Chief of Staff to the CEO

About the Role

Lila Sciences is seeking a highly skilled Chief of Staff to collaborate intimately with our Founder and CEO, Geoff von Maltzahn, to drive forward the company's strategic and scientific goals. As the developer of the world's first scientific superintelligence platform aimed at accelerating breakthroughs in life sciences, chemistry, and materials science, Lila requires a senior technical operator who can think through complex scientific and strategic issues alongside the CEO. This supportive role enhances the CEO's planning and decision-making but does not substitute for the technical leadership of roles such as CTO or CPO.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO on critical scientific decisions, including guiding research directions and assessing early results.
• Critically evaluate scientific and technical choices with the CEO before these are shared with the executive team or board to ensure superior decisions.
• Collaborate with the strategy and technical leadership teams to translate challenging scientific questions into actionable plans and priorities.
• Prepare the CEO for important scientific discussions with boards, investors, and partners by ensuring robust and defensible reasoning.
• Manage preparations for board meetings, investor updates, and fundraising communications, turning complex scientific progress into impactful materials.
• Serve as the liaison among the CEO, executive team, and broader company to maintain efficient flow of scientific context and decisions.
• Drive critical decisions to completion by cutting through competing priorities and securing commitment.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Minimum 8 years of progressive experience including roles as founder, Chief of Staff, function head, or senior operator in high-growth or science-driven companies.
• Possess a PhD, founding experience at a technical startup, or equivalent substantial technical or AI domain training.
• Comfortable working in novel, fast-moving environments without a formal roadmap, thriving amid complexity and ambiguity.
• Strong execution skills enabling movement from strategic planning to detailed follow-through.
• Ability to challenge the CEO and leadership on priorities, strategy, organizational design, and execution quality, while aligning teams effectively.
• High emotional intelligence to build trust quickly across scientists, operators, and executives in a matrixed leadership environment.
• Exceptional communication skills capable of clarifying complex technical topics and drafting executive-level content.
• Thrives in high-pressure, fast-scaling environments with difficult problems and smart collaborators.
• Demonstrates utmost discretion, professionalism, and trustworthiness due to the sensitive nature of the role.
• Must be based onsite at Lila’s Cambridge headquarters with availability for travel as needed.

Compensation and Benefits

Competitive base salary with potential bonuses and generous early-stage equity grants. Final compensation will be tailored to experience and expected impact.

Full-time U.S. employees are offered comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision insurance, life and disability coverage, flexible time off and holidays, paid parental leave, educational assistance, commuter benefits, and a subsidized lunch program. International employees receive regionally tailored benefit packages. Salary ranges quoted apply only to U.S.-based roles.

About Lila Sciences

Lila Sciences is pioneering Scientific Superintelligence™ to address humanity’s most significant challenges through AI-powered autonomous scientific discovery in medicine, materials, and energy. Our platform integrates advanced AI models and proprietary instruments into a fully autonomous science operating system.

Equal Opportunity

Lila Sciences is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion, ensuring fair employment practices regardless of any protected class.

Additional Information

Resumes submitted by agencies or recruiters without prior agreement are not accepted and become company property without fee obligations.