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Salary: USD 100,000 - 200,000 / annual
Anthrogen is engineering post-modality biology, developing AI systems that design modular biological machines and the experimental infrastructure to instantiate them. The company is a small, high-density team in San Francisco focused on frontier AI and biological systems validation.
The Founding Operator role is for someone who intends to build a company and wants to help build Anthrogen first. You'll work directly with the founders to make the company run, owning operational problems that constrain growth and deciding which to tackle first. The work evolves as the company scales: recruiting critical hires, managing external partnerships, building internal tools, fixing processes that waste team time, and determining what should be on the task list versus what can wait.
Key responsibilities include:
- Identifying and owning operational constraints through resolution
- Managing recruiting, onboarding, purchasing, external partnerships, facilities, and internal systems as priorities shift
- Building small tools and automations to eliminate repetitive work
- Providing founders with clear recommendations on priorities, options, and your recommended approach
- Helping shape public communications to explain complex research clearly and compellingly
- Influencing company culture through decisions on hiring, communication, accountability, and time allocation
You'll need to learn what scientists and engineers actually do—not to become a protein designer, but to understand the research well enough to make sound company decisions. You'll also help tell Anthrogen's story to the public, working with founders and researchers.
Requirements:
- Minimum 1-2 years of operations experience at a startup with demonstrable, personally-owned consequential work (not just participation)
- Strong prioritization skills under extreme uncertainty; ability to know when to gather more information, make reversible decisions, or recognize expensive mistakes
- Strong, considered opinions about successful startup building and effective culture; ability to explain reasoning and adapt when evidence changes
- Coding ability sufficient to build useful tools and automate workflows (AI-assisted coding acceptable, but you must understand what you've built, test it, and know when to escalate to engineers)
- Demonstrated ability to learn and work in technical settings (technical company, studies, or personal projects); no specific degree or industry background required
- Ambitious, resourceful, willing to do unglamorous work; seeking real ownership of company operations, not just founder proximity
The company explicitly welcomes candidates who may start their own company in a couple of years and seeks real ownership during tenure, not lifetime commitment.
