Chief Technical Operations Officer

About Loyal

Loyal is a clinical-stage veterinary medicine company developing drugs intended to extend the lifespan and healthspan of dogs. Our mission is to help dogs live longer, healthier lives.

We’ve already achieved significant milestones on our path to earning FDA approval for the first lifespan extension drug for any species. We have three products in our pipeline and are on track for FDA conditional approval of the first longevity drug within the next year. 

Loyal is a well-funded startup in growth mode. Our team includes scientists, veterinarians, engineers, operators, and creatives. This role will play a key role in supporting our growth strategies.

Learn more about Loyal’s strategy here: This Next Billion-Dollar Startup Makes Longevity Drugs For Dogs (And What It Could Mean For Humans)

You will be reporting to our CEO.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced and first-principles leader for our technical operations teams. 

The majority of our programs are small molecule daily pill formulations, with palatants to make the dosing experience enjoyable for both dog and owner. You do not need an animal health background. You do need strong small molecule drug product experience, having led product candidates from R&D to scale up and commercial launch. 

Responsibilities will include:

• Strategic oversight of all drug program manufacturing and fulfillment from discovery to commercialization. 
• Risk management and contingency planning, particularly for low-likelihood but high-impact adverse outcomes.
• Technical, day-to-day oversight of analytical, drug substance, and drug formulation functions.
• Represent Loyal with external CDMO partners and ensure seamless transition from R&D to commercialization.
• Ensure facilities, documentation, and operations are in a constant state of inspection readiness and in compliance with national & local regulatory requirements.
• Design and scale the organizational structure for Loyal’s technical manufacturing operations.
• Build and sustain a high-performing culture of efficient execution, ethics, truth seeking, and continuous improvement.

About you: 

• Emerged to leadership role via R&D (ie, strong technical expertise in analytical, drug synthesis or drug formulations).
• Comfort with ambiguity and extreme ownership.
• Learner’s mindset.
• Ability to build and lead teams and own workstreams independently. We are a resource-and time-constrained startup and will not always be able to hire to fill needs or throw money at problems. 
• Experience with both established companies and startups, ideally having previously experienced a company scaling first-hand. 
• Track record of successful FDA interactions and dossier approvals. 
• Expertise managing external manufacturing models.
• Confident, low-ego leader with excellent communication skills. We deeply value concise, clear, straightforward comms. You should be able to explain the most complicated of technical topics to a lay audience. 
• Strong strategic thinker who enjoys tying manufacturing strategy to the broader company strategy. 
• Deep alignment with Loyal’s mission to extend healthy lifespan in dogs — and eventually humans.

Salary range: $300,000 - $400,000

Loyal benefits:

• Full-coverage health insurance — medical, dental and vision — for you and your dependents
• $1,000 home office equipment stipend
• $1,200/year learning budget for books, courses, etc.
• $250/month wellness budget for gym, cleaners, spa, food, etc.
• All 3-day weekends are turned into 4-day weekends 🎉
• Unlimited vacation and paid holidays
• Paw-ternity leave — adopt a dog and get a day off with your new family member 🐶
• Competitive salary
• Company equity options grant for new hires

Loyal is founded and led by a first-gen female CEO and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate against applicants based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law. 

Our values

Lean into moonshots

We don’t settle for incremental change. We have the bravery to take risks and shoot for the impact we want to have.

Opportunity is at the intersection

We lean into combining disciplines, expertises, and perspectives not normally adjacent. We design our organization to facilitate cross-pollination and cross-collaboration. We reject silos.

Expertise without ego

Titles do not determine who has a voice. We work on hard technical problems and have a ton of fun while at it.

Learning by doing

Our path is novel and many things we are doing have never been done before. We lean into MVPs and are open to unexpected outcomes.

Lead with context

We value leading with context. We equip people with the context and background necessary to make their own decisions and act in the best interest of Loyal. We empower teams to succeed.

Empathy and respect for all life

Our patients are not just numbers. Our work is intentional, thoughtful, and guided by respect for life. We take our responsibility to pets and pet parents seriously.