R&D Projects Lead

Location London

Compensation £60-70k based on experience, plus equity

Contract type Full time, permanent

Who we are

FabricNano (fabricnano.com) is a venture-backed startup. We aim to revolutionise the synthesis of biomolecules – plastics, fuels, fragrances, flavours, medicines, and more. We immobilize multi-enzyme cascades with increased yield, higher purity, and lower synthesis costs. You would join a passionate team at an exciting early stage to help build our culture and initial products.

Summary of the role

This is a role which will require a strong balance of strategic capabilities, an analytic approach and great communication. You’ll have the chance to partner closely with the Leadership Team (CEO, VP Ops, VP R&D, VP BD).

Your mission will be to ensure commercial and internal projects are delivered to an excellent, timely standard at FabricNano, with well-communicated results (internally and externally). This role will demand both rigorous execution and dynamic flexibility, as you hold the lab team (and all who interface with it) to timelines and standards in customer and internal project delivery, while also rolling up your sleeves to help the business run faster wherever you see an opportunity.

You will also be responsible for some customer-facing communications, which means you need to be literate enough with scientific language to sense-check and proofread it. Importantly, you will also build the monthly steering presentations to our customers, which means you have to have an eye for detail & and ear for how to communicate deeply technical information across disciplines (which usually requires you being or becoming literate in the discipline yourself).

This role is a broadly-focused, tactically-deployed individual contributor and ideal for someone adaptable, humble and able to maintain perspective through tumult. The right candidate is rewarded by enabling the success of a broader mission, who can lead without being someone’s boss. You are a good fit for this role if you don’t need a pre-defined career path to grow, but instead find growth, development and reward in the delivery of high-quality, mission-critical work. You’ll be reporting to our VP Operations, who holds sacrosanct her commitment to the growth of her team.

What you'll do in this role

• Be an operator with a rather legendary reputation for effectiveness
• Support the CEO, VP Operations, VP R&D and VP BD ensuring mission-critical, cross-functional work is delivered internally and to our customers.
• Keep a finger on the pulse of multiple projects (internal and external) and proactively flag any risk of not hitting targets, ensuring on-time and in-full delivery.
• Generate and proofread communication to customers, both in the form of technical lab reports as well as steering presentations
• Act as the facilitator between teams and own work across the finish line, on time and in full
• Parse the signal from the noise to the Leadership Team on key insights, progress or blockers from project work
• Coach colleagues on good project management and ensure they are all held to your high standard

What we're looking for

Experience with the following is desired – numbers that appear below are guidelines, not hard-and-fast:

• Facilitating and leading large (>£250,000 or >20 people scale) projects in a commercial setting on time and in full
• Solving complex operational challenges, and implementing sustainable solutions
• Facilitating intra- and inter- company communications
• Working with and/or for startups
• B.S. and ideally also M.S. in a STEM discipline, with special preference for degrees in biochemistry, biology, chemistry and chemical engineering

What you'll receive

Financial

A generous stock option plan

Time Off

20 days annual leave + 8 days bank holiday

Generous sick leave and mental health days

Enhanced parental leave (16 week's full pay for primary caregiver, 8 week's full pay for secondary caregiver)

Wellbeing

We partner with Spill to provide remote emotional support to staff

Development

£200 professional learning and development stipend ‍

£100 personal development stipend

Plus books, courses and events. We encourage personal development in every form

Team-building

Monthly team lunches on us plus weekly bagel mornings

A range of social events

Our Company Values

• Always choose candor.
• Be curious about each other’s work.
• Busy doesn't count; results do.
• If you aren't thriving, your work isn't thriving.
• This is your business.
  

Equal Opportunity Employer. We are proud of our commitment to diversity & inclusion.

How to apply. Applications will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.