Senior Director, Genetic Medicine

Location: San Carlos, CA (Hybrid – 2-3 days per week on-site)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Salary Range: $170,000-$190,000

Reporting to: CEO

About Form Bio

Form Bio develops AI-powered platforms to accelerate genetic medicine development and synthetic biology. By combining data, technology, and expertise, Form’s solutions accelerate timelines from discovery to clinic by providing drug developers with rapid in silico characterization and optimization of their therapeutics — enabling higher yields, better expression, enhanced safety, and shorter, less-expensive development cycles. Form Bio’s proprietary, patent-pending AI models are the first of their kind, purpose-built to solve the most complex challenges in genetic engineering and design for gene and nucleic acid-based therapies.

For more information, visit www.formbio.com

The Role

We are seeking a visionary and hands-on Senior Director, Genetic Medicine to lead our scientific strategy, R&D execution, advanced therapeutic initiatives and bioplatform development. Operating out of our San Carlos, CA office, this pivotal leader will sit at the intersection of drug discovery, genome engineering, AI technology, and commercial growth.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience in the end-to-end drug discovery process and has a proven track record of thriving in high-growth startup environments. You will be responsible for defining our scientific roadmap, managing physical lab environments, and mentoring cross-functional teams. Crucially, you will bridge the gap between scientific innovation and commercial viability, working alongside our business development, engineering, and AI teams to transform technical discoveries into tangible revenue streams.

Responsibilities

R&D Strategy & Execution

• Define, scale, and execute Form Bio’s comprehensive R&D strategy for genetic medicine and therapeutic optimization platforms.
• Lead the scientific roadmap for genome engineering and gene editing technologies (e.g., CRISPR, base editing, and advanced viral vector design).
• Direct the translation of high-level scientific hypotheses into executable research plans, clear timelines, and milestones that advance the company's core platform.
• Stay at the absolute forefront of trends in cell therapy, gene therapy, manufacturing and synthetic biology to ensure Form Bio remains an industry leader.

Commercial Productization & Revenue Growth

• Partner closely with Business Development, Software Engineering, Bioinformatics and AI/ML teams to identify high-value platform discoveries.
• Develop strategies to package, validate, and implement product discoveries into revenue-generating services, software features, or strategic biopharma partnerships.
• Assist business development in high-stakes technical meetings, translating complex genetic medicine capabilities into clear value propositions for potential clients.

Wet Lab Management & Cell Therapy Mentorship

• Lab Management: Oversee operations, budgets, data integrity, and compliance protocols within our physical laboratory environment.
• Team Teaching & Mentorship: Actively manage, train, and upscale wet-lab and computational scientists, with a specific focus on teaching and working on cell therapy techniques and analytical workflows.
• Optimize the "design-build-test-learn" cycle by tightly integrating wet-lab experimental validation with dry-lab AI/ML training loops.

Required Skills/Abilities

• Educational Foundation: PhD in Molecular Biology, Genetics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related scientific discipline.
• Drug Discovery & Cell Therapy: 10+ years of experience in drug discovery, with deep technical expertise in cell therapy applications and advanced biologics.
• Genome Engineering Expertise: Expert-level knowledge of gene editing platforms and their real-world application in genetic medicine.
• Wet Lab & Lab Management: Proven track record of managing a physical wet lab environment, hands on, overseeing equipment/protocols, and directly training/mentoring laboratory staff.
• Commercial Mindset: Demonstrated ability to collaborate with commercial, product, and engineering teams to turn R&D innovations into scalable, revenue-generating products or services.
• Startup Track Record: Proven success leading scientific teams and managing scientific pivot points in a fast-paced, high-visibility startup environment.
• On-Site Presence: Ability and willingness to work out of the San Carlos, CA office 2-3 days per week.
• Communication: Exceptional ability to communicate complex scientific plans clearly, objectively, and timely across executive, technical, and commercial audiences.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience working with cloud-native bioinformatics platform delivery (GCP preferred).
• Existing network within the Bay Area biotechnology and cell/gene therapy ecosystem.
• Familiarity with high-throughput screening and automated lab systems.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Form Bio, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and team members without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Form Bio believes that diversity is paramount to our success, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.