Senior Director, Scientific Operations

Violet Research Institute•Emeryville, CA

20h

About The Position

Violet Research Institute (VRI) is dedicated to advancing personalized medicine for genetic diseases by creating treatments tailored to individual patient biology. Leveraging breakthroughs in science, engineering, and regulatory pathways, VRI aims to unify and scale these efforts into a cohesive platform. The institute combines the agility of a startup with the collaborative spirit of a nonprofit, bringing together leading experts in omics, therapeutic design, manufacturing, clinical care, and AI to accelerate the transition from insight to action. Founded by the family of their first patient, Violet, and led by a dedicated team, VRI values individuals who are eager to work across disciplines, challenge conventional methods, and expand access to personalized medicine.

Requirements

10+ years in drug discovery or development operations.
At least 3 years in a leadership role at a biotech, CRO, or academic translational program.
Direct experience running oligonucleotide, siRNA, gene therapy, or comparable preclinical-to-IND programs end to end.
Track record of building operational systems from scratch in a small organization.
Comfort directing senior PhD scientists without being one.
Experience managing vendors and CROs to the extent of identifying and rectifying errors.
Bias toward written, structured, async communication.
Comfort working in an environment where founders and lead scientists challenge premises.
Ability to execute independently from loosely specified tasks; self-directing.
Willingness to ask for help only when truly blocked, communicating needs and prior attempts clearly.
Ability to thrive in early-stage, ambiguous, high-pace environments.
Mission-driven with genuine care for patient impact.
Computational fluency and comfort with AI-assisted analysis and literature synthesis.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with bDNA / QuantiGene, ddPCR, qPCR artifacts in nucleic acid quantification, and CNS ASO tox readouts.
Experience within a small biotech, founder-led nonprofit, or intensely mission-driven organization.
Working knowledge of cloud data infrastructure (GCP, AWS).
Basic familiarity with bioinformatics workflows.

Responsibilities

Design the operating system across VRI's programs.
Hold Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and vendors accountable.
Run cross-functional team rhythms.
Own the data and decision infrastructure end-to-end.
Design systems, set standards, and direct junior staff and CROs.
Establish decision and to-do systems across programs, creating a single source of truth for project status, ownership, timelines, rationale, and next steps.
Develop data infrastructure and standards, including repeatable formats for raw assay data, ASO design files, in vitro and in vivo readouts, and CRO deliverables.
Manage CRO and vendor programs, including schedules, deliverables, quality control of incoming data, and escalation of timeline slippages.
Orchestrate screening and study plans in partnership with the lead scientist, ensuring vendor compatibility and preventing rework.
Ensure meeting and decision discipline, including agendas, capturing decisions, and closing follow-ups for program reviews, advisor calls, and regulatory check-ins.
Lead hiring and onboarding for the operations team.
Interface with regulatory and finance departments alongside existing leads.