Director of the READY Center

University of California San Francisco • San Francisco, CA

11d

About The Position

Independently manages and provides technical direction in conjunction with faculty director for a complex academic or research program of high visibility. Develops the long-term vision and goals, policies and procedures, as well as managing ongoing operations of program(s) and oversees a fairly large operational budget to achieve objectives. Responsible for recruiting and retaining industry leaders to partner with research program in achievement of center goals. Develops and manages a membership program for industry partners. Oversees, through subordinate Academic Program Management Officers, all strategic elements of program administration including establishing program partners. Uses highly specialized expertise in research or academic specific concepts and objectives. The Director of the Research and Engineering to Accelerate Discovery (READY) Center will serve as the strategic and operational leader responsible for advancing UCSF’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) mission to accelerate discoveries in complex disease biology. This role will oversee the scientific design and execution of high-priority programs, including the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) projects and related neurodevelopmental disorder initiatives. The Director will integrate academic innovation with large-scale functional genomics platforms, including CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) based systems and automation technologies, to ensure delivery of comprehensive data packages, assay development pipelines, and translational insights aligned with QBI’s long-term objectives. Equally critical, the Director will build and lead the organizational structure of the READY Center, maintaining high-performance operations and the development teams that drive efficiency, scalability, and innovation. This includes responsibility for talent recruitment, budget development, infrastructure planning, and deployment of advanced laboratory automation to meet ambitious research and throughput goals. The Director will act as the primary steward of the READY Center’s vision, ensuring alignment with UCSF’s scientific priorities, partner expectations, and the broader QBI strategy to position the Center as a leader in high-throughput discovery science. The Director of the Research and Engineering to Accelerate Discovery (READY) Center will lead the design and execution of large-scale, technically complex scientific programs that advance understanding of disease biology. This includes directing the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Project target platform and overseeing the development of functional assays for priority neurodevelopmental disease genes. The Director will ensure that each target advances through a rigorous pipeline, resulting in comprehensive, publication-ready data packages that can inform therapeutic development. A core responsibility will be integrating advanced CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) based genome engineering and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) based models to deliver biologically relevant insights. In parallel, the Director will architect and operationalize the technical infrastructure of the READY Center to achieve industrial-scale throughput. This requires overseeing the deployment and use of the latest instruments and devices, including an automation system capable of generating more than 1,500 clonal cell lines annually, while maintaining standard operating procedures, capacity models, and materials management frameworks to ensure quality and reproducibility. The Director will oversee the management and overall success of a high-throughput (HTP) screening pipeline that utilizes the latest CRISPR based techniques and incorporates both automation and a team of diversely skilled researchers. The goal is to maintain and iterate on the established, scalable, and fully integrated discovery pipelines being utilized to address key biological questions across neurodevelopmental disorders, oncology, and infectious diseases. Finally, the Director will provide the organizational foundation required to sustain and grow the Center. This includes organizing and managing both operations and the development of teams that support logistics, assay development, and translational science. The Director will lead talent acquisition and training, create a sustainable full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing model, and manage financial planning, including long-range budgets for scientific platforms, automation, and team growth. Acting as both a scientific and operational leader, the Director will ensure that the READY Center remains at the forefront of high-throughput discovery science, aligning the Center’s outputs with the broader mission of UCSF’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) and the expectations of strategic partners.

Requirements

• Terminal degree in a related area (PhD, JD, MD, etc.) and / or equivalent experience / training
• Minimum 6 years of related experience
• Minimum 5 years of experience as a lead/supervisor/manager
• Expertise in functional genomics platforms
• Mastery of CRISPR genome engineering
• Leadership in cross-functional team building
• Proficiency in high-throughput automation
• Strong assay development and validation
• Organizational design and scaling expertise
• Clear scientific communication and reporting
• Strong collaboration skills; ability to work effectively across teams and in a complex organizational structure
• Compliance with regulatory and quality standards
• Strategic budget and resource management

Nice To Haves

• NA

Responsibilities

• Directing the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Project target platform and overseeing the development of functional assays for priority neurodevelopmental disease genes.
• Integrating advanced CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) based genome engineering and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) based models to deliver biologically relevant insights.
• Architecting and operationalizing the technical infrastructure of the READY Center to achieve industrial-scale throughput.
• Overseeing the deployment and use of the latest instruments and devices, including an automation system capable of generating more than 1,500 clonal cell lines annually, while maintaining standard operating procedures, capacity models, and materials management frameworks to ensure quality and reproducibility.
• Overseeing the management and overall success of a high-throughput (HTP) screening pipeline that utilizes the latest CRISPR based techniques and incorporates both automation and a team of diversely skilled researchers.
• Organizing and managing both operations and the development of teams that support logistics, assay development, and translational science.
• Leading talent acquisition and training, create a sustainable full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing model, and manage financial planning, including long-range budgets for scientific platforms, automation, and team growth.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees