Senior Vice President, Research

What if… you could join an organization that creates, resources, and builds life sciences companies that invent breakthrough technologies in order to transform health care and sustainability?

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Flagship Labs 101 (FL101) is an early-stage biotechnology company with an ambitious and exciting mission: to leverage an innovative discovery platform to design and develop novel therapeutic modalities that target cell-cell Contact Biology  . FL101 is developing a revolutionary approach to this challenge and is recruiting a team of top-tier scientists and leaders to build a powerful, first-in-category platform. This is a unique opportunity to be one of the early employees of a biotech startup that combines an innovative, and disruptive mindset with the resources and know-how of Flagship Pioneering.

THE ROLE

FL101 is seeking a talented and highly motivated Senior Vice President, Head of Research, which includes leading bench, computational, and data scientists. The successful candidate will resonate with and recognize the value of the Contact-Seq platform, which is able to reveal cell-to-cell contact at high resolution, for drug discovery and development . The Head of Research will be instrumental in defining and developing FL101’s platform capabilities, while shaping proof-of-concept experiments that catalyze biopharma partnerships. This role requires deep scientific and strategic experience where cell-cell contact plays an important role and a vision for how such discoveries can be used by external partners to triage targets and accelerate discovery and development. This role is expected to build a strong scientific foundation for the company that can be communicated outwardly with clarity and enthusiasm to potential investors and BD partners. This leader is a scientifically rigorous problem solver who takes accountability for their own work, the work of their team, and is a gifted motivator and strong communicator. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and grow a high-performing research group, setting the scientific strategy and vision, and initiating and supervising research activities in alignment with long-term goals.
• Experience in scaling organizations and implementing scalable workflows and processes
• Serve as a trusted, people-first leader—fostering a collaborative, psychologically safe team environment that supports the scientific and personal development of team members. 
• Mentor and develop team members, fostering an entrepreneurial culture that emphasizes both individual growth and collective success.
• Leverage personal networks to initiate conversation and stoke interest in FL101 platform and vision. In parallel, develop networks externally and at Flagship   to find paths for collaboration, synergies, innovation, and value creation.
• Position platform and lead team to create value and capture value
• Actively contribute to portfolio shaping—develop, evaluate, and pressure-test value creation hypotheses that connect novel scientific and AI platforms to market opportunities.
• Communicate program goals, progress, and key decisions clearly across audiences—from scientists to executives—tailoring messaging with clarity and intention. Develop pitch materials and strategic narratives that effectively communicate value proposition.
• Partner closely with scientific teams to translate cutting-edge research into compelling commercial opportunities, ensuring strategic alignment between scientific capabilities and market needs.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS 

• PhD or MS in molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, or a related field.
• Minimum of 15+ years of experience in industry, including leadership roles in R&D or drug development.
• Strong familiarity with single-cell technologies and multiplexing of these to discern insights in drug discovery and development.
• Demonstrated success as a team-oriented, enterprise-minded leader who motivates others and builds strong, trust-based relationships across functions, and drives a culture of collaboration and accountability.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, with a consistent ability to convey complex ideas clearly and succinctly to diverse stakeholders.
• Concrete past experiences in translating inventive and novel ideas to experiments, partnerships, and programs.
• Track record of intellectual agility and curiosity, with an ability to adapt quickly, think critically, and lead through ambiguity.

Important Skills and Capabilities:

• Strong business and scientific acumen - demonstrated ability to identify and evaluate value creation opportunities while understanding both scientific and market contexts.
• Entrepreneurial adaptability and resilience - proven comfort with uncertainty and ability to make decisive judgments in ambiguous situations.
• Strategic operational mindset - experience developing and executing plans that balance near-term execution with long-term value creation.
• Collaborative leadership style - track record of building relationships across organizations and aligning diverse stakeholders toward common goals.
• Intellectual curiosity and learning agility - ability to challenge conventional thinking while remaining open to new ideas and perspectives.
• Balanced confidence and humility - secure in own abilities while actively seeking input and maintaining a growth mindset.

ABOUT FLAGSHIP PIONEERING:

Flagship Pioneering invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health, sustainability and beyond. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated more than 100 companies. Many of these companies 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.

At Flagship, we accept impossible missions to enable bigger leaps. Our core values guide us through uncertainty and toward lasting impact.

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We recognize that great candidates often bring unique strengths without fulfilling every qualification. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your background and interest in Flagship.

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.

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The salary range for this role is $315,000 - $365,000. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. FL101 currently offers healthcare coverage, annual incentive program, retirement benefits and a broad range of other benefits. Compensation and benefits information is based on FL101’s good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.