Chemistry Technical Program Manager

Your Impact at LILA

Lila Sciences is using its autonomous science platform to accelerate chemical discovery — from smarter synthesis pathways and next-generation catalysts to molecular design for clean energy and industrial applications. The Chemistry experiment team is running programs at a pace and scale that demands serious operational rigor, and we're looking for a Technical Program Manager to provide it. You'll work closely with the Chemistry domain lead who sets scientific strategy and direction, while you own the execution layer: the project plans, the cross-functional dependencies, and the blockers that need to be surfaced and resolved before they become problems. You won't be directing scientific work — you'll be creating the conditions for it to happen at speed and at scale. This is a role for someone who genuinely loves the craft of program management in complex, technical environments.

What You'll Be Building

• Own day-to-day program execution within the Chemistry experiment team — maintaining project plans, tracking milestones, and ensuring agentic science programs are delivered on time and with rigor
• Serve as the primary operational interface between the Chemistry team and platform partners (Automation, ML, Engineering) — communicating needs, aligning on priorities, and keeping dependencies visible and resolved
• Translate scientific program goals into structured workstreams that enable autonomous experimentation to run efficiently and at scale
• Run program rituals including sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives with a bias toward purposeful meetings, documentation, and follow-through
• Partner with the Chemistry domain leads to surface blockers, risks, and interdependencies early and drive them to resolution
• Support the delivery of commercial contracts by working with the Product & Revenue team to ensure program commitments are well-scoped, tracked, and clearly communicated to all stakeholders
• Contribute to capacity planning and resource coordination in partnership with scientific leadership

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• 10+ years of program or project management experience in a chemistry, pharmaceutical, or deep tech environment
• A Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field
• A track record of managing multiple concurrent programs in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and energized by building programs from the ground up; early-stage start-up experience is a strong plus
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate across scientific and operational stakeholders and manage complex cross-functional dependencies
• Sufficient scientific fluency to understand Chemistry program goals and communicate them clearly to partner teams
• Experience supporting commercial program delivery and working with external partners or customers
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills — able to break complex goals into clear, achievable units of work and keep stakeholders consistently well-informed

Bonus Points For

• Familiarity with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Asana, Jira, or similar
• PMP, PgMP, or agile certification (e.g., CSM, SAFe) is a plus