Chief of Staff

The posting, as Arc Institute wrote it

About Arc Institute

Arc Institute is an independent nonprofit research organization at the interface of artificial intelligence and biology, working to accelerate scientific progress and understand the root causes of complex diseases. Founded in 2021 and based in Palo Alto, Arc partners with Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco.

Unlike academia, our scientists have long-term funding and industry-like resources. Unlike industry, they're free to pursue high-risk, long-term research without commercial pressures. Arc's Technology Centers and Core Investigator labs work side by side, integrating experimental and computational biology under one roof to tackle problems neither could solve alone.

Our two Institute Initiatives reflect this model in action

• Virtual Cell Initiative : Building a full-stack virtual cell model to identify disease mechanisms and nominate drug targets, accelerating the path from biological insight to clinical trials.
• Alzheimer's Disease Initiative : Mapping the genes, pathways, and environmental factors behind Alzheimer's disease to develop drug candidates that address root causes.

More than 300 Arconauts work together at our Palo Alto headquarters, backed by substantial long-term philanthropic funding.

About the position

The Chief of Staff serves as a scientific and strategic partner, proxy, and "shared brain" to the Institute's Executive Director and Core Investigator. This is a technical, full-time role for someone who can engage substantively with the science, from CRISPR-based transcriptome engineering and functional genomics to computational modeling and disease biology, and translate that engagement into sharp decision-making, program execution, and cross-disciplinary coordination. On a given day you might pressure-test the experimental design or interpretation of a scientific project, distill complex inputs into clear decision frameworks and meeting agendas, scope and foster cross-lab collaboration, prepare a scientifically rigorous external deliverable, and protect the Executive Director's time for deep work by optimizing her schedule. You will create leverage for the Executive Director's highest-priority scientific and organizational work by owning her operating rhythm, helping drive technical initiatives to completion, and connecting the right people, data, and resources to unblock science. You will be trusted with confidential scientific and organizational information and empowered to act on her behalf, so scientific judgment, discretion, and follow-through are essential.

The Executive Director is a Core Investigator and Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford whose laboratory studies the molecular pathways driving neurodegenerative disease with the goal of developing rationally targeted therapeutics. Her group develops CRISPR-based technologies to directly perturb the transcriptomic landscape of the cell, including engineered type VI RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas systems, and a
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ed field; open to candidates from academic, consulting, or founder backgrounds and not limited to a traditional academic path.

• Hands-on experience with CRISPR/gene- or RNA-editing technologies, functional genomic screens, or high-throughput experimental platforms.
• Experience with computational biology, machine learning, or large-scale genomic data, or a demonstrated ability to partner closely with teams that do.
• Experience organizing scientific collaborations or programs, within an institution and with external partners, from inception through execution.
• Experience supporting board preparation, scientific offsites, and executive or scientific communications.
• Demonstrated staying power and increasing scope of responsibility over a career (people-management experience is not a prerequisite)

The base salary range for this position is $160,000 to $237,500. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.

In addition to the Base Salary and Annual Bonus above, you will be eligible to participate in the Institute’s Compound Cash Grant Program (the “CCGP”). The CCGP is a program designed to offer multi-year cash grants providing for a fixed dollar amount paid out in semi-annual installments to reward employees for staying and contributing to the Institute. As soon as reasonably practical after your start date, you will receive a grant letter describing the terms of your award under the CCGP.