Contractor, Loading Dock Associate

Lila Sciences; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Lila Sciences is seeking a Contract Loading Dock Manager to run the Alewife dock operations and support rapid lab expansion across buildings. This hands-on role owns inbound deliveries, inspection, and real-time communication with carriers, vendors, and onsite teams.

The ideal candidate has 3+ years managing dock operations in lab or industrial settings, can safely operate a pallet jack, and lift 50 lbs. This on-site contract position offers regular hours at the Alewife campus.

Qualifications

• 3+ years managing receiving, shipping, or loading dock operations in a lab, manufacturing, or large commercial setting.
• Experience coordinating high-volume deliveries with carriers, vendors, and internal stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to relay delivery status clearly across teams.
• Working knowledge of safe material handling and dock equipment.
• Must be able to safely operate a pallet jack.
• Ability to lift a minimum of 50 pounds and perform sustained physical activity on the dock floor.
• Comfort using inventory or receiving tracking systems and basic spreadsheets.
• Ability to work onsite at Alewife, 40 hours per week, during standard receiving hours.
• Flexibility to work across multiple Alewife buildings, and at other Lila campuses as needed.

Responsibilities

• Manage daily inbound deliveries from carriers, vendors, and couriers at the Alewife dock.
• Inspect shipments for damage, quantity accuracy, and documentation before routing.
• Maintain packing slips and invoices, and submit them for record-keeping as needed.
• Communicate delivery arrivals and exceptions to lab and operations teams in real time.
• Coordinate large or scheduled deliveries with vendors, Facilities, and lab leads in advance.
• Maintain a clean, organized, and safe dock area in line with EH&S standards.
• Track received goods and resolve discrepancies with vendors and internal teams.
• Support onboarding of dock operations at new Alewife buildings as they come online.

Skills

Dock operations

Receiving coordination

Communication

Safety awareness

Pallet jack operation

Tools

Pallet jack operation

Job description

Lila Sciences is opening a Contract Loading Dock Manager role to run the dock operations at our Alewife campus. As the company expands lab capacity across multiple buildings, the volume of incoming reagents, equipment, lab consumables, and capital deliveries has grown significantly, and lab teams depend on reliable, well-communicated dock operations to keep experiments on schedule.

The Loading Dock Manager owns day-to-day receiving operations: coordinating inbound deliveries, inspecting and routing shipments, maintaining an organized dock area, and serving as the point of contact between carriers, vendors, and onsite lab teams. The role works closely with Facilities Management, Lab Operations, and EH&S to ensure deliveries are handled safely and communicated promptly to the right people.

This is a hands-on contract position, 40 hours per week, based onsite at Alewife. It is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-moving environment, takes ownership of operational details, and enjoys working alongside scientific and engineering teams.

What You\'ll Be Building

• Manage daily inbound deliveries from carriers, vendors, and couriers at the Alewife dock
• Inspect shipments for damage, quantity accuracy, and documentation before routing
• Maintain packing slips and invoices, and submit them for record-keeping as needed
• Communicate delivery arrivals and exceptions to lab and operations teams in real time
• Coordinate large or scheduled deliveries with vendors, Facilities, and lab leads in advance
• Maintain a clean, organized, and safe dock area in line with EH&S standards
• Track received goods and resolve discrepancies with vendors and internal teams
• Support onboarding of dock operations at new Alewife buildings as they come online

What You\'ll Need to Succeed

• 3+ years managing receiving, shipping, or loading dock operations in a lab, manufacturing, or large commercial setting
• Experience coordinating high-volume deliveries with carriers, vendors, and internal stakeholders
• Strong communication skills with the ability to relay delivery status clearly across teams
• Working knowledge of safe material handling and dock equipment
• Must be able to safely operate a pallet jack
• Ability to lift a minimum of 50 pounds and perform sustained physical activity on the dock floor
• Comfort using inventory or receiving tracking systems and basic spreadsheets
• Ability to work onsite at Alewife, 40 hours per week, during standard receiving hours
• Flexibility to work across multiple Alewife buildings, and at other Lila campuses as needed

Bonus Points For

• Prior experience in a life sciences, biotech, or pharma receiving environment
• Familiarity with handling temperature-sensitive or hazardous shipments (cold chain, dry ice, chemicals)
• IATA or DOT certification for handling hazardous materials shipments
• Forklift certification or willingness to obtain one
• Experience standing up dock operations in a new building or facility
• Comfort working in a fast-moving, growth-stage company

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.

Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy .

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.