Chemistry Technical Program Manager

Lila Sciences; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 128,000 - 172,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Flexible time off

Paid parental leave

Educational assistance program

Job summary

Lila Sciences in Cambridge, MA is seeking a Technical Program Manager to lead program execution in a dynamic chemistry environment. You will coordinate across teams and ensure that science programs are delivered efficiently. Ideal candidates have over 10 years of experience in project management, a degree in Chemistry or a related field, and exceptional communication skills. The role offers competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and flexible time off.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of program or project management experience in a chemistry or pharmaceutical environment.
• Track record of managing multiple programs in fast-paced settings.
• Ability to coordinate across scientific and operational stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day program execution within the Chemistry experiment team.
• Serve as the primary operational interface between the Chemistry team and platform partners.
• Translate scientific program goals into structured workstreams.

Skills

Program management

Communication skills

Coordination across teams

Chemical fluency

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field

Tools

Smartsheet

Asana

Jira

Job description

Lila Sciences is using its autonomous science platform to accelerate chemical discovery — from smarter synthesis pathways and next‑generation catalysts to molecular design for clean energy and industrial applications. The Chemistry experiment team is running programs at a pace and scale that demands serious operational rigor, and we’re looking for a Technical Program Manager to provide it. You’ll work closely with the Chemistry domain lead who sets scientific strategy and direction, while you own the execution layer: the project plans, the cross‑functional dependencies, and the blockers that need to be surfaced and resolved before they become problems. You won’t be directing scientific work — you’ll be creating the conditions for it to happen at speed and at scale. This is a role for someone who genuinely loves the craft of program management in complex, technical environments.

What You'll Be Building

• Own day‑to‑day program execution within the Chemistry experiment team — maintaining project plans, tracking milestones, and ensuring agentic science programs are delivered on time and with rigor
• Serve as the primary operational interface between the Chemistry team and platform partners (Automation, ML, Engineering) — communicating needs, aligning on priorities, and keeping dependencies visible and resolved
• Translate scientific program goals into structured workstreams that enable autonomous experimentation to run efficiently and at scale
• Run program rituals including sprint planning, stand‑ups, and retrospectives with a bias toward purposeful meetings, documentation, and follow‑through
• Partner with the Chemistry domain leads to surface blockers, risks, and interdependencies early and drive them to resolution
• Support the delivery of commercial contracts by working with the Product & Revenue team to ensure program commitments are well‑scoped, tracked, and clearly communicated to all stakeholders
• Contribute to capacity planning and resource coordination in partnership with scientific leadership

What You'll Need to Succeed

• 10+ years of program or project management experience in a chemistry, pharmaceutical, or deep tech environment
• A Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field
• A track record of managing multiple concurrent programs in fast‑paced, ambiguous environments and energized by building programs from the ground up; early‑stage start‑up experience is a strong plus
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate across scientific and operational stakeholders and manage complex cross‑functional dependencies
• Sufficient scientific fluency to understand Chemistry program goals and communicate them clearly to partner teams
• Experience supporting commercial program delivery and working with external partners or customers
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills — able to break complex goals into clear, achievable units of work and keep stakeholders consistently well‑informed

Bonus Points For

• Familiarity with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Asana, Jira, or similar
• PMP, PgMP, or agile certification (e.g., CSM, SAFe) is a plus

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early‑stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits. Full‑time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer‑paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.

International Benefits. Full‑time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range

$128,000 - $172,000 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard‑coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

Lila Sciences iscommitted to equal employment opportunityregardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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