Director/Sr. Director, Information Technology

Manifold Bio•Boston, MA

21h

About The Position

Manifold Bio is seeking its first dedicated IT leader to keep the company secure and scalable as it grows. This hands-on role will take ownership of an IT program already in motion, including single sign-on, security awareness, a new network, runbooks, and an operating plan. The role will configure and administer systems, troubleshoot issues, establish standards, and work closely with the COO, cloud and data engineers, AI and computational scientists, and lab automation team. The IT leader will manage day-to-day technology across offices and labs, lead the security program, enable scientific and AI work, oversee infrastructure and vendors, manage the IT budget, and grow the IT function. The position will also work with Quality as programs move toward the clinic and develop a multi-year IT roadmap with the COO and finance. During the first 90 days, the new leader will take over the program from the fractional CIO, learn how the labs and computational teams work, and meet every team. Within six months, the leader is expected to run IT day to day independently and own the security program, records, and runbooks. By the end of the first year, the goal is trusted IT, security that stands up to partner diligence, and a plan for the next stage of growth.

Requirements

10 or more years of experience in IT.
At least three years of experience in a startup or high-growth company, ideally in biotech or another science-driven business.
Exposure to GxP or computer system validation.
Experience supporting lab instruments and automation.
Experience as the first or only IT leader at a growing company and building the function.
Hands-on experience with identity and single sign-on (Okta or similar), Google Workspace, Mac and Windows management, and networking.
Practical security experience, including leading an incident response and guiding a company through customer or partner security reviews.
Experience managing networks across complex environments spanning multiple floors and labs.
Experience managing IT vendors, contracts, and a budget.
Ability to work alongside engineers with deep cloud infrastructure expertise and judge when to lead versus support.
Clear writing and plain speaking with scientists, executives, and vendors.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AWS identity and access management.
Experience setting guardrails for AI tools or agents.
Experience moving a company into a larger, multi-floor site.

Responsibilities

Run day-to-day IT support across offices and labs for Mac and Windows users.
Administer Okta or the identity platform, Google Workspace, Slack, device management, and the password manager.
Manage onboarding and offboarding so access is ready on employees’ first day and removed the same day they leave.
Maintain accurate records of devices, applications, licenses, and owners, and reclaim unused resources.
Keep conference rooms, printing, and everyday tools operational.
Own the security program, including phishing-resistant sign-in, endpoint protection, awareness training, phishing tests, incident response, and tabletop exercises.
Respond to pharma partner security questionnaires and diligence requests with supporting evidence.
Enforce least-privilege access for employees, executives, and administrators.
Maintain cyber insurance requirements and prepare evidence for renewals.
Partner with cloud and data engineers on AWS identity, access, logging, and backup; establish guardrails while engineers run the platform.
Help determine how AI agents may access data and systems while protecting the company.
Own the network across two floors with the network partner.
Run backup and recovery for cloud, storage, and SaaS data, including scheduled restore tests.
Keep lab instruments connected, patched on a schedule that respects their runs, and recoverable, in partnership with lab automation.
Manage IT service providers and contractors against clear service levels.
Build and manage the IT budget, recommend when to add people or services, and route purchases through the company’s approval process.
Write and maintain standards and runbooks that support IT growth.
Work with Quality to prepare IT practices for controls associated with programs moving toward the clinic.
Build a multi-year IT roadmap and investment plan with the COO and finance, tied to hiring, space, and clinical plans.
Take over the existing IT program from the fractional CIO, learn how labs and computational teams work, and meet every team during the first 90 days.
Run IT independently by six months and take ownership of the security program, records, and runbooks.
Establish trusted IT, security that holds up to partner diligence, and a plan for company growth by the end of the first year.