Operations Manager - Generative Biology Institute

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Welcome to the Generative Biology Institute:

The Generative Biology Institute (GBI) at the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) aims to overcome two major challenges in making biology engineerable: 1) the ability to precisely synthesize entire genomes, and 2) understanding which DNA sequences will create biological systems that perform desired functions. Solving these challenges will unlock the potential of biology for transformative solutions in health, sustainability, agriculture, and more. GBI will house 30+ groups and over 600 researchers, supported by cutting-edge facilities and sustained funding to address global challenges and advance biology engineering.

Your Role:

We are seeking an experienced and detailed orientated Operations Manager to support GBI’s COO in driving the strategic growth of the institute. In this role, you’ll help design and implement scalable business processes, provide PMO support across key operational and infrastructure projects, and keep multiple workstreams moving through strong coordination and stakeholder management. 

You’ll act as a go‑to problem solver, support high‑impact strategic initiatives, and contribute to shaping GBI’s organisational strategy and future direction. The role also includes working closely with external partners and helping coordinate core operational functions for new spin‑out companies. This is an opportunity to play a central role in enabling world‑class research and building the foundations of a rapidly growing institute.

Key Responsibilities:

• To support the COO in strategic scaling of GBI, ensuring smooth and responsive business operations that enable world-class research.
• To design, document, and implement business operations processes, working closely with central EIT teams (e.g. HR, finance, legal, facilities) to ensure scalability and alignment with best practices across GBI and EIT teams.
• To provide project management office (PMO) support, tracking timelines, milestones, and deliverables across operations and infrastructure projects.
• To liaise with internal and external stakeholders, managing timelines, documentation, and coordination across multiple workstreams.
• To act as a flexible and reliable point of contact for operational problem-solving, stepping in wherever needed to keep projects moving.
• To support strategic initiatives and special projects led by the COO, contributing to planning, execution, and internal alignment across teams.
• To contribute to GBI’s organisational strategy, including understanding the scientific landscape, and identifying opportunities for growth and operational innovation.
• To manage and coordinate relationships with external collaborators, including academic institutions, research networks, and strategic partners, ensuring smooth communication and delivery on joint initiatives.
• To support and coordinate key operational functions for new Spin-out companies that have been incubated within GBI, including budgeting and finance processes, legal and commercial matters, recruiting, communications, procurement, and lab facilities planning.

Qualifications & Experience:

• A degree in a relevant field, such as life sciences, business operations, or project management, or a science / research background and/or experience working in or supporting laboratory environments is preferred.
• Strong operational experience, across finance and/or legal workstreams ideally in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to coordinate and run complicated projects across multiple different workstreams.
• Excellent project coordination and time management skills, with experience overseeing complex timelines, budgets and competing priorities with experience in creating materials for leadership teams.
• Proactive and self-directed, with a willingness to take ownership of problems and implement practical solutions.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work across scientific, technical, and administrative teams.
• Comfortable supporting strategic planning, with an interest in scientific trends, innovation, and organisational growth.
• Experience in finance and/or venture capital is highly advantageous.

Our Benefits:

• Salary: Competitive + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme

Working Together – What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).