Project Manager - DiffUSE Project

Astera Institute; California (MO); On-site; USD 170,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Astera Institute in Emeryville, California, is seeking a Project Manager to coordinate a multidisciplinary team spanning biology, chemistry, data science, and software engineering. You will oversee progress across The Diffuse Project, align strategy, and maintain clear, proactive communication with academic partners and national labs.

The role emphasizes ownership, ambiguity tolerance, and meticulous project planning, including timelines, budgets, onboarding, and events.

Qualifications

• 2-5 years of project management experience.
• PhD in biology, chemistry, or related field highly preferred.
• Working fluency in scientific program management.
• High agency and comfort in ambiguity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong operational skills.
• Extreme organization.
• Clear communication and insight into tone, audience, and what to escalate.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the project manager for The Diffuse Project, ensuring the strategic alignment of teams, academic leaders, and members across the project.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all project-related communications, proactively identifying and resolving risks and issues to minimize impact on project success, and keeping stakeholders informed of progress.
• Help manage project budgets, track expenditures, and allocate resources to ensure progress targets are met.
• Onboard/off-board new team members and collaborators
• Facilitate internal and external events
• Help identify patterns that generalize across DiffUSE workstreams and adjacent Astera projects
• Help execute and monitor comprehensive project plans, including detailed timelines, milestones, and resource allocation, ensuring adherence to project scope and objectives.
• Foster a collaborative and positive team environment, motivating team members to achieve their best work.
• Other

Skills

Project management

Communication

Organizational skills

Ambiguity tolerance

Education

PhD in biology, chemistry, or related field

Job description

About DiffUSE

The DiffUSE Project is building open infrastructure to study protein dynamics using experimental data. The project spans wet-lab collaborators, computational scientists, ML researchers, and software engineers across Astera, Radial, and partner institutions. Our vision is to create a world where it is possible to observe, predict, and act on protein motion.

About DiffUSE

The DiffUSE Project is building open infrastructure to study protein dynamics using experimental data. The project spans wet-lab collaborators, computational scientists, ML researchers, and software engineers across Astera, Radial, and partner institutions. Our vision is to create a world where it is possible to observe, predict, and act on protein motion.

Position Summary

The Diffuse Project is looking for a Project Manager to coordinate efforts across our multidisciplinary team, including members from Astera, national labs, and multiple academic institutions. You will be part of the central hub overseeing and coordinating progress across The Diffuse Project. You will work alongside the Scientific Program Manager and other leaders to ensure progress towards our key goals is sustained, and that communication across the project is organized and visible throughout the organization. We are looking for someone who runs toward ambiguity, identifies what needs to be done before being asked, and moves both projects and people forward.

What You\'ll Do

• Serve as the project manager for The Diffuse Project, ensuring the strategic alignment of teams, academic leaders, and members across the project.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all project-related communications, proactively identifying and resolving risks and issues to minimize impact on project success, and keeping stakeholders informed of progress.
• Help manage project budgets, track expenditures, and allocate resources to ensure progress targets are met.
• Onboard/off-board new team members and collaborators
• Facilitate internal and external events
• Help identify patterns that generalize across DiffUSE workstreams and adjacent Astera projects
• Help execute and monitor comprehensive project plans, including detailed timelines, milestones, and resource allocation, ensuring adherence to project scope and objectives.
• Foster a collaborative and positive team environment, motivating team members to achieve their best work.
• Other

Requirements

• 2-5 years of project management experience
• PhD in biology, chemistry, or a related field is highly preferred
• Working fluency in scientific program management
• High agency and comfort in ambiguity
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong operational skills
• Extreme organization
• Clear communication and insight into tone, audience, and what to escalate

Logistics

• Location: in-person at Astera in Emeryville, California
• Astera is a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation
• Full-time role

Compensation

• Compensation Range: $170K - $225K
• Benefits summary