Director, Federal Strategy and Capture, Government Partnerships
About this role
Your Impact at LILA
Lila Sciences is looking for a Director of Federal Strategy & Capture to convert senior agency relationships and deep policy fluency into real government partnerships and funding wins. This role sits within our Government Partnerships organization and operates at the front end of capture — shaping the competitive environment before opportunities are formally announced, reading where the federal funding landscape is heading, and opening doors that demand genuine scientific and policy credibility.
This is not a policy role. It's a capture role that requires someone with unusually deep federal experience.
What You'll Be Building
Named Account Ownership — Build, manage, and advance senior relationships at DOE, ARPA-E, NIH, and adjacent US mission agencies. You own the health, depth, and trajectory of those relationships over time.
Opportunity Shaping — Engage agencies early enough to influence how funding opportunities are scoped and structured before they become RFPs, ensuring alignment with Lila's strategic roadmap.
Cross-Agency Narrative Development — Partner with the Head of Government Partnerships to connect Lila's portfolio to national science priorities and build a prioritized federal pipeline.
Institution Building — Help stand up Lila's federal capture function, including how we track relationships, manage pipeline, and engage agencies systematically over time.
What You’ll Need to Succeed
- Senior US federal experience at the intersection of science, policy, and strategy — agency, NSC, interagency, or equivalent background
- Scientific fluency in life sciences, biotechnology, or adjacent domains
- A demonstrated track record of turning relationships into concrete outcomes: funded programs, formal partnerships, or procurement pathways
- Experience standing up new government functions, programs, or divisions from scratch
- Comfort operating in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment where you're building as you go
Bonus Points For
- Familiarity with federal funding mechanisms — OTAs, cooperative agreements, SBIRs, BAAs — and how to position a company advantageously within each
- Existing relationships within DOE, ARPA-E, DARPA, BARDA, DoD, NSC, or interagency bioeconomy and biosecurity networks
- Experience working with or inside a startup, venture-backed company, or other resource-constrained private sector environment
- Familiarity with Congressional authorization and appropriations processes as they relate to agency R&D priorities
- Comfort with CRM or pipeline tracking tools to systematize relationship and opportunity management
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. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including 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; and a company subsidized 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.
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. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.
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.
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