Associate Director / Director, Customer Program Management, Life Sciences

About the role

Lila Sciences is seeking an Associate Director / Director, Program Management, Life Sciences to serve as a senior operator responsible for driving the planning, execution, and delivery of therapeutic programs on Lila's platform. The hire will own end-to-end project management for active therapeutic programs, providing direct leadership to internal science, engineering, and automation teams while navigating significant scientific complexity and commercial stakes. This role acts as the primary operational interface with pharmaceutical and biotech partners, ensuring that deliverables, governance, and communication remain aligned with strategic objectives. The successful candidate will execute with speed and rigor, balancing fast-moving technical programs with the judgment required to keep external stakeholders informed and confident. They will own the development of scalable practices that allow Lila's partnership portfolio to grow efficiently and sustainably. This position demands a leader who can drive execution from within while maintaining a strong partner-facing presence.

Key facts

What you'll do

Own end-to-end project management for active therapeutic programs, including timeline development, resource coordination, milestone tracking, and dependency management across product, science, machine learning and automation teams.

Drive day-to-day execution discipline by establishing clear priorities, deliverables, and decision points for internal teams, while rapidly identifying and resolving blockers that impede progress.

Manage resource allocation discussions and trade-off decisions across a complex set of priorities, such as balancing experiments between AI model training and near-term partnership deliverables.

Establish and maintain program-level reporting structures, including status updates, milestone tracking, and resource utilization views for both internal leadership and external deliverables.

Proactively identify, communicate, and manage program risks, ensuring appropriate escalation paths and transparency with scientific and executive leadership.

Structure and facilitate effective internal program meetings, decision forums, and reviews to ensure the right information reaches the right people at the right time.

Serve as the primary operational interface with partner organizations, coordinating joint governance, managing deliverable timelines, and driving alignment on milestones and expectations.

Translate internal program status into clear, structured updates for external partners, maintaining transparency without overexposing internal complexity or uncommitted concepts.

Support alliance obligations including joint steering committees, milestone reporting, and the careful handoffs of deliverables and insights.

Partner closely with scientific and product leadership to ensure that program plans reflect both Lila's platform capabilities and partner-specific goals and business objectives.

Lead the development of scalable project management practices, templates, and tools as Lila's partnership portfolio increases in scope and complexity.

Help build repeatable operating models for how Lila plans, tracks, and delivers partner programs, creating consistency and efficiency across engagements.

Contribute to a culture of operational excellence by standardizing workflows while preserving the flexibility needed for scientific discovery and innovation.

Act as a central point for cross-functional coordination, ensuring that dependencies between machine learning, automation, and experimental teams are managed proactively.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry in roles associated with drug discovery or development, project management, or operations.

5+ years in program management, project management, or a similar cross-functional coordination role with direct responsibility for timelines, resourcing, and tracking.

Demonstrated ability to independently drive execution across complex, multidisciplinary programs with significant scientific and commercial stakes.

Strong understanding of drug discovery and development processes; ability to engage credibly with scientific stakeholders and communicate at a high level across therapeutic and technical domains.

Experience managing programs with external partners, including milestone management, governance, and stakeholder communication.

Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to distill complex scientific and operational information for diverse audiences including executive leadership and external partners.

Proven ability to influence without authority and drive alignment across cross-functional teams.

Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities shift frequently and decisions must be made with incomplete information.

Nice to have

Experience working at the intersection of biotechnology, machine learning, and automation.

Background in managing programs for pharmaceutical or biotech partnerships involving multi-modal therapeutic discovery.

Experience with data-driven decision frameworks that integrate experimental results with computational predictions.

Familiarity with modern drug discovery platforms and the associated operational workflows.

Practical notes

This is a full-time position based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Employment is at-will.

Travel may be required in connection with partner meetings and scientific conferences.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this role.