader of Geoff’s PBU, ensuring that each function runs smoothly. You will be the manager to dedicated Functional Leads (Legal, Finance, HR, Talent, Digital, etc.) and will focus on developing fast paced and streamlined processes to serve the needs of our companies as to define AI-centric strategies for the future of each of these functions.
• Serve as an “omni-COO” across a portfolio of platform companies, to influence and drive operational excellence at a leadership level. Within these teams, you will implement transformative projects and foundational improvements pioneering advancements in biotechnology and sustainability industries.

With success, this Leader will continually make Flagship Pioneering and Geoff’s PBU faster paced, lower friction, and more strategic and will continually oversee the testing, customization, and adoption of AI-based tools to improve each of Flagship’s functions (Legal, Finance, HR, Talent, Digital, etc.).

 

Responsibilities

Internal Operations

• Partner with business and functional leads to design, implement, and maintain streamlined processes that are more nimble, faster paced, and better connected to NewCo needs across their respective organizations (including but not limited to approvals, budgeting, recruitment, R&D, NewCo incubation)
• Define and own a vision for how AI tools will fundamentally change the way legal, HR, talent, and other Flagship and NewCo functions operate. Mastermind the strategy for Flagship functions becoming the first AI-centric platform for startup creation in life sciences.
• Foster a culture of innovation and excellence by iterating on, synthesizing, and updating existing processes, as well as identifying areas of talent improvement
• Define roles and responsibilities and drive efficiency by enhancing the cross-functional collaborations and productive intersection of the portfolio companies, supporting operational teams, and functional domains
• Enhance defined governance structures that maximize value creation and speed within the PBU, its interaction with portfolio companies, and Flagship leadership, ensuring the continuous evolution of the operating model for advanced scalability

Internal Portfolio Strategy

• Review portfolio plan with PBU leadership team and adjust resource planning and allocation based on need, bandwidth, and employee development, while maintaining a focus on strategic value and execution
  • Portfolio level: Understand overall portfolio progress and needs (e.g., talent, facilities, IP strategy), highlight synergies across NewCos 
  • Newco level: Focus on specific progress, upcoming milestones, budget approval, and other key decisions to be made 
• Drive the review and evaluation process of strategic value plans and execution by Flagship leadership bi-annually or quarterly, using metrics to track progress
• Build and promote open forums for year-round explorations (idea/hypothesis generation) to feed the Flagship Fellowship program and maintain robust pipeline of company ideas
• Oversee the transition of internally-supported operational functions in portfolio companies to full autonomy as each portfolio company grows, ensuring learnings feed into the continuous improvement of the process over time

Portfolio Support and Operations

• Foster a “braintrust” for information sharing within the PBU on both successes and failures within companies, as well as critical strategic science topics, fostering a culture of learning and collaboration
• Co-create forums with other Flagship Heads of Strategy and Operations to help leverage and distribute the immense knowledgebase that is Flagship
• Own and execute with high success and timely delivery strategic initiatives and pilots of high-value 
• Support team development in close partnership with HR by embedding talent development, mentorship, learning, work-life balance / capacity, succession planning into our processes, governance, and resourcing
• Maintain a pulse on the culture of the team and integrate culture building into the PBU operating model and meeting execution 

 

Experience and Qualifications

10-15+ years’ experience building and managing multidisciplinary teams, formulating, and implementing detailed process-improvement strategies and plans, and interfacing closely with individuals in critical operational functions (BD/Strategy, Finance, HR/Talent, Legal, etc.)

Qualifications

• Extraordinary IQ, EQ, personal drive, and enthusiasm for creating and leading operations for a championship team
• Either a background in the tech industry or fast paced life science realm. BA and optionally a MS/MA, MD, PhD, or equivalent time spent deep in technical/scientific topics (e.g, Engineering or Data Science)
• 5-10+ years of entrepreneurial executive operational experience required withing tech industry or biotech, demonstrating your deep operational expertise, desire for speed and agility, and your ability to thrive in a fast-changing entrepreneurial, technical environment
• Must have strategic mindset for applying and rapidly experimenting with new AI tools that can amplify the potency of traditional startup functions.
• Cross-functional management experience (i.e., business/corporate planning, resource planning, forecasting) with ability to rapidly lead and evolve the operating model for advanced scalability as the team grows
• Energy to build a positive and success-oriented team culture; lead by example to ensure collaboration, teamwork, open communication, constructive conflict resolution and organizational flexibility
• Exceptional clarity and communication and influencing skills, with an aptitude to inspire confidence in different audiences - including investors, academic partners, management teams, and company boards - driving the success and growth of our portfolio companies

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or experience working in strategy or business development preferred
• High-level financial literacy with the ability to generate and share insight on future financing plans relating to the evaluation of creative financing strategies, driving the growth and success of our portfolio companies
• Top-tier management consulting experience

 

Career Trajectory

Flagship prides itself on supporting individuals as they progress in their career and we see this as a stepping stone to one of several paths:

• Take on a full-time CEO or COO role at one of the existing portfolio companies
• Be an entrepreneur and start a company with the support of Flagship
• Transition into a partner-track role within the organization to further incubate new companies

 

Benefits

• Make an impact as part of a Fortune “Change the World” company
• Be energized by an exciting startup culture
• Surround yourself with inspirational colleagues and leaders
• Support innovative breakthroughs in health care and sustainability
• Expand your horizons with opportunities for professional growth
• Enjoy unparalleled employee benefits and rewards programs

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

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.