Senior Director, Strategy and Operations, Summit PBU

This is a unique opportunity for a seasoned leader to serve as a strategic and operational partner to Flagship Origination Partner, Jacob (Jake) Rubens. You will act as Jake's right-hand, translating vision into action, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and driving organizational excellence across a portfolio of pioneering companies. Your leadership will be instrumental in shaping culture, enhancing communication, and executing strategic initiatives that propel growth and innovation. 

We are looking for a dynamic and highly experienced leader to serve in two key capacities: 

1. The Operational Leader for Jake’s team, building and refining internal systems to ensure that every function runs smoothly. You will partner closely with Functional Leads (Legal, Finance, HR, Talent, IT, etc.) to develop fast-paced and streamlined processes that support a high-functioning team.
2. The portfolio-level integrator, working across Jake’s companies to implement transformative projects, influence leadership teams, and drive operational and strategic excellence in multiple early-stage organizations. 

With success, you will continually make Flagship Pioneering and Jake’s team faster-paced, lower-friction, and more strategic by experimenting with AI-based tools, driving knowledge sharing, and embedding a scalable operational model. 

Responsibilities: 

Flagship PBU Interface 

• Act as Jake’s strategic partner and confidant, translating vision into operational plans and decision frameworks 

• Represent Jake’s PBU operationally within Flagship; drive excellence by iterating and improving team-level systems 

• Own budgeting and financial planning for Jake’s team in close partnership with Finance 

• Guide resource allocation across the portfolio to align with bandwidth, development, and execution priorities 

• Build governance mechanisms (e.g., team meetings, Flagship reviews, strategic offsites) and ensure effective follow-through 

• Establish cross-company knowledge sharing platforms for lessons, wins, and strategic science insights 

• Drive pipeline development through structured idea-generation forums for Flagship Fellowship and company creation 

• Collaborate with HR to embed mentorship, leadership development, succession planning, and team health practices into day-to-day operations 

• Coach and help to develop superstar junior members of the Pioneering Business Unit into entrepreneurial leaders 

• Lead team culture-building efforts, weaving values into operations, communication, and rituals 

Company Operations 

• Own the interface with G&A functional leads supporting Jake’s portfolio of companies. Partner with them to design, implement, and maintain streamlined processes that are nimbler, 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 lead project management across companies, setting a standard of excellence that creates consistency in how we track progress, measure success, and mitigate risk 

• 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 

• Lead company LT meetings and serve as accountable party for follow-up actions 

• Partner with HR and talent acquisition on recruitment and hiring at companies, ensuring best practices are embedded consistently across the portfolio 

• Partner with HR and Executive Assistant on company offsites, events, and activating company cultures that are deeply linked to Flagship values 

Qualifications 

• 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 within tech industry or biotech 

• Deep familiarity with life sciences, tech, engineering, or AI-forward industries; advanced degree (MBA, MS, PhD, MD) preferred 

Key Experiences and Capabilities: 

• Strategic mindset with operational rigor; ability to translate ideas into roadmaps, systems, and results- bring order to chaos 

• Trusted advisor with high EQ and the presence to influence senior leaders and build strong cultures 

• Strong financial literacy and comfort with capital planning, budgeting, and forecasting 

• Experience driving complex, cross-functional initiatives through ambiguity and change 

• Proven ability to experiment with and deploy AI-enabled solutions to amplify core operating functions 

• Strong general management, people leadership and team-building skills 

• Open, transparent communication style and demonstrated willingness to engage in difficult conversations in a professional and productive manner  

• Passion for growth and development, with clear demonstration of openness to both giving and receiving feedback and track record of acting on feedback 

Location:  Cambridge, MA

More about Flagship Pioneering:

Flagship Pioneering is a biotechnology 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.

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.

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.