VP, Platform Operations and Development

Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2021, Metaphore aims to unlock breakthroughs that outperform today’s drugs for maximum patient impact. We adapted this idea to drug discovery. MIMIC™, our computationally driven bioplatform that couples machine learning with molecular mimicry, engineers therapeutics to trigger a desired biological response. Our MIMIC platform opens the possibility to develop engineered medicines with specific features to access a range of targets, including those that were previously intractable. Flagship and Metaphore have also just announced a $600M research collaboration with Novo Nordisk to develop up to two next-generation therapeutics for obesity management. 

Flagship Pioneering is a bioplatform innovation company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $90 billion in aggregate value. Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.  Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been twice named to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. Learn more about Flagship at www.flagshippioneering.com. 

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Metaphore is seeking an entrepreneurial and strategic VP of Platform Operations and Development. The VP of Platform Operations and Development will drive the industrialization and scalability of Metaphore’s platform, productizing workflows from hit production and lead optimization to preclinical development. The ideal candidate will accelerate and expand the platform through operational excellence, strategic decision-making, and innovation around platform capabilities. Furthermore, you will be a critical part of Metaphore’s R&D Leadership Team, crafting a strategic vision to support this growth. You will touch all aspects of the company’s discovery and development activities, leading the platform operations team toward fulfilling the most impactful vision for Metaphore. The ideal candidate will bring substantial experience in developing protein therapeutics from early-stage discovery through IND to early clinical development. Strong leadership and team-building skills are essential, as are an innovative outlook and a propensity for leveraging novel approaches to generate new, transformative medicines. 

Responsibilities: 

• Bring operational excellence to a first-in-class platform poised to unlock the therapeutic potential of molecular mimicry 

• Oversee hit-to-lead workflows, integrating high-throughput capabilities (protein production, bioanalytical characterization, NGS, automation, and research informatics), enabling the identification of lead candidates toward INDs 

• Enable efficient therapeutic program parallelization by strategically designing, building, and harmonizing productized workflows 

• Drive the development of scientific operations, ensuring operational excellence and scalability, leveraging best-in-class automation, digital infrastructure, and data-driven processes 

• Collaborate closely with all teams to establish capabilities that produce comprehensive datasets that optimally enable long-term machine learning algorithm development 

• Collaborate with the broader leadership team to develop the company’s scientific and product strategy for both value creation and sustainability impact 

• Coordinate and manage hires across the platform operations team to support rigorous and efficient workflows while fostering an inclusive culture motivated by scientific novelty and patient impact 

• Support the continued protection, creation, and expansion of the company’s intellectual property 

• Develop relationships with Flagship Pioneering’s broader scientific community 

• Establish and oversee external projects and scientific collaborations 

• Manage external relationships with contract research organizations 

• Present to the company’s Board of Directors, Scientific Advisors, and external stakeholders  

Qualifications: 

• 12+ years of R&D experience across biotech/pharma and/or academia, including leadership of mid to large-size R&D teams 

• PhD or equivalent in pharmacology, molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry, medical engineering, or a related field 

• Experience leading and overseeing multiple development programs from early discovery up to early clinical development, focusing on efficiency and excellence  

• Experience building operations teams supporting preclinical research organizations, as well as CMC management 

• Experience leveraging automation and overseeing the design and deployment of robust digital infrastructure, oriented toward supporting AI/ML 

• Well-developed executive skills, with a demonstrated record of a willingness to seek and incorporate other perspectives, balance alternatives, and make decisions with incomplete information 

• Knowledge of the regulatory process for protein therapeutics 

• Demonstrated ability to work with highly technical teams in a fast-paced environment 

• Ability to develop and recruit top scientific talent  

Values and Behaviors:

Flagship is an experiment in institutional, entrepreneurial, and innovation practiced in the context of a small company with an insurgent mindset. We are seeking individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit, strong communication skills, and comfort in working in and contributing to a dynamic and cross-functional team environment. The level of the role will be commensurate with the education and years of experience of the identified candidates.

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.