Associate Manager, Laboratory Operations

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About Chemify

Chemify is creating a future where important molecules, drugs and new materials currently unimaginable are instantly accessible and thereby radically increasing the speed of innovation, quality of life, and reach of humanity. The company is building the infrastructure to digitize chemistry to design, make, and discover new molecules with the desired function and properties instantly and on-demand. Chemify has built a platform that combines purpose-built programming languages, robotics, AI, and the world's largest and continuously growing database of chemical programs to accelerate chemical discovery to new, transformative heights.

Chemify is supported by some of the best investors from Silicon Valley and across the world, including Triatomic Capital, BlueYard ventures, DCVC, Founders Fund, and others.

Job Purpose

Chemify is seeking an experienced and motivated Operations professional to help to standardize and optimize our operational processes.

The Associate Manager will work with the Manager of Laboratory Operations, shift supervisor, and other team members to ensure key productivity and quality targets are met, to fuel Chemify's growth ambitions.

They will apply their industrial experience to the challenges associated with establishing new process, expanding production capacity, recruitment and training of operational teams. They will remain laser focused on the laboratory and its efficiency to ensure maximum delivery every day. They will thoughtfully introduce and ensure compliance with defined practices, while evolving them carefully yet quickly through continue improvement, documentation, and training.

They will work with stakeholders within the technical areas to communicate and prioritize the tools/services required by the Operations team to deliver world-class productivity.

Key Responsibilities

• Be a thoughtful and effective leader, mentor, and role model for the Laboratory Operations team and all its members
• Oversee effective execution of chemistry across the whole Chemify platform. including automated chemical reactions setups and high-throughput downstream processes
• Work with the Manager, Laboratory Operations to establish best practices and ensure quality is maintained (including drafting of SOPs and training of team members).
• Set standard of Operational Quality (including housekeeping and process)
• Take-on growing responsibilities during the transformation of the company from an R&D-stage organization to an operational power-house
• Line management and recruiting within a rapidly expanding team
• Communicate with R&D chemists and other technical stakeholders to assimilate specific knowledge and transfer to team
• Participate in the development of the company as an owner, and provide clear feedback on areas of improvements
• Ensuring training of new and existing staff on good practices
• Data-driven approach to the advancement of productivity within operations
• Tech transfer of new technology from hardware and software teams
• Collaborate with engineering and software teams to specify technology requirements
• Take the initiative to suggest improvements to working practices
• Accurate and timely documentation of completed tasks.

Qualifications and Experience

• The candidate should have 5+ years working with large teams in an Operations environment
• A strong industrial background in a technical discipline, ideally in medicinal chemistry or a CRO.
• Start-up mindset - agile and driven
• Strong work ethic
• Good time-keeping
• Safety-conscious
• Enthusiasm to adopt new approaches and concepts
• Problem-solving skills and ability to follow procedures.
• Oral and written communication skills (English fluency).
• Any coding experience (Python preferable) would be desirable.