Director / Senior Director, Origins in Cambridge

Director / Senior Director, Origins in Cambridge

Cambridge Full-Time 80000 - 100000 £ / year (est.) No working from home possible
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Build and nurture relationships with top-tier science-focused investors and institutions.
  • Company: Join Lila Sciences, a pioneering AI-for-science platform transforming scientific discovery.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, equity options, flexible time off, and comprehensive health benefits.
  • Other info: Dynamic role with significant influence and growth opportunities in a fast-paced environment.
  • Why this job: Shape the future of AI-driven science while building impactful partnerships.
  • Qualifications: Strong network in deep-tech and life-sciences, with exceptional relationship-building skills.

The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.

Your Impact at LILA

You will open doors to the world's most ambitious science-focused investors, institutions, and asset managers, and turn those relationships into long-term partnerships that become the foundation of Origins' portfolio. You bring the network and the judgment to identify and cultivate relationships that matter. Working alongside the Head of Origins, you move these relationships from first conversation through signed partnership and beyond, building the trust and alignment that sustains them over time. This is a relationship-ownership role where you build a personal brand around Origins' mission, maintain sophisticated intelligence on key partners, and serve as the trusted, senior voice representing Lila to some of the world's most sophisticated and discerning investors.

Why This Role?

  • A founding role building the commercial engine of one of the most ambitious AI-for-science platforms ever built
  • Direct access to the world's most prominent deep-tech and life-sciences investors and institutions
  • Genuine partnership-building with scale and consequence
  • A platform to shape how the world thinks about AI-driven scientific discovery and autonomous science

What You'll Be Building

  • Open and build relationships with deep-tech and life-sciences investors, science-focused venture and growth funds, asset managers, and family offices aligned with Origins' thesis and Lila's mission
  • Build and own a sophisticated partner pipeline, identifying, qualifying, and prioritising relationships most likely to become long-term strategic partners
  • Maintain active intelligence on each relationship, their investment thesis, portfolio interests, decision-making dynamics, and evolving strategic priorities in service of both Origins partnerships and Lila's broader capital relationships
  • Co-lead engagements alongside the Head of Origins, from initial outreach through signed partnership, managing relationship momentum and ensuring the right stakeholders are at the table
  • Represent Origins as a trusted, senior voice externally, protecting Lila's reputation, demonstrating scientific credibility, and positioning Origins as a sophisticated, mission-driven partner
  • Steward and grow relationships over time, maintaining engagement and expanding each partner's commitment to the Origins portfolio as it matures
  • Contribute strategic judgment to structuring and negotiation where your external perspective, relationships, and deal fluency add value
  • Shape Origins' partnership positioning by synthesising feedback from partners into recommendations on how we should present our capabilities, thesis, and deal opportunities

What You'll Need to Succeed

  • Deep, active network across deep-tech investors, life-sciences investors, science-focused funds, or sophisticated family offices
  • Scientific fluency sufficient to engage credibly with technical partners and represent Lila's platform with authority
  • Understanding of how institutional investors think, what they care about, and how partnerships work
  • Exceptional interpersonal judgment. You read contexts well, build trust quickly, know when to push and when to listen
  • Track record of opening new relationships and the discipline to maintain and grow them over years
  • Comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments

Bonus Points For

  • Prior role at a science-focused company or fund
  • Experience negotiating large partnerships or transactions
  • Global institutional relationships; familiarity with foreign investment or export control dynamics

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits.

  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • Employer-paid life and disability insurance
  • Flexible time off with generous company-wide holidays
  • Paid parental leave
  • An educational assistance program
  • Commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office-based employees
  • A company subsidised lunch program

International Benefits.

Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range: $168,000 — $272,000 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves. LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai. Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance.

We're All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.

Director / Senior Director, Origins in Cambridge employer: Lilasciences

At Lila Sciences, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture. As a Senior Principal or Principal Software Engineer in our AI Lab Execution System team, you will have the opportunity to lead cutting-edge projects that directly impact scientific discovery while enjoying comprehensive benefits, flexible time off, and a commitment to employee growth through mentorship and educational assistance. Join us in a dynamic environment where your contributions will shape the future of AI in science, all while working alongside passionate professionals dedicated to solving humanity's greatest challenges.

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Contact Details:

Lilasciences Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Director / Senior Director, Origins in Cambridge

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We think you need these skills to ace Director / Senior Director, Origins in Cambridge

Relationship Management
Network Development
Strategic Judgment
Scientific Fluency
Interpersonal Skills
Negotiation Skills
Partnership Building

Some tips for your application 🫡

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Tailor Your Documents for Us:When applying for a full-time role at Lilasciences, tailor your CV and cover letter to reflect our organisational goals and strategies. Mention specific tools and methodologies that align with what we do—this shows you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested in our mission!

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