Program Manager

Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H); Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

ARPA-H Program Managers identify root-cause bottlenecks and define bold program concepts, recruiting exceptional teams across academia, industry, and startups. They drive high-risk, high-reward work from idea to real-world impact and manage ambitious portfolios with urgency and strategic rigor.

This deeply technical and mission-driven role requires independent decision-making, first-principles thinking, and the ability to work across scientists, clinicians, regulators, investors, and patients to

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship required.
• Technical degree (Ph.D., M.D., or Master’s) in a scientific or engineering field.
• Post-education professional experience in a relevant role.
• Experience applying technical expertise in biology/health contexts.

Responsibilities

• Identify problems that matter at the root-cause level across fields.
• Find the unlock by pinpointing insights or shifts enabling tractable progress.
• Recruit world-class teams across institutions and sectors.
• Drive milestones by setting goals, testing assumptions, and terminating unproductive efforts.
• Shape adoption pathways to ensure solutions are adopted, scaled, and sustained.

Skills

Program management

Leadership

Systems thinking

Biology/health intersection

Education

Technical degree

Job description

This is your chance to set the vision and lead the teams that will radically transform the future of human health.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) exists to accelerate breakthroughs that are too risky for market capital and too urgent for traditional government. We take on some of the biggest, hardest problems in human health - problems where progress has stalled, risk is high, and the potential impact is enormous.

At ARPA-H, Program Managers (PMs) are the engine of the agency. They identify root-cause bottlenecks, define bold program concepts, recruit exceptional teams, and drive high-risk, high-reward work from idea to real-world impact.

This is not a traditional research role. It is not a grants administrator role.

It is a deeply technical, deeply strategic, deeply mission-driven role—for people who want to make a dent in the universe.

If you have bold ideas to explore, a clear "why now," and the drive to turn breakthrough science into health outcomes, we encourage you to apply.

What You’ll Do

ARPA-H Program Managers are action-oriented and strong non-traditional thinkers and leaders in breakthrough biotech, health, and R&D. PMs manage ambitious portfolios across academia, industry, and startups and are responsible for compressing decades of progress into years.

As a Program Manager, you will:

• Identify problems that matter - Target root-cause bottlenecks holding back entire fields, not just incremental improvements or single-disease applications.
• Find the unlock - Pinpoint the specific insight, new capability, technology shift, or market change that makes the impossible newly tractable.
• Recruit world-class performers - Assemble top-tier teams across institutions, disciplines, and sectors that would not otherwise work together.
• Drive to milestones - Set aggressive goals, test assumptions quickly, terminate what is not working, and double down on what is.
• Shape adoption pathways - Create the conditions for solutions to be adopted, scaled, and sustained—not just invented.

Program Managers serve an initial three-year term-limited appointment, which may be extended up to a six-year maximum, to design, launch, and run high-risk, high-reward programs. This limited term is intentional: it brings fresh perspectives, urgency, and sustained momentum.

Who We’re Looking For

We are looking for entrepreneurial, technically exceptional leaders—people who combine deep expertise with intellectual range, fast learning, and the ability to make bold decisions under uncertainty.

You may be the right person if:

• You have spent years frustrated that the best science does not become the best medicine fast enough.
• You work in systems, not silos.
• You have built things before and know the difference between a plan and a theory.
• You can hold your own with scientists, clinicians, regulators, investors, operators, and patients—and understand what each group needs to see for a breakthrough to move forward.
• You are a rational risk-taker who can navigate failure, learn quickly, and keep moving toward impact.
• You want to spend the next chapter of your career working on problems that matter at civilizational scale.

The right candidate will bring:

• A bold question to answer - An ideal for a program with the potential to meaningfully change human health.
• An unlock, not just a vision - A clear explanation of why this can succeed now.
• First-principles thinking - The ability to reason from fundamentals and challenge conventional assumptions.
• Ambition and risk appetite - Comfort pursuing approaches where success is not guaranteed, but impact would be transformative.
• Learning velocity - Demonstrated ability to master new technical areas quickly.
• Recruiting power - A track record of attracting, assembling, and motivating strong teams.
• Hands-on experience at the edge - Practical experience at the intersection of a technical field and biology, medicine, health, or healthcare.
• Comfort with term limits - A desire to build something impactful and hand it off, not build an empire.

ARPA-H describes PMs as "rational risk-takers" with vision and a passion for solving seemingly intractable problems that limit health potential.

This May Not Be the Right Role If

• You need a fully defined job description.
• You are looking for a prestigious title on the way to something else.
• You need to be told what to do.
• You are looking for incremental progress.
• You are uncomfortable with uncertainty, scrutiny, or the possibility of public failure.

No guaranteed outcomes. No well-trodden paths. No credit if you need it now.

But if it works: the possibility of changing the course of human health.

Required Qualifications

Candidates must meet the following requirements:

• U.S. citizenship required. ARPA-H employment eligibility is limited to U.S. citizens
• Technical degree required. Ph.D., M.D., or Master’s degree in a scientific or engineering field.
• Post-education experience. At least one professional role after completing the qualifying degree.
• Bio/health intersection. Demonstrated experience applying technical expertise in a biological, medical, health, or healthcare context.
• Geographic flexibility. Willingness to be in Washington, D.C. at least once per month, especially during the first year.
• Public trust-level clearance. Selected candidates are required to undergo a background investigation
• Ethics and financial review. Must complete required ethics and financial disclosure reviews as part of the federal onboarding process.
• Conflict of interest assessment. Must undergo review to identify and mitigate any real or perceived conflicts related to official duties and outside activities.

Compensation

Competitive with academia and the private sector.

Hiring Authority: At ARPA-H, our customer is the American public, and we seek to build a mission-driven workforce as representative as our customer base. We are building a culture that creates a space for visionary innovators in science, health, and in building a best-in-class ARPA organization. For this position, ARPA-H has been authorized a special hiring authority that allows for more flexibility around hiring timelines and pay-setting.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Selection for this position will be based solely on merit with no discrimination for reasons such as race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, marital status, disability, age, or membership/non-membership in an employee organization. ARPA-H encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.

Reasonable Accommodation: ARPA-H provide a reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodation during any part of the application and hiring process, please notify us. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Standards of Conduct/Financial Disclosure: ARPA-H inspires public confidence in our work by maintaining high ethical principles. ARPA-H employees are subject to Federal government-wide regulations and statutes as well as agency-specific regulations described on the NIH Ethics website. We encourage you to review this information. The position requires the incumbent to complete a public financial disclosure report prior to the effective date of the appointment.

Foreign Education: Applicants who have completed part or all of their education outside of the U.S. must have their foreign education evaluated by an accredited organization to ensure that the foreign education is equivalent to education received in accredited educational institutions in the U.S. We will only accept the completed foreign education evaluation. For more information on foreign education verification, visit https://www.naces.org. Verification must be received prior to the effective date of the appointment.