Strategy & Operations Manager - Generative Biology Institute

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Travel allowance

Bonus

Enhanced holiday pay

Pension

Life Assurance

Income Protection

Private Medical Insurance

Hospital Cash Plan

Therapy Services

Perk Box

Electric Car Scheme

Job summary

A pioneering research institute in Oxford seeks an experienced Operations Manager to support its COO in driving strategic growth. You will design processes, manage projects, and work closely with stakeholders to ensure operational excellence. This role requires strong project management and coordination skills, a degree in a relevant field, and ideally experience in a fast-paced environment. Benefiting from competitive salary and comprehensive perks, this is an opportunity to play a vital role in world-class research.

Qualifications

• Experience in operational roles within fast-paced environments.
• Proactive ownership of problem-solving across projects.
• Experience in finance and/or venture capital is highly advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Support the COO in strategic scaling of GBI.
• Design, document, and implement business operations processes.
• Provide project management office (PMO) support.
• Liaise with internal and external stakeholders.
• Act as a point of contact for operational problem-solving.
• Support strategic initiatives led by the COO.
• Contribute to GBI's organisational strategy.
• Manage relationships with external collaborators.
• Coordinate operational functions for new spin-out companies.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Problem-solving

Interpersonal skills

Time management

Education

Degree in life sciences, business operations or project management

Job description

Overview

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we're on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas: Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology; Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture; Climate Change & Managing CO₂; Artificial Intelligence & Robotics. This is ambitious work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Welcome to the Generative Biology Institute: Led by Founding Director Jason Chin, the Generative Biology Institute (GBI) at the Ellison Institute of Technology is tackling the key challenges in making biology engineerable, and thereby unlocking the unrivalled power of biology for the benefit of humanity. The vision of the GBI is to lay the foundations for engineering biology and unlock its potential for good. To achieve this, we must overcome two key challenges: (1) writing in the natural language of biology to enable rapid and scalable synthesis of entire genomes with precision, and (2) understanding what to write – determining which DNA sequences will generate biological systems that perform the desired functions. Addressing these challenges will allow us to harness the full power of biology to create transformative solutions across health, agriculture, clean energy and more.

GBI will have sustained and substantial funding to support the unique scale and ambition of its ground-breaking vision for engineering biology. GBI researchers will be supported by cutting-edge technology hubs including mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, sequencing, automation, imaging, and bioprocessing, along with substantial compute resources for scientific compute, bioinformatics, and machine learning. The environment at GBI will enable researchers to undertake ambitious, long-term, collaborative research, and we will actively support the translation of research to commercial applications, where appropriate. The Generative Biology Institute commenced operations in 2025, occupying newly renovated bespoke space in the Oxford Science Park. The team will later move to a purpose-made facility in the Oxford Science Park, currently under construction. Once complete, this state-of-the-art facility will include more than 40,000 m² of research laboratory and office space, housing over 30 groups and up to 600 employees focused on solving the two critical challenges in making biology engineerable and applying the solutions to addressing global challenges encapsulated in EIT\'s Humane Endeavors.

Your Role

We are seeking an experienced and detail oriented Operations Manager to support GBI\'s COO in driving the strategic growth of the institute. In this role, you\'ll help design and implement scalable business processes, provide PMO support across key operational and infrastructure projects, and keep multiple workstreams moving through strong coordination and stakeholder management. You\'ll act as a go-to problem solver, support high-impact strategic initiatives, and contribute to shaping GBI\'s organisational strategy and future direction. The role also includes working closely with external partners and helping coordinate core operational functions for new spin-out companies. This is an opportunity to play a central role in enabling world-class research and building the foundations of a rapidly growing institute.

Key Responsibilities

• To support the COO in strategic scaling of GBI, ensuring smooth and responsive business operations that enable world-class research
• To design, document, and implement business operations processes, working closely with central EIT teams (e.g. HR, finance, legal, facilities) to ensure scalability and alignment with best practices across GBI and EIT teams
• To provide project management office (PMO) support, tracking timelines, milestones, and deliverables across operations and infrastructure projects
• To liaise with internal and external stakeholders, managing timelines, documentation, and coordination across multiple workstreams
• To act as a flexible and reliable point of contact for operational problem-solving, stepping in wherever needed to keep projects moving
• To support strategic initiatives and special projects led by the COO, contributing to planning, execution, and internal alignment across teams
• To contribute to GBI\'s organisational strategy, including understanding the scientific landscape, and identifying opportunities for growth and operational innovation
• To manage and coordinate relationships with external collaborators, including academic institutions, research networks, and strategic partners, ensuring smooth communication and delivery on joint initiatives
• To support and coordinate key operational functions for new Spin-out companies that have been incubated within GBI, including budgeting and finance processes, legal and commercial matters, recruiting, communications, procurement, and lab facilities planning.

Qualifications & Experience

• A degree in a relevant field, such as life sciences, business operations, or project management, or a science / research background and/or experience working in or supporting laboratory environments is preferred.
• Strong operational experience, across finance and/or legal workstreams ideally in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to coordinate and run complicated projects across multiple different workstreams
• Excellent project coordination and time management skills, with experience overseeing complex timelines, budgets and competing priorities with experience in creating materials for leadership teams
• Proactive and self-directed, with a willingness to take ownership of problems and implement practical solutions
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work across scientific, technical, and administrative teams
• Comfortable supporting strategic planning, with an interest in scientific trends, innovation, and organisational growth
• Experience in finance and/or venture capital is highly advantageous.

Benefits

Our Benefits:

• Salary: Competitive + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme

Working Together

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate)