Chief of Staff, Fractional

At Parallel Bio, we are leveraging the human immune system to unlock safer, more effective drugs. We believe immunotherapies are the future of medicine, but their discovery is hindered by outdated models that fail to capture the complexity of the human immune system.

Our platform overcomes these challenges by combining best-in-class human immune organoids with massive scale and advanced computational methods, including AI and machine learning. This allows us to generate unprecedented, population-scale insights into human health and disease.

We can rapidly discover new drugs that we know will work in patients from the start and understand how they will perform across an entire population—something not possible with today's technology. This knowledge will allow us to engineer therapies that will work for as many people as possible, ensuring a safe and effective cure for everyone.

We are a fast-paced, venture-backed company at a pivotal moment of growth. Join us on our journey as we create new tools to push the boundaries of what is possible.

The Role

We're looking for a Fractional Chief of Staff to bring structure, accountability, and operational clarity to Parallel Bio as we scale. This is a high-leverage, part-time role for someone who has joined early-stage organizations and built operational infrastructure largely from scratch: meeting rhythms, project tracking, documentation systems, cross-functional workflows.

You'll be the connective tissue across leadership and teams, ensuring that what we decide actually gets done. You'll design sprint cadences, build accountability systems, and hold teams to measurable outcomes. You'll partner across Science, Technology, Operations, and Executive functions to keep cross-functional projects moving forward with clear ownership and visibility.

Critically, you're a workflow-first thinker. You rethink operational processes from first principles rather than defaulting to whatever tool is already in place. You design the leanest possible system that actually works, and you're comfortable eliminating tools entirely when they add more noise than value. You approach operational complexity with a minimum-viable mindset and iterate from there.

If you love creating order from ambiguity, coaching teams toward operational rigor, and helping founders scale their impact, this could be a strong fit.

What You’ll Own (Key Responsibilities)

Organizational Rhythm and Accountability

• Design and manage the cadence of leadership meetings, project sprints, and progress reviews.
• Build accountability systems so initiatives have clear ownership, scope, and timelines.
• Keep priorities visible and current, surfacing blockers early and ensuring follow-through on commitments.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Partner with leadership to translate company goals into actionable project plans.
• Drive cross-functional projects forward by coordinating dependencies, clarifying ownership, and tracking deliverables across Science, Technology, Operations, and Executive teams.
• Centralize decisions, documentation, and updates so information flows cleanly between functions.

Operational Systems and Execution

• Audit how we use our current tooling (Asana, Notion, Slack, Shortcut, and others) and redesign workflows end-to-end where needed, rather than layering fixes on top of broken systems.
• Develop dashboards and reporting to give leadership real-time visibility into progress across company-wide initiatives.
• Reduce operational noise and optimize information flow between functions.

Strategic Support

• Support founders in prioritization, planning, and maintaining organizational focus.
• Coordinate critical initiatives spanning multiple functions, tracking progress and outcomes end-to-end.
• Step in to own high-priority special projects as the company evolves.

Qualifications & What You’ll Thrive Here If You Have

Required

• 5-10 years of professional experience, with 3-7 years in Chief of Staff, operations, or business operations roles supporting senior leadership.
• Experience at startups or high-growth teams, with at least one in biotech, deep tech, or a science-driven environment.
• Workflow-first orientation: you evaluate and select the right tool for the job (or eliminate the tool entirely), rather than defaulting to specific platforms. You design lean systems that actually work.
• Strong cross-functional coordination skills, with a track record of aligning technical and non-technical teams and driving accountability across functions.
• Clear, concise communicator who enables alignment without micromanagement.
• Based in the San Francisco Bay Area (this is an in-person role).

Nice-to-Have

• Previous fractional or consulting experience (comfortable with part-time, high-leverage engagements).
• MBA or similar graduate degree.
• Experience with OKR or sprint frameworks in a biotech or deep tech context.
• Evidence of having redesigned or consolidated operational systems and vendors to be leaner and more effective.

Location & Hours

This is an in-person role based at our San Francisco office, approximately 20 hours per week. You’ll embed directly with our leadership and executive teams to drive execution and ensure cross-functional projects move seamlessly from planning to completion.

What Success Looks Like (90 Days)

Within 90 days:

• Projects across functions are tracked with clear ownership, timelines, and regular updates.
• Cross-functional priorities are visible and understood across the organization.
• Meetings produce outcomes, not just action items.
• Leadership has real-time visibility into progress and blockers across the company.
• 2-3 operational workflows have been meaningfully simplified or redesigned.

Parallel Bio is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.