Business Operations
Chai Discovery
Summary
We are hiring our first Business Operations lead. Someone who can take hard problems at Chai and own them end to end. You'll be a high-trust partner and problem solver to our founders and functional leaders, working wherever you're most needed.
Job description
About the role
We are hiring our first Business Operations lead. Someone who can take hard problems at Chai and own them end to end. You'll be a high-trust partner and problem solver to our founders and functional leaders, working wherever you're most needed.
The work ranges from renegotiating major contracts and making sure our compute spend matches what we actually need, to standing up new functions, to taking ownership of an office move or helping out with recruiting. We need someone who's happy doing all of it, from the unglamorous to the mission-critical, and who leaves better systems behind each time. Someone with a nose for friction and pain points that no one else notices, and who handles them without delay.
Over time, we expect to build an operations team with people embedded across key functions, so that running exceptionally well stays one of Chai's real advantages. You'll be at the center of that from day one, and for those who want it, the path leads to running a function.
About you
You are a generalist with commercial instinct and a bias for action. You're sophisticated enough to build the model behind a major contract and negotiate it yourself, and hands-on enough to chase down quotes for an office move or organize a dinner for a visiting executive. You pick up the phone rather than waiting for a perfect plan, and you use AI to move faster without trusting it blindly.
You have operated, not just advised. You are comfortable in any room and on any call. You gain credibility quickly in unfamiliar territory.
You may have been in the founder's office or an early business operations hire at a high-growth startup, owned cost and supplier decisions at a company known for operational rigor, worked as a deployment strategist, or started a company of your own. If you trained in consulting or banking, you've since spent real time owning outcomes inside a company. A technical or scientific background is a plus; biotech experience isn't required.
Requirements
- Generalist with commercial instinct and a bias for action
- Sophisticated enough to build the model behind a major contract and negotiate it
- Hands-on and willing to handle administrative tasks
- Has operated, not just advised, inside a company
- Comfortable in any room and on any call
- Gains credibility quickly in unfamiliar territory
- Experience in founder's office or early business operations at a high-growth startup, or owned cost and supplier decisions, or worked as a deployment strategist, or started a company
- Consulting or banking background with real time owning outcomes inside a company
- Technical or scientific background is a plus
- Biotech experience is not required
Benefits
- High-velocity ownership culture
- World-class team
- Mission-driven work
Company overview
Chai Discovery is a biotechnology company specializing in innovative drug discovery technologies and platforms. The company leverages advanced computational methods and artificial intelligence to accelerate the identification and development of novel therapeutic compounds. Operating at the intersection of technology and life sciences, Chai Discovery focuses on creating efficient discovery pipelines that reduce the time and cost associated with traditional drug development processes. Their technology platform integrates machine learning algorithms with biological data analysis to predict compound efficacy, optimize molecular structures, and identify promising drug candidates for various disease areas. The company's approach represents a modern paradigm in pharmaceutical research, combining cutting-edge computational tools with deep biological insights to address complex medical challenges. Chai Discovery's mission centers on transforming the drug discovery landscape through technology-driven innovation, potentially enabling faster development of treatments for unmet medical needs.