Vice President of Life Sciences Experimentation

Your Impact at Lila

As the Lead of Life Sciences Experimentation you will set the scientific and operational vision for Lila’s wet-lab and manage a multidisciplinary team of experimentalists working at the frontier of all Life Science domains. You will work with world-renowned scientists and technologists to build a new operating system for science, enabling and exploiting scientific intelligence. You will manage a portfolio of projects spanning commercial partnerships to foundational grand challenges in the Life Sciences, requiring a combination of operational and scientific brilliance. As such, you will play a critical role in achieving our mission of scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges.

What You'll Be Building

• Own the strategy, portfolio, roadmap, and outcomes for the Life Science Experiment team
• Establish operating rhythms, capacity planning, and sequencing to execute against the strategy and roadmap
• Orchestrate a dynamic portfolio of programs that span grand scientific challenges and real-world applications, advancing the frontier of biological discovery
• Build and scale AI-integrated wet-lab workflows and ensure rigorous data capture and quality control across the Life Sciences, for example cDNA display, arrayed CFE, Octet/Dianthus analysis, plate QC, and developability screens.
• Champion new conceptual models for life science experimentation; transforming how assays, data, and design cycles are conceived, connected, and scaled
• Clarify and govern project/process management to realize scientific discover alongside scaled execution of the scientific method under AI guidance
• Partner with the Product and Commercial teams to identify high-value commercial opportunities that align with our path to scientific superintelligence
• Cultivate a culture of scientific imagination, operational excellence, and principled ambition in pursuit of transformative breakthroughs
• Hire, mentor, and develop exceptional experimental leaders; build an inclusive, high-ownership culture that scales with Lila’s ambition.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Advanced degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, or related field—or equivalent experience—plus 10+ years in Life Sciences R&D, including 5+ years leading multi-team experimental organizations in discovery/platform environments.
• Demonstrated ownership at scale: you have built and scaled multi-disciplinary wet-lab teams, instituted operating rhythms and standards, and delivered portfolio outcomes in ambiguous, fast-moving settings.
• Hands-on experience with high-throughput or automated biology workflows and the associated data analyses.
• Demonstrated experience partnering with automation, data and compute teams to industrialize methods, shorten cycles, and raise data quality
• Fluent in project/portfolio management (capacity planning, stage-gates, risk registers, resourcing)
• Exceptional leadership and communication skills; ability to set clear strategy, coach leaders, and align cross-functional teams around measurable objectives.

Bonus Points For

• Experience integrating agentic AI/ML-guided design with wet-lab loops and benchmarking AI-driven experimental campaigns.
• Experience with transitioning in vitro research to in vivo studies
• Familiarity with stage-gate processes and transitioning ownership between scientists and engineering to maximize velocity and accountability.

About Lila

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, we encourage you to apply.

Compensation

We expect the base salary for this role to fall between $280,000–$335,000 USD per year, along with bonus potential and generous early equity. The final offer will reflect your unique background, expertise, and impact.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is 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.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.