Manager of Scientific Operations

Who we are at Osmo:

Osmo is a digital olfaction company, on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives, and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone. Osmo is headquartered in New York, NY, with a new facility in New Jersey, and offices in Somerville, MA.

The Opportunity

Osmo is digitizing the chemical world to improve our lives and the health of our planet. We built the first AI platform capable of predicting olfactory perception from molecular structure, and we are now scaling into a new type of fragrance house. Our bottleneck is no longer just the "Digital Brain"—it is the physical throughput of our laboratory.

Reporting directly to the COO, you will be the architect of our Scientific Operations. You own the "Atoms-to-Bits" pipeline. Your mission is to apply first-principles thinking to R&D, transforming a bespoke laboratory into a high-velocity data factory. You are responsible for scaling sensory panels, liquid handling, and sample prep to levels that keep pace with our machine learning models. If there is a physical sample in the building, you own the system that moves it.

Ownership Outcomes: The First 12 Months

Success in this role is defined by volume, velocity, and operational uptime:

• Scale the Sensory Engine: Find creative, non-traditional ways to get more samples to more noses. You will be judged on your ability to 10x the number of annual sensory annotations without sacrificing data integrity.
• Industrialize Sample Prep: Transform our sample preparation from a manual bench process into a high-throughput operation. You will own the workflow for getting R&D samples into solvents and application bases (EtOH, laundry, candles) at scale.
• Bridge R&D to Production: Closely collaborate with the manufacturing team to ensure seamless transition of discoveries, implementing industrial best practices and leveraging automation to synchronize lab-scale breakthroughs with factory-scale output.
• Deploy Next-Gen Lab Automation: Own the roadmap for liquid handling and robotics. You will identify and implement the automation hardware necessary to remove human bottlenecks from the R&D loop.
• Establish Operational Excellence: Build the "Osmo Way" for scientific R&D. Apply first-principles thinking to lab logistics, safety (EHS), and resource allocation to ensure 100% reliability in our data pipeline.
• Build an Elite Ops Org: Recruit and lead a lean team of Lab Managers and Technicians who prioritize "shipped data" and "operational uptime" as their primary metrics.

Key Responsibilities

High-Throughput Operations

• The Data Factory: Design and manage the end-to-end logistics of every molecule—from synthesis and dilution to paneling and stability testing.
• Automation Architecture: Act as the primary stakeholder for lab robotics and liquid handling systems. You ensure our hardware stack is future-proofed for the next level of scale.

Strategic R&D Logistics

• Resource Optimization: Apply first-principles thinking to solve for lab space, equipment utilization, and consumable supply chains. You treat the lab like a high-performance manufacturing plant.
• Category Bringup: Rapidly operationalize the testing protocols for new categories (e.g., transitioning the lab to handle high-volume laundry or candle testing).

Atoms and Bits Integration

• The Physical Feedback Loop: Partner with the CTO, ML, and Software teams to ensure the physical lab's output is perfectly structured for digital ingestion. You own the "throughput" part of the AI feedback loop.
• Scaling Annotation: Develop the operational infrastructure (recruitment, logistics, digital capture) to scale human sensory panels globally.

Who You Are

• The Hard-Tech Operator: 10+ years of experience in lab operations, advanced manufacturing, or biotech scaling. You have built high-throughput systems where software meets the physical world.
• The Automation Visionary: You are bored by manual pipetting. You have a deep understanding of liquid handling, robotics, and the software that drives them.
• First-Principles Thinker: You don't do things "the way they’ve always been done in fragrance." You look at the goal (e.g., 100k annotations) and build the most efficient system to get there.
• Technical Peer: You can hold your own with ML PhDs and Hardware Engineers. You are comfortable using Python or SQL to monitor lab performance and throughput metrics.
• The 1 to 10 Scaler: You have a track record of taking a "v1" lab and turning it into a "v10" industrial engine. You know how to build repeatable processes, manage budgets, and lead a high-stakes team.

Salary Range: $140k-$160k

If this role inspires you we’d encourage you to apply. We are committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining an incredible team optimized for a diversity of thought, background, and approaches.

For all Full-Time Employees, compensation is just one component of Osmo’s total rewards approach, which is designed to support the well-being, growth, and long-term success of our team members. Depending on the role, this may include base salary or contract-based pay, along with access to health, dental, and vision coverage; a 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match; flexible paid time off and company holidays; and equity or incentive compensation for eligible roles. Actual compensation will vary based on factors such as experience, skills, location, internal equity, and other relevant business considerations. Osmo regularly reviews pay ranges and compensation structures to ensure they remain competitive, equitable, and aligned with current market data. All employment decisions and responsibilities are determined based on current ability and your ability to grow, without regard to race, color, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, marital status, physical, mental, or sensory disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.