Gordian is looking for a VP of Operations to hold ownership over all critical operational functions, driving strategy and execution across People Operations, R&D Operations, Facilities, and Legal, while partnering closely with our Director of Finance. This role combines high-level strategic alignment with hands-on operational responsibility, ensuring that processes are designed and executed with scalability in mind.

The Destination:

Gordian Biotechnology is a therapeutics company whose mission is to cure age-related disease, so we can all wake up every morning more capable than the day before.

Traditional ex vivo screening methods have failed to produce effective treatments, as age-related diseases have complex causes that include interactions with the aged environment.

To address this problem, Gordian’s platform is the first and only to enable pooled in vivo tests at scale, across different species of diseased animals reflecting patient profiles. We are able to deliver and test hundreds of therapeutics in individual animals, and scale efficacy testing to rapidly prioritize targets and interventions with a clear path toward development (more info on our website). 

We are running this discovery engine to ensure an abundance of therapeutic hypotheses can be tested for complex diseases, eventually mapping out the effects of every druggable target across many diseases, and advancing programs both internally and through collaborations with external partners. By working across related sets of indications, we can identify medicines with impacts on age-related multimorbidity.

The Journey:

Our mission is audacious, and the path will be full of both challenges and excitement. Two things characterize the Gordian experience: 1) We work as a team, with ownership in our own roles and trust in each other. 2) We strive for extraordinary outcomes, and in doing so grow our skills and capability.

Team – Relying on each other begins with transparency. We set clear goals, visibly connecting individuals and teams to our company objectives. This empowers each of us to make autonomous decisions about our work, knowing how they will affect the bigger picture. Our communication happens out in the open. We give and receive feedback from a perspective of helping each other grow, share mistakes, and ask for help.

Extraordinary – Every day, we ask ourselves ‘How could this process/outcome be even better?’. Knowing our overall mission, we do what we think helps us make the most progress, without asking for permission. We don’t shy away from big challenges or unknown territory, but find a way to excel. Our colleagues are amazing, both at what they do and as people. They inspire us to keep up, to not let them down, and be inspiring in return. 

Like any cutting-edge research environment, Gordian doesn't believe in a standard 9 to 5 day. We set ambitious project goals and support each other to meet them, while maintaining the balance individuals need to thrive and achieve excellence. Our team is geared towards helping each other out and maintaining a culture of intellectual and social fun. We like getting things done and keep standing meetings to a minimum. We have an unlimited vacation policy. We unwind with weekly team lunches, and support each other’s projects both experimentally and by ‘pre-mortem’ meetings to discuss possible failure modes and experimental design. 

If this environment sounds appealing, help us bring it to life. We are at an exciting inflection point: applying our technology to create comprehensive atlases of therapeutic targets across multiple diseases, partnering with major pharma companies for financial and intellectual support, and translating these insights into new medicines. We want both your ability and personality along for the ride. Our culture is a source of great pride; it represents both who we are and who we wish to be. 

You can dive deeper here: https://www.gordian.bio/culture/

About the Role:

Your primary mission as VP of Operations is to build and run Gordian’s operating system, so our science can move fast, safely, and with clarity as we scale. As a member of the leadership team, you will partner closely with the CEO to translate strategy into operational priorities, set the operating cadence for the company, and drive cross-functional decision-making. You will also work hand-in-hand with our Director of Finance to ensure resourcing, planning, and risk management stay tight as we grow.

You will own the strategy and outcomes across People Operations, R&D Operations, Facilities/EH&S, and Legal Operations. Practically, that means building the processes, infrastructure, and team capabilities that keep the organization aligned: talent systems that preserve and strengthen our culture; planning and execution rhythms that connect goals, timelines, and dependencies; a lab and workplace environment that is reliable and resilient; and external-facing workflows that enable partnering and regulatory interactions with minimal friction and cost.

In your first 3 months, you will have taken clear ownership of the operational decision agenda, established a scalable operating rhythm, and delivered measurable reductions in friction across hiring/onboarding, cross-functional planning, and facilities/lab reliability. 

By 6 months, you will be operating as a true executive owner of Gordian’s operational backbone, anticipating constraints before they become bottlenecks, building leaders and systems that scale, and ensuring the company executes on ambitious R&D and business goals with speed, rigor, and a strong culture.

And You:

• You take full and independent accountability for outcomes, treating the role and its responsibilities as integral to your personal success—and you have the experience to operate at that level of ownership.
• You can align with a CEO’s strategic vision, translate it into operational priorities, and communicate those priorities clearly across the organization.
• You have deep experience running People Operations in a culture-driven environment, including hiring, compensation practices, and the systems that enable engagement, retention, performance, and development.
• You bring industry-relevant expertise in biotech and drug development, including direct experience managing R&D operations in the context of major preclinical discovery/development deals and IND-enabling studies.
• You have a strong command of project management and data management tools and principles, and you can independently set up systems required to track program timelines and critical data in the context of preclinical development, external collaboration, and regulatory submission.
• You understand the physical operational needs of lab-based work, including facilities management, equipment maintenance and calibration, inventory systems, EH&S requirements, and the realities of running a high-performing lab environment.
• You are fundamentally compatible with Gordian’s culture and values, readily able to adopt and contribute to what makes us Gors—and you can champion that culture within six months.

The Details:

Gordian aims to provide everything you need to thrive. Beyond our community and science, you’ll have enough equity to be a true stakeholder in the company, competitive salary, full health/dental/vision/life insurance, 401k with match, onsite lunch paid for 3 days a week, basic onsite gym, whatever vacation you need to be at your peak, and access to world-class mentors and advisors to support your professional growth. Our building is in the heart of the biotech capital of South San Francisco.