Technical Program Manager

SPOC Biosciences; Scottsdale (AZ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Company-paid medical, dental, vision &

Job summary

SPOC Biosciences in Scottsdale, AZ seeks a Technical Program Manager to drive execution across a portfolio of R&D, customer and federally funded programs. You translate priorities into integrated plans, coordinate resources, and keep teams focused on measurable outcomes.

You will partner with the COO and leaders to align execution with priorities, while scientific and engineering leads retain responsibility for technical decisions and team management.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree required; candidates with a bachelor’s degree and substantial multidisciplinary leadership may be considered.
• 3+ years of project/program management experience handling multidisciplinary initiatives.
• Ability to translate technical objectives into actionable plans, milestones and decisions.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills including risk, resource and delivery tracking.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for technical teams, leadership and external stakeholders.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Smartsheet, SharePoint or similar tools.

Responsibilities

• Translate strategic priorities into program roadmaps with objectives, workstreams, owners, milestones and success criteria.
• Manage portfolio across internal R&D, customer engagements and federal grants; align project plans to broader outcomes.
• Identify dependencies and resource constraints across biology, workflows, instruments, software, and AI; advise leadership on sequencing and trade-offs.
• Coordinate execution with functional leaders, track commitments and remove obstacles through follow-through and escalation.
• Maintain visibility into schedules, resource needs and budgets; assess impact of scope changes and realign plans.
• Anticipate risks and establish mitigation plans with accountable owners; escalate before milestones are compromised.
• Run focused program reviews, document decisions and action items, and provide dashboards on progress, risks and decisions.
• Coordinate milestones with customers, vendors and collaborators; ensure responsible scientific and business leads deliver.
• Support grant milestones, reporting and documentation with investigators and finance/operations; align with policies and quality requirements.
• Help leadership prepare decision briefs and updates; drive cross-functional initiatives to completion.
• Build scalable program management processes and maintain accessible program documentation.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Risk management

Stakeholder communication

Planning and scheduling

Education

MS/MBA/PhD

Bachelor’s with leadership experience

Tools

Microsoft Office

Smartsheet

SharePoint

Job description

SPOC Biosciences is building a next-generation drug discovery and lab-in-the-loop protein design platform that integrates on-chip protein synthesis, high-resolution kinetic measurements, engineering and automation. Our goal is to accelerate biologics discovery and AI-driven drug design. We collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, AI drug discovery startups and academic institutions to advance therapeutics development.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Technical Program Manager to drive execution across a portfolio of connected R&D, customer and federally funded programs. Working closely with company leadership and scientific, engineering, AI, operations and business teams, you will translate company priorities into integrated plans, coordinate shared resources and dependencies, and keep teams focused on measurable outcomes.

This is a hands-on role for someone who can quickly understand complex technical work, bring structure to ambiguity and drive progress through influence. You will partner with the COO and functional leaders to align execution with operating priorities, while technical leaders retain responsibility for scientific decisions and team management.

Key Responsibilities

• Translate strategic priorities into program roadmaps with clear objectives, workstreams, owners, milestones, deliverables and success criteria.
• Manage a portfolio spanning internal R&D, external customer engagements and federal grants, connecting individual project plans to broader program outcomes.
• Identify dependencies and shared resource constraints across biology, laboratory workflows, instruments, software and AI; recommend sequencing and priority trade-offs to leadership.
• Coordinate execution with functional leaders, track commitments and remove obstacles through timely follow-through and escalation.
• Maintain visibility into schedules, resource needs and budgets; assess the impact of scope changes and secure alignment on revised plans.
• Anticipate technical and operational risks, establish mitigation plans with accountable owners and elevate decisions before milestones are compromised.
• Run focused program reviews, document decisions and action items, and provide concise dashboards covering progress, risks and decisions needed.
• Coordinate customer, vendor and collaborator milestones, communications and deliverables with the responsible scientific and business leads.
• Support grant milestones, reporting schedules and documentation with scientific investigators and finance or operations colleagues; maintain alignment with applicable policies and quality requirements.
• Help company leadership prepare decision briefs and program updates, coordinate selected strategic initiatives and follow through on cross-functional commitments.
• Build practical, scalable program management processes and maintain accessible, accurate program documentation.

Required Qualifications

• An advanced degree (MS, MBA or PhD) is required. Candidates with a bachelor's degree and substantial demonstrated success leading complex, multidisciplinary technical programs may also be considered.
• At least 3 years of relevant project or program management experience, including ownership of multidisciplinary technical initiatives from planning through delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to manage concurrent projects, dependencies and competing priorities across teams that do not report directly to you.
• Ability to understand technical objectives and constraints and translate them into actionable plans, milestones and decision points.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills, including experience tracking risks, resource needs and delivery commitments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to synthesize complex information for technical teams, leadership and external stakeholders.
• Proficiency with program management and productivity tools such as Microsoft Office, Smartsheet, SharePoint or similar platforms.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, life sciences tools or another technically complex startup or growth-stage organization.
• Experience coordinating laboratory R&D, assay development, instrumentation, automation, bioinformatics or AI and software development programs.
• Experience with federal grant milestones and reporting, external vendors, CROs or strategic collaborators.
• Experience working directly with senior leadership on strategic planning, business analysis or executive communications.
• PMP or another relevant project or program management certification.

Desired Attributes

You take ownership, follow through and build trust across disciplines. You exercise sound judgment with incomplete information, distinguish issues you can resolve from decisions that need escalation and communicate trade-offs clearly. You bring curiosity, discretion and business awareness, remain composed under pressure and adapt plans as evidence and priorities change.

What Success Looks Like

Program priorities, owners and milestones are clear. Dependencies and resource conflicts are resolved early, leadership receives timely decision-ready information and teams deliver agreed outcomes with fewer avoidable delays. You become a trusted partner who increases execution capacity across the company.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Equity (stock options)
• Company-paid medical, dental, vision and life insurance