Senior / Technical Program Manager, Government Partnerships

Your Impact at Lila

Lila Sciences is hiring a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) to run government partnerships and contracts end-to-end once intent is established. This role is the operational backbone of our public-sector work — owning execution, coordination, and follow-through across complex, multi-stakeholder government programs.

This is not a research role and not a pure grants role. It is a cross-functional, execution-first program manager who understands how government partnerships actually run: LOIs, MOUs, CRADAs, pilots, interagency coordination, compliance rhythms, and handoff to post-award operations. This role will be principally client-facing during contract execution, and when between client contracts will adopt a business development and proposal support role.

The TPM allows the Head of Government Partnerships to focus on pipeline, strategy, and senior external engagement, while ensuring nothing drops on the floor once a partnership is in motion.

What You'll Be Building

End-to-End Program Execution 

• Own government partnership programs from letter of intent through launch and steady-state execution


• Translate high-level partnership intent into workplans, milestones, owners, timelines, and artifacts


• Act as the single operational quarterback across legal, finance, science, product, AI, comms, and external partners

Government Agreement Operations

• Manage the mechanics of CRADAs, pilots, user-facility access, MOUs, and partnership agreements


• Track dependencies across contracting, compliance, technical scope, and stakeholder approvals


• Ensure agreements move forward on schedule and align with internal operating constraints

Cross-Functional Program Management

• Run internal operating cadence for active government programs (standups, reviews, risk tracking)


• Identify bottlenecks early and drive resolution without escalation where possible


• Maintain clear documentation and decision logs so programs don’t rely on institutional memory

Partner & Agency Coordination

• Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for program-level coordination with agencies, labs, and partner organizations


• Prepare materials, agendas, and follow-ups for partner working sessions


• Ensure commitments made externally are feasible, resourced, and tracked internally

Transition to Post-Award / Steady State

• Support clean handoff to Grants / Post-Award / Ops as programs formalize


• Help define what “good” post-award ownership looks like as the function scales


• Contribute to templates, playbooks, and repeatable program infrastructure

Who This Role is For

This role is ideal for someone who:

• Has project managed complex government or quasi-government programs, not just supported them


• Is a generalist operator who can be dropped into ambiguous, fast-moving environments


• Understands government bureaucracy without being slowed down by it


• Is comfortable interfacing with scientists, engineers, lawyers, contracting officers, and execs


• Wants real ownership and visibility, not a narrow swim lane

Strong backgrounds include:

• Military program management (including SkillBridge or recent transition)


• Federal contractor PMs


• National lab, FFRDC, or government-adjacent operators


• Cross-functional PMs in regulated or public-sector-heavy environments

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• 5–10 years experience in program management, government partnerships, or adjacent roles


• Demonstrated ability to run programs end-to-end


• Comfort operating across technical, legal, financial, and bureaucratic domains


• Excellent written and verbal communication — you turn chaos into clarity


• Strong judgment, follow-through, and bias toward action

Nice to Have

• Experience with CRADAs, national labs, DOE, DoD, USDA, or international public-sector partners


• Technical literacy (STEM degree or equivalent experience)


• Familiarity with pre- and post-award government processes


• Experience building PM infrastructure from scratch

Why This Role Matters

This is the keystone role for making Lila’s government partnerships real. You bring structure, momentum, and execution discipline to work that is currently spread across senior leadership. If this hire works, it becomes the blueprint for scaling the entire public-sector operating model.

About Lila

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, we encourage you to apply.

Compensation

We expect the base salary for this role to fall between $108,000 – $186,667 USD per year, along with bonus potential and generous early equity. The final offer will reflect your unique background, expertise, and impact.

Location

This role is U.S.-based; Boston or DC-area preferred. Travel as needed.

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.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.